Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

391–400 of 877 posts

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#391

Post by Zarath »

nimbius wrote: post #98

This is anecdotal and it might come across as bitter and tonedeaf as someone who is not in a STEM job and cant see the bigger picture very well. Im a diesel engine tech who repairs those big trucks carrying food and shit tickets to grocery stores. the fact that ANY market is completely detached from whats actually happening to Americans is frustrating. My job just cut benefits and hours but we're "essential." Remembe…

Yep, I've seen places close in even the richest (read: highest rent) areas of town

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#392

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

inscionent wrote: post #352
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many parts of the world, what the original comment describes is simply a normal day; the only reason Americans typically do better than that is our strong economy. We know what economies without strong quarterly profits and Ruby Tuesday look like, and they don't support the modern American standard of living.

Now try to imagine an economy that values human capital over never end growth. We can do better, but it requires a different kind thinking.

We value neverending growth because it represents an increase in the amount and quality of goods and services people want. Most people I've seen talk about valuing human capital over neverending growth tend to believe everyone should live as well as the American middle class - I agree with that, but we won't be able to make it happen without more economic growth.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#393

Post by toomuchtodo »

0xffff2 wrote: post #390
OldHand2018 wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, if it gets taken away it gets given to me as the senior lien holder. For best legal protection, I should loan her money with some nominal interest rate. A distant family member did this on the house of one of their kids, and it saved them from losing it in a foreclosure. The other lender was so angry with them for refusing to release their lien; but they couldn't legally force them to do it.

So you're paying cash for the car? If there's no loan, who exactly is going to take it away?

Any creditor you can’t pay who goes through the trouble of getting a judgement against you. This could be a credit card company, a healthcare provider, anyone you owe money to but can’t afford to pay.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#394

Post by thescriptkiddie »

0xffff2 wrote: post #371
mcphilip wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is anecdotal and it might come across as bitter and tonedeaf as someone who is not in a STEM job and cant see the bigger picture very well. Im a diesel engine tech who repairs those big trucks carrying food and shit tickets to grocery stores. the fact that ANY market is completely detached from whats actually happening to Americans is frustrating. Thanks for posting this comment. I know it sounds trite, but I’…

> My question is how much, if any, social unrest this will lead to. My question is how many people have absolutely no ties to the stock market? I'm pretty far from any definition of rich, but I still have a 401k, so you're not likely to see me rioting because the S&P 500 is in the green.

Only 52% of americans own any stock whatsoever [0], and the richest 10% of americans own 84% of all stock.

[0] https://news.gallup.com/poll/190883/half-americans-own-stock...

[1] https://www.nber.org/papers/w24085

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#395

Post by ironmagma »

lisper wrote: post #341
nimbius wrote: post #98

This is anecdotal and it might come across as bitter and tonedeaf as someone who is not in a STEM job and cant see the bigger picture very well. Im a diesel engine tech who repairs those big trucks carrying food and shit tickets to grocery stores. the fact that ANY market is completely detached from whats actually happening to Americans is frustrating. My job just cut benefits and hours but we're "essential." Remembe…

> nobody seems to care. A lot of people care. Many of those who care believe that the situation we're in right now is caused (or at least greatly exacerbated) by incompetent leadership at the national level, but unfortunately that view is not shared by a substantial fraction of the American people, and against that kind of headwind there is only so much we can do.

On top of that, an even greater fraction of people who believe that the administration is incompetent, believe the correct solution to that predicament is to vote the opposite party come election time. It’s as if change in the election system isn’t even an option.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#396

Post by ModernMech »

hunter2_ wrote: post #322
Tistron wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Scandinavia we've had some sort of pragmatic market socialism, not much central planning but reasonable redistribution in various ways. Seems to work fairly well, although large parts of it has been (and is being) dismantled by the liberals (those are the right here, not the left).

Wait, are you saying that the terms "right/left" are used opposite compared to the US (meaning that the Scandinavian right prefers socialism), or that the term "liberal" is used opposite compared to the US (meaning that Scandinavian liberals oppose socialism)?

liberals everywhere oppose socialism. From wiki:

"Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law.[1][2][3] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support free markets, free trade, limited government, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), capitalism, democracy, secularism, gender equality, racial equality, internationalism, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion."

In the US, the overton window is so far right that liberals are considered left of moderates. But liberals are not leftists, i.e. people who would support socialism. It's like

left --------------------- liberals --- moderates ---- right

                ^Scandinavian moderate

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#397

Post by bjustin »

JibJabDab wrote: post #330
Filligree wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80-90% of people who catch this disease would survive without treatment. If America won't support people who might die of starvation when stuck at home, then the individually smartest response becomes to take their chance with the virus. I don't need to explain what a 10-20% death rate would do to society, however.

There's also some very concerning long-term effects for those who have recovered. There's a trend of seeing lung-scarring or other things that I'm sure will come up again int 10 or 15 years. Imagine that happening to a large portion of society.

Even recovered people who feel fine can have chronic issues due to the virus. Young, healthy people may come away with serious lung issues without realizing it[1].

[1] https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1253437512401301505

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#398

Post by gnulinux »

lbeltrame wrote: post #315
res0nat0r wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think folks are underestimating how long this will go on. At least until the end of the year, minimum. There is absolutely nowhere near the amount of testing being done in the USA due to incompetence, that is needed to allow folks to feel safe, or to safely allow bars / concert venues or other large gatherings to happen. Massive amounts of businesses are never coming back from that. We're a massively long way from…

> At least until the end of the year, minimum. Will people resist sheltering in place until the end of the year? I for sure won't. (and I'm not in the USA).

shelter in place is besides the point. People are not gonna go to bars and behave like nothing is happening if their loved ones are sick and getting killed. I'm 22 yo, healthy, no comorbid condition, but I for sure will not be as active as I was before COVID. I'll definitely go out, but I doubt I'll be going to concerts. I doubt I'll eat out every day. It'll definitely have some impact on the economy.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#399

Post by foepys »

amyjess wrote: post #296
aphextron wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No school means poor kids roam the street like packs of feral dogs asking for money for food around here. I think this is possibly the single biggest long term problem we're going to face as a result of all this. Economic recessions will come and go. But missing 5/8ths of a school year is going to be absolutely devastating for this generation of kids. They will be left permanently behind without a serious concerted…

When I was in third grade, we spent half the second semester learning about different kinds of whales. This is material I forgot pretty much as soon as it was over. When I graduated high school, my mom and I went through all my old elementary school material to see what we'd like to keep for sentimental value and what we're okay with throwing out to make room in the garage, and we were just overwhelmed by the sheer m…

Elementary school is not just about learning academic stuff but about personality development as well. Unless a child is very gifted, it will also get bored extremely fast.

Middle and high school is for everybody and college/University is for the smart 50% (or whatever).

It's natural that you cover more in less time in college/university because students that go there are already smarter than most.

If you try to apply the same standards to high school, you will push the dropout rate into 60 or more.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#400

Post by selimthegrim »

acomms wrote: post #340
OldHand2018 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lenders and banks were supposed to start going easy on loans but ive had two emails and a phone call about the loan for my Silverado this month and wouldnt you know, the caller was excited to mention my stimulus check. Don't settle for this. My niece had her car repossessed 3 weeks ago. They said for $18k cash she could have it. We told them to pound sand. She's borrowing cars and getting rides, but next week she'l…

This might be a dumb question, but wouldn't whoever sold the car/provided financing have the lien on the title? Wouldn't sale/financing be contingent on no other liens on the car/property?

Yes, this is why OP would provide the financing himself or pay cash.
Post reply on HN