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If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

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Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#751

Post by phendrenad2 »

pjscott wrote: post #733
grafmax wrote: post #666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> inflation adjusted wages are actually up over the long term Inflation is a tool for monetary policy. It doesn't track cost of living. For example, if luxury items become more affordable, but housing prices rise, inflation-adjusted pay doesn't capture this kind of negative effect on the working class.

It doesn't track cost of living? The way it's calculated is all about cost of living! In the US, the official inflation numbers are based on a "basket of goods" meant to be representative of a typical person's spending. Housing currently makes up about a third of the basket, while luxury items are a fairly small percentage. Here's a pretty well-written summary, albeit with numbers from 2022: https://www.pewresearch.o…

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Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#752

Post by RationPhantoms »

globular-toast wrote: post #392
eBombzor wrote: post #72

I do feel this trend in my life. I have a job which I'm grateful for but nothing feels satisfying anymore, and I feel like it is much harder to connect to people or form deep relationships, especially in this field, unless you already have a clique in your workplace. On top of that, AI is generally a demotivating entity to the majority of people. Despite all the hype of Altman and whonots, I feel like people just don…

> On top of that, AI is generally a demotivating entity to the majority of people. I agree. I think we should just stop.

I don't think the majority of people have given it a passing thought to be fair. For folks that grew up with the advent of being the "designated family googler" (and rested the success of their careers on such), it is an incredible time for information.

You're telling me there is a faceless, non-judgemental, never exhausted tutor just sitting there waiting for my curiosity to strike up a conversation? How absolutely fantastic. We're spoiled with information.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#753

Post by hunterpayne »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #229
wat10000 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A reaction to that very same secularization. Religious nutjobs feel threatened and this is their answer.

I think this is def part of it. Trump was not doing well in 2016 at all until the final debate when he cornered Clinton into a (legitimate) strong defense of her pro-choice position. All the "moderate" Christians who couldn't stomach Trump before suddenly had no choice. Essentially all Christian denominations + Mormons think abortion is murder. How can a candidate win a majority in a society where a plurality identif…

I think you probably follow politics too closely if you think that's why Trump won in 2016. HC was such a terrible campaigner that she simply stopped campaigning 3 weeks before the election because it wasn't helping. That and her major policy position was pro-globalism which hasn't been the position of the winning POTUS candidate since the 1980s. That's why she lost, not something that happened in a debate that maybe 0.3% of the population watched.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#754

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

burningChrome wrote: post #172
eBombzor wrote: post #72

I do feel this trend in my life. I have a job which I'm grateful for but nothing feels satisfying anymore, and I feel like it is much harder to connect to people or form deep relationships, especially in this field, unless you already have a clique in your workplace. On top of that, AI is generally a demotivating entity to the majority of people. Despite all the hype of Altman and whonots, I feel like people just don…

I sense your lack of hope and see it in a lot of younger people these days. I grew up in the 80's. College in the late 90's. Start of career in the mid aughts. Went through two dot com busts, and have seen a lot of shit. The one thing that my generation (Gen X) seemed to have was always some optimism for the future. Some hope that as bad as it is now? It will eventually get better. The economy will recover, tech jobs…

> "The one thing that my generation (Gen X) seemed to have was always some optimism for the future."

The vibe among Gen X was that the west was going to get invaded / nuked by the Soviets or economically crushed by the Japanese.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#755

Post by bbqbbqbbq »

nvch wrote: post #621
HerbManic wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is Taoist/Buddhist translator Red Pine (Bill Porter) who once said something along the line of; if the Taoists and traditional Buddhists where in charge, we wouldnt have built the world like we have today. It would be angled towards happiness and satisfaction rather than growth of the machine. Taken at an absolutists stance you could easily push that argument down (are you against ALL of modernity?!). But the over…

In this case, we might not have an advanced civilization with modern medicine and technology. Herbs for healing, candles for lighting, letters for communication. (Perhaps I wouldn't be alive without modern medicine. I suppose it's not easy to be dead and happy.) Don't get me wrong, I love Taoism and Buddhism. But, from what I understand, they are not very pro-civilization and pro-progress.

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Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#756

Post by ryukoposting »

Aurornis wrote: post #618
bontaq wrote: post #409

My mom said, "whatever we built isn't working anymore," and I think that captures most of the sentiment. It's also funny to see the "the economy is roaring!" "incomes are up!". Great, have they increased by as much as inflation? Can I afford a home? Work has if anything gotten worse in general. Remote's gone. Pay's less. ADHD maximum AI use required. Nobody can take a break. Pressure's on. 1.5 trillion more to the mi…

> It's also funny to see the "the economy is roaring!" "incomes are up!". Great, have they increased by as much as inflation? Can I afford a home? Gen Z home ownership is outpacing millenial home ownership at the same age. There's a lot of denial around this topic because everywhere you turn there's a Reddit post or news headline about how housing is impossible to afford. > Pay's less. Less than the narrow window of…

> Gen Z home ownership is outpacing millenial home ownership at the same age.

The median Zoomer is in their mid-20s. You're comparing rounding errors.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#757

Post by regularization »

orangecat wrote: post #580
regularization wrote: post #112

The average inflation-adjusted hourly wage in the US has fallen over the past 50 years. With productivity and wealth gains, the median worker working for an hour is making less. Meanwhile, the heirs and rentiers and "rich kids of Instagram" are doing better than ever. Trump just sued the SPLC for investigating neo-nazis and the Ku Klux Klan while Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Lebanon, Gaza etc. are bombed, blockade and what…

The average inflation-adjusted hourly wage in the US has fallen over the past 50 years. No: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N

What I said is correct. Inflation-adjusted hourly wages are down.

You posted a link that people are working more hours per year, so their yearly inflation-adjusted income is up.

So you're really posting the second negative here, thanks. As I said, tge average hourly median wage is below what it was 50 years ago. From the same federal reports you linked. Plus, we can see from here, that not only are people paid less per hour, they have to work more.

I don't know why you think these two negative things post a rosy picture.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#758

Post by ItsClo688 »

bontaq wrote: post #409

My mom said, "whatever we built isn't working anymore," and I think that captures most of the sentiment. It's also funny to see the "the economy is roaring!" "incomes are up!". Great, have they increased by as much as inflation? Can I afford a home? Work has if anything gotten worse in general. Remote's gone. Pay's less. ADHD maximum AI use required. Nobody can take a break. Pressure's on. 1.5 trillion more to the mi…

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Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#759

Post by xethos »

Aurornis wrote: post #601
davesque wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why did houses used to be affordable even in those dense regions with high paying jobs? People act as though housing has always been prohibitively expensive in city centers but it hasn't. My dad bought a house in Boulder, CO of all places easily in the 90s. And of course he made a killing off of it because the housing market went completely insane over the next two decades. I now make more money than he ever did…

> Then why did houses used to be affordable even in those dense regions with high paying jobs? Because those city centers have remained the same size while demand for living there continues to increase More demand for a fixed set of land drives prices up. Those city centers today are not equivalent to the same city centers 35 year ago.

> More demand for a fixed set of land drives prices up.

This works because both you and GP specified "[free-standing] house". This is not true of homes, where multiple homes can occupy the same land - just 15 feet higher or lower

Perhaps someday more American cities will discover the third dimension, allowing for cheaper housing

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#760

Post by hunterpayne »

MattGrommes wrote: post #243

The specific decline in happiness in English speaking countries is very interesting. My first guess is that non-English speakers have to use their own news sources and don't fall prey to the same doom and gloom, everything is terrible, "news" sources on cable and the internet. Seems like there might be a good lesson in there.

If you run a propagandizing bot farm, which languages do you focus upon? Think about that for a bit and you will know why this is happening.
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