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Government spending contributed to 0.8pp of the growth. Pretty significant. But the main driver is consumer spending, especially on durable goods. These are th
by jonnycomputer 3y ago
Government spending contributed to 0.8pp of the growth. Pretty significant. But the main driver is consumer spending, especially on durable goods.
These are the good times that the government should use pay to pay off debt by taxing more and spending less.
I don't put much stock in your feelings about the economy. My feeling is, I see people shopping at the mall, I see them filling the bars, and I see them buying new cars. The problem some people may be having is that they over-extended themselves and now owe too much. For example, while their real wages have actually gone up, they may have underestimated how much inflation would erode the real value of their nominal wage increases (I did this, in fact). So they took out loans they thought would be easy to pay, at interest rates that were higher than they were used to, and found that they had made the wrong bet. The disatisfaction, imo, is all about disappointed expectations, not the actual living conditions people have. I got a 20k raise, but now it feels more like a 12k raise, and meanwhile I took out a loan for a kitchen remodel.
- s1gnp0st 3y agoMost people in this country are much poorer than the people remodeling their kitchens. You're speaking from a solidly middle-class perspective.
- jonnycomputer 3y agoAre you saying that poor people could not have under-estimated inflation relative to their (very real) income gains and acquired debt that they could not, as it turns out, pay for? The point is that uncertainty increased, and many people made the wrong bet, e.g. your hourly wage went from $10 to $15, a 50% increase. You buy a car (yes, even poor people buy cars), but the used car market spiked in price, and the interest rates too, and besides, everything just got more expensive. And so, it turns out that your wage increase feels more like a $2/hr increase instead of a $5/hr increase, and you're stuck trying to pay off more car than you can actually afford. Yes, I am fortunate enough to earn a middle-class income for my family. I grew up poor in a poor neighborhood with a lot of crime. Sometimes you can climb the ladder.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]