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Massive unemployment would be substantially worse. Yes there are significant issues with today's economy, but sentiment seems to think it's comparable to depre

Massive unemployment would be substantially worse. Yes there are significant issues with today's economy, but sentiment seems to think it's comparable to depressions in the past. It's not even close.

_lvbh 2y ago
I don’t think people are comparing it to depressions in the past considering most young adults weren’t even born back then. People are just noticing the disparity in wealth, especially with social media making it much more easy to flaunt and see people flaunting their wealth. Before actually taking a look on Instagram, I didn’t even know it was possible to live the lavish lifestyles on there. Even more surprisingly, it was of people I knew in real life; vacationing on yachts and all across different luxurious parts of Europe while being students of the same University. A forbidden thought: “what do their parents do? If only I could live like that” but I just forget about it and resume boiling plain rice and lettuce with no sauce.
- atmavatar 2y ago
  https://www.businessinsider.com/us-recession-americans-believe-economic-downturn-new-poll-unemployment-2024-5?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/us-recession-americans-belie... A significant number of people believe we're currently in a recession and that unemployment is at a 50 year high (in fact, it's a 50-year low). That's likely due to significant propagandizing on outlets like Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, etc. But, to be fair, economic gains have been vastly disproportionately going to the wealthy, and despite recent (as in the last year) inflation being low, prices in the last 5-10 years have skyrocketed, so it's pretty easy to get the impression that inflation is still high. That's especially true when wage growth only recently started outpacing inflation. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-i... For many people, it doesn't feel like the economy is doing well, so it's pretty easy to confirm their biases by telling them it isn't.
  - tuatoru 2y ago
    If it doesn't feel like a good time to most people, then it isn't a good time. No one cares, or no one should care, about "the economy", some abstract bogeyman that the MSM is always going on about. They should be caring about the wellbeing of median and modal households. GDP was only ever intended by Kaldor to be a measure of general wellbeing, highly imperfect but the best available at the time. Now, it's a target, and we all know how that goes.
User23 2y ago
That’s because the “employment” data isn’t measuring “can a person easily get a good job.” It’s so cooked at this point it has as much to do with real jobs as the CPI does with real spending power.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  It's never been easy to get a good job unless you have an in demand skill. It's also likely the best time in history to get a mediocre job. $18 per hour for working retail isn't fabulous but it's easier to get now than it has ever been.
  - User23 2y ago
    > It's never been easy to get a good job unless you have an in demand skill. Not to put too fine a point on it, you sound very young. Rest assured that your handful of decades doesn’t suffice for a negative proof and furthermore plenty of counter examples are in living memory.
    - bryanlarsen 2y ago
      Sorry. Pumped gas for $4/hr in the 80's. Back then while you didn't have to be highly skilled to get a job like that there were always several applicants for such jobs. I've been through several depressions and know that while it isn't the best time economically, it's far from the worst.
      - User23 2y ago
        In 1980 a house that is considerably north of 250k today was 25k. And this isn’t guesswork, I’m talking about real actual houses in the same place. If anything I’m being conservative. So in terms of home ownership that $4 was at a minimum $40 today. Are there gas stations offering jobs pumping gas at $40-50 today? And if so are they at economically marginal scale? No? Yeah I didn’t think so. But I do appreciate your corroborating my point, even if it was through boomer solipsism rather than the ignorance of youth.

Massive unemployment would be substantially worse. Yes there are significant issues with today's economy, but sentiment seems to think it's comparable to depressions in the past. It's not even close.

_lvbh 2y ago

I don’t think people are comparing it to depressions in the past considering most young adults weren’t even born back then. People are just noticing the disparity in wealth, especially with social media making it much more easy to flaunt and see people flaunting their wealth. Before actually taking a look on Instagram, I didn’t even know it was possible to live the lavish lifestyles on there. Even more surprisingly, it was of people I knew in real life; vacationing on yachts and all across different luxurious parts of Europe while being students of the same University. A forbidden thought: “what do their parents do? If only I could live like that” but I just forget about it and resume boiling plain rice and lettuce with no sauce.

atmavatar 2y ago
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-recession-americans-believe-economic-downturn-new-poll-unemployment-2024-5?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/us-recession-americans-belie... A significant number of people believe we're currently in a recession and that unemployment is at a 50 year high (in fact, it's a 50-year low). That's likely due to significant propagandizing on outlets like Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, etc. But, to be fair, economic gains have been vastly disproportionately going to the wealthy, and despite recent (as in the last year) inflation being low, prices in the last 5-10 years have skyrocketed, so it's pretty easy to get the impression that inflation is still high. That's especially true when wage growth only recently started outpacing inflation. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-inflation-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-i... For many people, it doesn't feel like the economy is doing well, so it's pretty easy to confirm their biases by telling them it isn't.
- tuatoru 2y ago
  If it doesn't feel like a good time to most people, then it isn't a good time. No one cares, or no one should care, about "the economy", some abstract bogeyman that the MSM is always going on about. They should be caring about the wellbeing of median and modal households. GDP was only ever intended by Kaldor to be a measure of general wellbeing, highly imperfect but the best available at the time. Now, it's a target, and we all know how that goes.

User23 2y ago

That’s because the “employment” data isn’t measuring “can a person easily get a good job.” It’s so cooked at this point it has as much to do with real jobs as the CPI does with real spending power.

bryanlarsen 2y ago
It's never been easy to get a good job unless you have an in demand skill. It's also likely the best time in history to get a mediocre job. $18 per hour for working retail isn't fabulous but it's easier to get now than it has ever been.
- User23 2y ago
  > It's never been easy to get a good job unless you have an in demand skill. Not to put too fine a point on it, you sound very young. Rest assured that your handful of decades doesn’t suffice for a negative proof and furthermore plenty of counter examples are in living memory.
  - bryanlarsen 2y ago
    Sorry. Pumped gas for $4/hr in the 80's. Back then while you didn't have to be highly skilled to get a job like that there were always several applicants for such jobs. I've been through several depressions and know that while it isn't the best time economically, it's far from the worst.
    - User23 2y ago
      In 1980 a house that is considerably north of 250k today was 25k. And this isn’t guesswork, I’m talking about real actual houses in the same place. If anything I’m being conservative. So in terms of home ownership that $4 was at a minimum $40 today. Are there gas stations offering jobs pumping gas at $40-50 today? And if so are they at economically marginal scale? No? Yeah I didn’t think so. But I do appreciate your corroborating my point, even if it was through boomer solipsism rather than the ignorance of youth.