Everything is expensive

[Spider-Dan]

Phish, it seems like you believe you're saying, "Democrats should drop this position because it's a political loser," but I think you're actually saying, "Democrats should drop this position because I agree with Republicans on this one."

[Phishfan]

I do not believe a transgender female should compete against against naturally born females but I won't use that as a voting platform. There is more to be concerned about. That said,  to use it as a talking point during an economic discussion is not going to help Democrats gain any ground. You can project what you will at me but your party better find a different point to push and maybe stay on point a bit and try getting Americans to look in their wallet and bank account for the next election cycle.

[Spider-Dan]

The precise point I am making - the point the original tweet made - is that people are ignoring their wallets to vote on the culture war.

If you have a suggestion on how to make voters care more about the GOP destroying the economy every time they're in the White House than they care about the contents of someone else's underwear (ideally, a better suggestion than "Just let the Republicans win that fight"), I'm all ears.

[Denver2]

Prices are insane and worse than the worst time of the Biden administration, but I guess high prices don’t matter now and that was the only thing the media talked about for four years.

[CF DolFan]

Prices are insane and worse than the worst time of the Biden administration, but I guess high prices don’t matter now and that was the only thing the media talked about for four years.

As the seemingly conservative rep let me assure you high prices suck. Most of us have downsized and are still struggling. It's kind of funny that liberals didn't notice we were struggling until Trump took office but we have been struggling since 2020 and it's likely to get worse before it gets any better.

[CF DolFan]

The precise point I am making - the point the original tweet made - is that people are ignoring their wallets to vote on the culture war.

If you have a suggestion on how to make voters care more about the GOP destroying the economy every time they're in the White House than they care about the contents of someone else's underwear (ideally, a better suggestion than "Just let the Republicans win that fight"), I'm all ears.

Hate to be the one telling you this but the DNC is at an all time low because they apparently only fight culture wars with dramatic rhetoric. No one hears or see anything else from them.  Somehow the extreme progressive left has taken over the party with social justice and that doesn't jive with most people regardless of party affiliation.

[Spider-Dan]

As the seemingly conservative rep let me assure you high prices suck. Most of us have downsized and are still struggling. It's kind of funny that liberals didn't notice we were struggling until Trump took office but we have been struggling since 2020 and it's likely to get worse before it gets any better.

Yes, I'm sure you were "struggling" in 2015 and 2016, doing amazing from 2017 to early 2020, and then struggling since then.  Never mind what the numbers say about the economy!  Those are all rigged.

Hate to be the one telling you this but the DNC is at an all time low because they apparently only fight culture wars with dramatic rhetoric. No one hears or see anything else from them.

I remember hearing from them "Republican Presidents have destroyed the economy again and again" and "Donald Trump wants to start trade wars with the rest of the world," but apparently no one was listening because "Trump is for you and Harris is for they/them."

As prices continue to skyrocket, you can sleep soundly knowing that Trump is preventing some sophomore transgender girl from competing on the high school softball team, or maybe that some illegal immigrant who was brought here as a 2-year-old has been snatched up and thrown in some foreign dungeon, where they are beaten and starved as punishment for their crime.

I mean, this is what our current White House considers a relaxing video to help you sleep.  So all the Trump voters who will be kicked off of food stamps in the coming months can just watch that to fill their stomachs.

[Dave Gray]

It's kind of funny that liberals didn't notice we were struggling until Trump took office but we have been struggling since 2020 and it's likely to get worse before it gets any better.

This is not true and not fair.

Prices were starting to become an issue.  It's fair to say why you think things are expensive, but prices have been going up for the last several years since COVID.

[CF DolFan]

This is not true and not fair.

Prices were starting to become an issue.  It's fair to say why you think things are expensive, but prices have been going up for the last several years since COVID.

I won't touch the fact everyone blamed the covid prices going up on Trump but when Biden took office, the economy was doing well. In 2022 my wife and daughter lost their jobs the first time so we saw first hand how much more expensive it was to live. My daughter is a single income trying to live on her own. My wife was one of the last of 220 underwriters let go as thousands across the country were let go. This happened for many industries in the last 3 years. Even now, my wife is doing the exact same job she has done for the last 20 years but is making 65K less a year to do it, and it is not a commision job.

In 2008 we crashed hard but it quickly turned around. This thing we are going through now has been steadily rising for years. The chart below is  how I remember it. We know who was in office 2020-2024 but I don't even think that matters. The fact remains we have been struggling for a while and something needs to give. It appears we are trending in the right direction so eventually things will shift back. For those of us in the last leg before retirement is is really tough because we have nothing to contribute.

[Spider-Dan]

There is more to "the economy" then simply inflation; unemployment rates, wage growth, GDP are all other important factors to consider.

But yes, inflation spiked in 2021 and 2022 before returning to normal by mid-2023.  (Inflation "returning to normal" does not mean "we return to 2019 prices" any more than it means "we return to 2019 wages".)  I have mentioned before about how much of that inflation was driven by corporations price gouging during and after COVID because they saw consumers would simply accept it as due to the pandemic, and how that price gouging resulted in record profitability for corporations in the wake of COVID.

[Dave Gray]

I won't touch the fact everyone blamed the covid prices going up on Trump but when Biden took office, the economy was doing well.

I didn't.  I specifically didn't.

[Downunder Dolphan]

One other thing I will add, is that inflation isn't noticeable when wage/disposable income is rising by the same rate.

This side of the equator we've had stagnant wages for well over a decade, propped up by tax cuts, and government handouts, which helped hide the issue (along with certain things being excluded in the official inflation figures, such as the price of housing, cost of fuel, etc).

Post-Covid, people here have been screaming because as real inflation spiked (including essentials like housing), peoples standards of living went backward.

I'd have a wild guess it's a combo of wages stalling and inflation spiking over there right now. The tariffs aren't gonna help as the resulting shortages of things in demand and/or the taxes will be costs passed on to the consumer. In the end, you're going to be paying for it.

Not rocket science I know.

[Spider-Dan]

This side of the equator we've had stagnant wages for well over a decade, propped up by tax cuts, and government handouts, which helped hide the issue (along with certain things being excluded in the official inflation figures, such as the price of housing, cost of fuel, etc).

Post-Covid, people here have been screaming because as real inflation spiked (including essentials like housing), peoples standards of living went backward.

That wasn't the case here, at all.  Under Biden, the US had the largest wage growth in decades:



And you could see the effects of this in real time: you had a bunch of capitalists complaining that nobody wants to work (even as unemployment rates were also at record lows) because people were finally making enough money - yes, even with inflation! - to allow a partner to stay home rather than continue at a shitty job.

[Dave Gray]

I know I'm just an old person at this point with "back in my day, Coke used to cost a nickel" bullshit, but I am really feeling the inflation on certain items that I haven't bought in a while.  My daughter asked me to get her some mints to keep in her backpack at school.

A single box of Tic Tacs was $3.  That threw me for a loop.  In my head, that's like .89, but even with inflation, I'd think it'd be like 1.19.  I am just out of touch.

[Fau Teixeira]

i remember you could get a can of sams club soda for a dime at walmart when i was a kid