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> y. It's actually insane how well the US economy is doing. The economy is doing insanely well while its people are doing insanely bad. The life has been dropp

> y. It's actually insane how well the US economy is doing. The economy is doing insanely well while its people are doing insanely bad. The life has been dropping for two years in a row [1] and there were around 110k deaths of despair between February 2021 and February 2022 [2]. If those are the signs of an economy doing "insanely well" I dread to see what a recession will bring. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/... [2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rising-physical-pain-is-linked-to-more-deaths-of-despair1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rising-physical-p...

tptacek 3y ago
Employment is high, real incomes are rising, the US economy is growing faster and with less inflation than any of its peers. There are limits to what an economy, over the span of 4 or 8 or 10 years, can do to stem "despair". But in the sense that we measure economies, "the people" aren't doing "insane bad". The last few years of the economy have been pretty good for people.
- paganel 3y ago
  > The last few years of the economy have been pretty good for people I'm sure that is has been doing great for middle- to high-middle-class people active on this website, I had hoped though that some of those middle- to high-middle-class people would have opened their eyes to the reality around them, but apparently they don't. Even dictatorial China has a better life expectancy than the US, Albania even, all this while middle-class people call this US economy as "insanely good"?
  - tptacek 3y ago
    No, the economy has been doing better for everybody for the last several years. The US life expectancy is a function of cars and guns, not the economy.
    - paganel 3y ago
      And I thought the Communist brain-washing was doing great back in the '80s, but this is next level. You're ignoring the huge drug problem that is causing that life expectancy drop and blaming it on guns (?!?) and cars (?!?). What can I say, I'm 100% sure that the next US populist president that will get elected (be it Trump or anyone else) will be blamed on either the Russians (like in 2016), the Chinese, the electorate being stupid (like in 2016) or on the aliens, not on the dreadful material conditions that are present throughout the US. And wage slavery is a thing, it's no use if you have a job if it barely allows you to pay for (some) housing and some food, no matter what the unemployment statistics might say.
      - tptacek 3y ago
        If you think "cars" is a "?!?" in American life expectancy stats, our premises and information sources are too far apart for us to have a productive conversation.

tptacek 3y ago

Employment is high, real incomes are rising, the US economy is growing faster and with less inflation than any of its peers. There are limits to what an economy, over the span of 4 or 8 or 10 years, can do to stem "despair". But in the sense that we measure economies, "the people" aren't doing "insane bad". The last few years of the economy have been pretty good for people.

paganel 3y ago
> The last few years of the economy have been pretty good for people I'm sure that is has been doing great for middle- to high-middle-class people active on this website, I had hoped though that some of those middle- to high-middle-class people would have opened their eyes to the reality around them, but apparently they don't. Even dictatorial China has a better life expectancy than the US, Albania even, all this while middle-class people call this US economy as "insanely good"?
- tptacek 3y ago
  No, the economy has been doing better for everybody for the last several years. The US life expectancy is a function of cars and guns, not the economy.
  - paganel 3y ago
    And I thought the Communist brain-washing was doing great back in the '80s, but this is next level. You're ignoring the huge drug problem that is causing that life expectancy drop and blaming it on guns (?!?) and cars (?!?). What can I say, I'm 100% sure that the next US populist president that will get elected (be it Trump or anyone else) will be blamed on either the Russians (like in 2016), the Chinese, the electorate being stupid (like in 2016) or on the aliens, not on the dreadful material conditions that are present throughout the US. And wage slavery is a thing, it's no use if you have a job if it barely allows you to pay for (some) housing and some food, no matter what the unemployment statistics might say.
    - tptacek 3y ago
      If you think "cars" is a "?!?" in American life expectancy stats, our premises and information sources are too far apart for us to have a productive conversation.