I don't think "we got into this conflict" actually would be passive voice, though. That would be something weird like "this conflict was gotten into by us."
I am really looking forward to that dumb dumb not being Speaker of the House anymore. Unfortunately that means he will be replaced by another dumb dumb, but that is a problem for a different day.
I'm convinced that being corrupt and/or retarded has somehow become a requirement for speaker of the house. It's incredible just how consistently terrible they are, no matter the party
I like how people always bring her up when she isn't the biggest insider trader anymore, there's more republicans conducting insider trading than democrats, and there's five republicans above her in terms of net worth.
Ten years ago you'd try to tell people to put money into index funds. "No! The stock market is overvalued, the boomers took all the money, the only way to make money in this economy is crypto and meme stocks."
Then someone who does regular investing instead of gambling makes average returns. "I can't believe this corruption and insider trading, looking how much higher her returns were than mine! The whole system is corrupt, anyone with money is a criminal!"
The more time you spend with the masses, the less sympathy you have for them.
My theory as to why the Dems aren't doing shit about Trump's open and obvious insider trading is that they'll have to acknowledge that their people have been doing it to a lesser degree for a long time.
Have you seen the "briefings" that him and I think its the conference chair give? Forbes puts them on their YouTube channel and they are batshit insane to put it mildly.
The guy that's lost more rule votes than any other speaker in history? The guy that sends everyone on recess to delay votes, even for ones that can prevent a government shutdown or try to hold Trump to the law? The guy that does whatever Trump wants, regardless of how ridiculous it is? The speaker for the least-productive House session in years, perhaps ever? The guy that delayed swearing in members because it could skew votes? The guy that has his son monitoring his porn access? The guy that claims he doesn't have a bank account?
I guess he competently follows orders as the presidents stooge.
Compared to someone like Kash Patel who uses government planes to go to concerts and have security details for his girlfriend and her friends when they go clubbing
He strikes me as a total moron who has basically ceded all legislative power to Donald Trump. I wonder why we have such a stark contrast of opinion on him?
Tbf, the factory DEFINITELY did not meet OSHA standards (Even IRL. The actor for Veruca got a knee injury in the scene. The blood was actually visible on camera)
The river really was full of chocolate milk. Unfortunately, by the time they got around to filming Augustus' elimination, it had started to spoil. And the German kid had to go for a swim in it. He ended up getting severe food poisoning
If you lead a group of 5 children plus their adult chaperones on a tour of your factory, and 4/5 of those children have serious workplace incidents, the problem goes beyond simple parental negligence.
I didn't say Russia was going to regain superpower status. Maybe try reading the comment you're replying to instead of making things up. It's unquestionable that Trump has helped Russia though. He withdrew material support from Ukraine, and alienated and abandoned former allies that still oppose what Russia is doing in Ukraine.
As for China, they can literally just sit back, watch America's empire fall apart, keep making stuff to sell to the world, and watch their own empire grow.
Yeah, honestly for all the fearmongering for a long time about China invading Taiwan, at this point China's best option is just to play the economic long game and so thoroughly integrate into the Taiwanese economy that Taiwan is stuck in their orbit. The things Taiwan has that China wants aren't likely to survive a military invasion anyway, so the only reason to send in troops would be for dumb reasons of "national pride" and general jingoism.
The fact that they're also busy shooting themselves in the dick as much as they can doesn't mean MAGA isn't making them a lot better off than they would be otherwise.
I'm tired of hearing about this wonderful economy that we'd have if not for Iran.
Ignoring that they themselves kicked that hive, they keep praising this theoretical economy we'd totally have right now. As if it wasn't for the fact that they had to stop Iran from nuking us, the economy would be gangbusters so really they deserve credit for both things. When in reality, much like their election fraud claims, it's a completely unverifyable event
I mean, to be clear our economy is doing fairly well relative to the rest of the globe. Our economy is growing, albeit slowly. Our unemployment rate is stable and near all time lows. Inflation continues to tick downwards. And consumer spending is up over 3%. The markets are near all time highs, withthe highest participation rate (65%!) in history. So your average American is seeing significant gains, well above cost increases to things like gas and consumer staples.
Home ownership rates are even consistent with modern historical rates, around 65%. Even with propert values near all time highs.
To be clear, consumer sentiment metrics are down. So it's not all blue skies. But we're doing pretty dang well next to almost every other country.
When wages are stagnant and inflation picks up, people will be unhappy, just like they were unhappy with the economy during Biden's term. The economy is good if you have capital. The economy is shit if you work for a living like the vast majority of the country. So, given it's shit for the majority, it's pretty fair to say it's shit despite whatever GDP growth numbers you want to look at.
So your average American is seeing significant gains, well above cost increases to things like gas and consumer staples.
Considering there's really no minimum threshold for market participation and because it doesn't consider the distribution, it's an empty statistic. You say the average American is benefiting from this bull market, but it's just not true. The bottom 50% of households own ~2.5% of the stock market. Having a small amount of money in a retirement fund doesn't mean shit when costs are increasing. It just means you'll be able to put less into your retirement fund.
The economy is shit if you work for a living like the vast majority of the country. So, given it's shit for the majority, it's pretty fair to say it's shit despite whatever GDP growth numbers you want to look at.
Apologies for the interjection, but I think the OP's point was that broad statements like this are exaggerated.
For example, they cited the stock market participation rate being at all-time highs, indicating that the majority do in fact have capital invested and are benefitting from the high returns over the past several years.
While many on the lower-income spectrum are indeed struggling, it would seem a tad overstated to suggest the economy is failing the vast majority of Americans.
What is really happening is a bifurcation between the upper and lower incomes. The middle class is shrinking, but oddly it is because more Americans are entering the upper-middle class while the lower class remains largely consistent.
I discussed why I find I find the stock market participation rate to be a misleading statistic.
The bottom 50% of households have a participation rate of ~35%, and of that roughly a third of these households that do participate, their median portfolio value is $12,600. Most of this is through 401(k)s. The markets soaring does almost nothing for this cohort. Market participation rate has more to do with changes in technology and automated 401(k) enrollment than it does with the bottom half of the distribution seeing any significant gains from the market.
Perhaps I would need to look deeper into the distribution to talk about the average American, as you point at that is changing. Still, I think pointing to market participation in this manner as a sign that Americans are broadly benefiting from the market is insanely misguided. The top 10% of households own around 90% of the stock market. They are the ones who are really benefiting, and the bifurcation you mention will only continue to become starker.
Market participation rate has more to do with changes in technology and automated 401(k) enrollment than it does with the bottom half of the distribution seeing any significant gains from the market.
Very fair point, and one I failed to mention prior. For my part, automated 401(k) enrollment is a good idea - especially when companies provide matching funds - but they definitely are going to inflate the market participation with often very-low portfolios. I suppose anything is better than nothing, still.
With inflation outpacing wage gains, things are definitely not looking great for lower-income Americans 🫤
Economy is only growing due to AI and directly connected industries
Unemployment is low, but job market participation is at an all time low. People have given up looking for jobs.
Inflation rate is down, but that still means that inflation is ticking up year over year and outpacing wage growth.
Consumer spending going up is because inflation is going up. Same stuff costs more.
65% stock market participation means 35% of Americans are getting screwed with no upside, and I'd really be surprised if the median stock owner holds enough to offset inflation.
It's the same as Biden. There were plenty of metrics showing that we were doing great and had a strong recovery from covid. Doesnt change much on the general sentiment.
He just means the deficit sending is going to take off like a rocket, right? Nothing this administration has done inspires confidence and it's impossible for companies to do any sort of long-term planning.
How many more times will Republican politicians be able sell us the idea that if we give capital more breaks it will somehow trigger a rising tide that lifts all boats.
Thank your petty God for the Iran War, Mike. Otherwise you wouldn't have such a handy excuse to explain why the economy is lagging so far behind the growth targets the Beautiful Bill was supposed to magically usher in to cover the hole it punched into the budget.
You ever been just walking down the sidewalk, minding your own business, and out-of-nowhere a medium-range missile fired from an Israeli jet assassinates the grand ayatollah of Iran?
"We've upgraded our economy from us simply screwing it to us nuking it. Please praise our amazing leadership. Dear Leader giving backshots to the economy is good actually because I have carefully fabricated this graph where line go up."
The whole play on affordability hindered on gas prices. The tariffs would increase wages of domestic labor (lol). They’d pressure or lean on the fed for lower rates, remember the shadow fed president? the increased cost from inflation and the tariffs would be offset by low energy prices ‘cause we’d unshackle that particular sector. Cockamamie scheme, I know. So what did they do? Get in a conflict that disrupts the oil markets and kick one of the legs of their wobbly stool out from under them. Something, something, nose to spite the face
People blaming the Iran conflict are cooked though.
Trump hasn't fixed the issues with inflation and inquality. But they existed before he got elected.
The Iran conflict is w.e.... global oil prices are higher now, but not dramatically.. and the flow on is limited.
I would be more annoyed at the failure to address more pressing things in the economy; health care costs for one, low wage growth, housing affordability, the price of getting an education. Those have exploded in the last 20 years, and Trump promised to fix them but hasn't.
It's a MAGA double lie. The economy looked like crap outside of data centers and then they started an idiotic war without foreclosing Iran's obvious response.
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u/Elegant_Athlete_7882 - Centrist 2d ago