The U.S. Economy is Doing Well Despite the Whiners
The media feeds us story after story of how the American people are suffering because of the state of the U.S. economy. It is mostly driven by recent price increases. We are told that the average American family is being “crushed” by increased food and gas prices. These stories are reinforced by selective interviews with people who talk about the severe impact increased costs are having on them.
On the other hand, the hard cold economic facts suggest that both the economy is strong and the impact of the current run of price increases is relatively modest on the average American family. Yes … there are a small percentage of Americans who suffer disproportionately from any price increase – truly suffer. They are also the same folks who were suffering from the ravages of poverty in the past.
But in terms of the overall picture, the economy is good and very few Americans are truly “suffering” or in “desperate straits” as we see reported.
Of course, complaining about price increases is as natural as grandma’s apple pie. But we should understand that those media reports of pandemic suffering because of the state of the U.S. economy are mostly mendacious political narratives … partisan propaganda.
No one likes price increases … no one. And those politically motivated narratives may paint a dark picture, but the facts suggest otherwise.
For sure, many Americans are complaining. But are they suffering? Not really. Most American are doing just fine – even in the face of price increases.
So … let us look at the facts. For that, I often turn to economist Robert Genetski. (if you do not know him, do the Google or Ai thing). Here are some observations from his most recent report.
“Stock prices soared and oil prices fell from $112 to $95 as investors continue to anticipate an end to hostilities with Iran. First quarter earnings among key tech companies were up 20% to 50% from a year ago. All major indexes reached new all-time highs this week. Tech heavy Nasdaq and QQQs led with gains of 4%, the S&P 500 and Russel 2000 rose 2%.”
“As oil prices have moved slightly down from their peaks, longer-term interest rates have also moved slightly lower. Unfortunately, with the extension of the war into May, monthly inflation will be higher than we anticipated. As a result, we expect interest rates will remain elevated until the third quarter, when inflation is likely to begin its downtrend.”
And what about that inflation rate – or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as if is formally known? Yes, it is increasing at the moment, but still rather low. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is running at 3.3 percent. Compare that to the Biden Inflation of 9 percent, and we still see an economy ethat is in good shape in terms of inflation – and will likely get better.
Importantly, the Bureau reports a wage growth rate of 3.5 percent – which means that the incomes of American workers are pacing slightly ahead of the inflation rate. In other words, American’s purchasing power remains level.
Put simply, it means the American worker can cover the increased costs without any significant changes in spending habits. That is substantiated by consumer purchasing. There has been no meaningful reduction in retail sales. People are buying the same stuff they purchased in the past — even at higher prices because they can afford to do so. That does not look like suffering on a mass scale.
It seems that a lot of people are saying they are being crushed by the economy, If the economy is so good, why do they say that? It seems this is one of those situations President Lincoln had in mind when he said, “widely held beliefs, whether well or ill founded, have the impact of fact.” The crushing economy is certainly a widely held belief – but obviously ill founded.
Democrats push the Draconian economic message for political reasons. It is to hurt Republicans in the upcoming midterm election. That is normal politics. However, it is amplified by an irrational hatred of President Trump. Grassroots left-wing partisans and Trump haters are eager to spread the message without consideration to the facts. Left-wing media makes the Democrat propaganda the mainstay of their reporting. And, I hate to say it, but we have become a nation of whiners – people who believe one less dinner in an upscale restaurant is a personal catastrophe.
There is a saying in politics that what the party in power points to with pride, the out party views with alarm. That seems to apply to the state of the U.S. economy. What impact the alarmist might have on the midterm election is yet to be seen, but we can rest assured that for now the economy is in good shape and the people are still benefiting – not suffering – from free market capitalism.
So, there ‘tis.
Keep the faith brother. Telling them they are whiners did not work for us.
Keep telling them they have plenty of money, wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
Dunger you’re rooting against America again
Sethsucksshit has not a clue what he is talking about. Again.
Let him show how that’s rooting against America
And once again I ask you to prove the other times. Again.
And you called me a liar but never had the balls to prove that either. And I asked again and again.
Have some balls to prove something you accuse. Again.
Just another maga bullshitter, all hat, all bull. .
Frank Stetson aka Danger. A prose by any other would smell … (we’ll just leave it there). You resurrecting your old screen name to fool folks …or you just forgot who you are? LOL And all that bragging about your money. It screams insecurity.
Horist: I would think Joe-Larry Horist-Gilbertson would be a little more tolerant of machine takeovers. But nooooo. Thou must attack, thou must vanquish.
Try staying on point.
If I state my money wins for the week, a pretty good one at $20k profit and you think it’s bragging; I am so sorry for your passive-aggressive envy. Just a fact dude, get over it. 😡 otherwise I will report on my year making you really cry in your beer while I sneer in your ear…..
Stocks, jobs, wages. A little problem with oil prices right now. But that’s going to be solved soon. And the republicans are going to win the midterms. And California. And an oil rich new state will soon be ours. It’s for the betterment of the country. Not political gerrymandering like the communist democrats try to do. So think before you speak Dunger. I know things aren’t perfect but the thoughts of the token ho winning in 2024 is seriously sickening
Howeird R. Whitesheepke: keep the faith bro; just a little gas problem. Don’t let that yuge deficit hit you on the way out as consumer confidence craters like never before. Maybe the ballroom, or the reflecting pool or the arch or all the planes for his cabinet.
This economy is numerically worse than Biden’s and we know your thoughts on that.
Tis your people that are upset that you should worry about. I’m OK. Pulled in another 10K today on fixed assets from other days stock sales. Will take four years but hey, I can wait. Not buying stocks, suckers bet. One piece of bad news and this suckers gonna blow. May get a defense mutual; that always pays.
Methinks you boys protest too much.
And again Dunger is full of shit. The name Dunger fits. But kumbreath Harris would have made the deficit worse. Which was caused by democrats
So Larry, now you are telling the citizens of the US how they should feel about their finances’-oh, I forgot, you are the all knowing, self proclaimed ‘Oracle of Boca’.. Unfortunately for you, it is not the media telling people how they should feel, it is the citizens of this great nation telling us how they feel. The inflation is only part of the story, the real story is jobs-job creation under Trump can only be described as weak compared to the last year under Biden (I choose not to compare job creation for Biden’s first three years as it can be argued that those jobs were simply replacing the jobs lost under Covid), bottom line, almost no jobs were added in 2025, and the average in 2026 thus far is about 100,000 less per month than the last year of the Biden presidency. Of course you argue “inflation was so much worse under Biden”. True, however, virtually none of that was due to actions by Biden-there was extreme inflation around the world during that period, and of course you neglect to add that inflation here was less than almost any other country. A small amount of inflation in the US was caused by the payments made by the government to prop up spending, most economists estimate 2% for a short period of time, which allowed us to recover from the Covid recession quickly (again faster than almost any other country). But during this time we also had price increases due to gasoline expenses, what was the cause there? Early on, as we came out of Covid lockdowns and people started driving again, there was a limited oil supply, and prices rose. Why? Because a fool that left the WH in January 2021 negotiated a deal for the OPEC members to throttle back their production during Covid, and the agreement lasted for two years, which caused prices to rise due to reduced production once the world started consuming again. Then, after that, we had Trump’s buddy Putin attack Ukraine, which again upset the oil market-neither due to Biden…. So, let’s look at today’s inflation. Definitely lower than 2022, but can we address the causes? Inflation before the Iran war-caused by Trump’s illegal tariffs. After the start of the war-again caused by Trump-a reduction in oil supply around the world, none of which would have happened if not for the ill-advised war that Trump started, a war that has already killed thousands of innocents, and cost us Billions directly, and Billions more indirectly through increased costs to consumers. So, go ahead Larry, be like Sean Duffy, idiot secretary of Transportation (recall he has been making a road trip reality series while he should have been leading the agency he is head of) who recently told us to ‘go ahead, take a road trip. Perfect time to travel’. You are just as clueless as he is….
Spot on Mike. Plus Biden tried the same thing, and his numbers were better, sans the inflation, which was partly caused by Trump AND Biden made moves to bring it down. Trump just says it’s fake news about affordability, what’ that even mean? As you noted, he should get out more, stay awake, and quit have Vance take his cognitive tests as his puppet proxy. He add his cabinet are tone deaf exuding a “let them eat cake” royalist viewpoint as they get free food, free shelter, and free rides everywhere they go.
The bill these guys are running up while cooking the books is beyond belief and they can hide the dirt under the rug for only so long. You can’t budget $1M for the reflecting pool now at $14M and climbing, get a “free ballroom” on donors, or a wall on Mexico and then ask for $1B from taxpayers instead or that hideous fake French Arch de Triumph at $14M to $400M estimates meaning over $1B in reality… And the war bills have not even come in yet. He buffers this with his tariff taxes to cook the books; if the SCOTUS continues to take that away, we are really cooked.
Under Trump the debt/gdp ratio went over 100% meaning we owe more each year than we can produce as in our debt, under Trump, is bigger than Trump’s economy. The first time we cleared 100% was after WWII and The Greatest Generation took 35 years to reach a lower target until Reagan began the rising trend we see today. Obama crossed the line, pulled back, as did Biden. But Trump, he just puts peddle to the metal and keeps spending. He cuts, but spends more. He fires but spends more. And he has spending overruns across the board. Like his uneven economy, Trump’s ability to attract foreign investment looks strong, but new investments are fading harkening darker days ahead.
Imagine personal debt being over 100% of what you earn: chances are you won’t last long. Yet, if like me on the high side of the K, you might be getting better rates, can invest for higher interest than what you are paying, and other forms of leverage. But on the lower side of the K, you go bankrupt. Our sovereign nation is the former, we get great rates, for foreign investment we are the best deal in town, and thank God, China/Russia cheat and cook books so not going all in there. But, new foreign investment down is a very troubling sign. We cannot afford to borrow more and this guy keeps borrowing more. Almost every time there’s a runup of the debt/gdp ratio, a recession follows. If that trend holds, we are in for a whopper. And Trump’s response, ie the right one, will be to print money which he will probable bungle.
What Larry leaves out is the K-shaped economy, a factor both Biden and Trump economies face, for different reasons as you noted. I’m on the upper leg of the K and my issue is all the mean-testing and middle class tax adders that are crushing me with higher payments. Thousands a year under Trump for Medicare and Social Security means testing. I will admit, while on Trump’s watch, Trump did not pass these bills that are kicking in bigtime now. The point is the people on the lower leg of the keg are getting pinched by fuel prices alone and while you can say “not as bad as Biden,” last I checked, bankrupt is bankrupt and “not as bad” does not help when you are.
I think Scott Bessant summed up Trump’s view perfectly: Secretary Scott Bessant said, credit card spending is through the roof and that’s a good thing for the economy. Yeah, he dared to say that. “They’re spending more on gasoline, but they’re spending more on everything else, too” he said with a beaming smile. Uh, that’s tone deaf as well as stupid to equate higher debt to a stronger economy. Credit card debt is up because people are strapped and are floating living expenses, like gas, on their credit card at crushing 18-26% rates. Trump asked banks to pull back; crickets. FYI: I have not spent one penny in credit card interest in over 50 years; that’s what I think about that. The only time I spent money on any debt beyond mortgage was in my 20′ to build credit and that lasted one year. I paid the mortgage off in my early 40’s. I would only pay interest to make interest somewhere else. I am THAT conservative. Fiscally at least.
I hold the debt/gdp ratio as the top number in determining a sovereign nation’s long-range economic health. Biden made an attempt three out of four years, and then blew it in his election year. Trump has blown it historically setting a record in term 1 and well on his way to top that record in term 2. While the economy has some positive numbers, they are not great. A booming stock market does not help most of America’s wallets. And there are many storm clouds, like spending, the deficit, and the debt we should be focusing on instead of, like Trump, Bessant, and Larry, totally ignoring.
Awwww!!! Dunger and little Mike f as in fag. Two queers in a barrel
Sethsucksshit’s gaydar is on high intensity as he sees gays everywhere he looks. And he calls them “queer” because this troglodyte can’t budge from the 80’s. Stupid fucking trailer trash maga rat needle necked pygmy prick squibodian tiffwa.
Sees gays everywhere, especially in his mirror. Fucking closet cases are the worst.
He can’t prove me a liar, he can’t prove me rooting against America, he accuse, he spews doo-doo with much foo-foo, but where the rubber meets the road, he’s a useless rubber. Spent, broken, busted.
Come on man, get a new spew.
Some say I root against America by sharing facts. I say be careful when you cherry pick recent reports for spin. Larry touted inflation as “rather low,” and wage growth as “slightly ahead.” Be careful what you ask for when you pick off a single data point versus a multi-data point trend.
“Yes, it (inflation) is increasing at the moment, but still rather low. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is running at 3.3 percent.”
Ooops, make that 3.8% inflation and rising so less still rather low and trending in the wrong direction. No one, except the Trump administration is seeing a trend reversal anytime soon.
“Importantly, the Bureau reports a wage growth rate of 3.5 percent – which means that the incomes of American workers are pacing slightly ahead of the inflation rate.”
Ooops, gas up 20% from a year ago hurts. Good news, Trump is going to allow us to import beef as America First goes out the window. It’s cheaper now to get beef from Australia; how is that even possible in a rational world. He’s already relaxing sanctions on Russian oil making them rich while we pay what we pay at the pump. Again, the trend is in the wrong direction and no one except the Trump administration see a reversal in the near future.
Ooooops, latest wage report has a 3.6% rise. That’s a loser against the current 3.8% interest. Ditto on the trending.
Ask yourself: are you better off today than you were 1/21/2025?
I am, but it’s an effort. For example, gonna buy a defense mutual today to hedge some risk. Cast my primary vote yesterday and I didn’t vote 100% Democrat. Hey, I live in Trump country and some positions didn’t have a Democrat to choose from, heh, heh.
All I can say is; buckle up buttercup. With the market roller-coaster as it is, tis a very dangerous place right now. Tis a real tipping point for big moves based on small pieces of news. Remember, the smart money, the big money, is always ahead of the curve and faster than Joe Mainstreet. Look to fixed assets and “real” assets like infrastructure, tangible assets like factories, buildings, and materials. Like my defense mutual —- real steel!!! The other shit I might day trade, but longer term —- scary.