Market Watch

[Hay Dude]

Mixed bag for me. I have some equipment financed at 2-4%. I actually feel good about that. I can make money off that.
However, it was just reported that the average American family needed to make $11,400 per year more than 2020 just to stay the same. Thats insane. This is why the middle class is disappearing. Why a 2-income household is the overwhelming majority of families.

 

[rScotty]

wages are up but real wages are down. Basically raises are not keeping up with inflation. That is why so many people disapprove of the current economy. Inflation has compounded. Its gone up every year and never gone down. So over the last 2 years prices have had about an average of 20% increase. Your raises that you speak of have not been that much.

Fixing old clothing has been something of the past for sometime now. I personally do not know of anyone that does that. When I was a child my parents didnt do that and im 46. People dont fix appliances b/c a part can cost 500 dollars not including labor on fridge that was worth a 1000 dollars. As for cars. There are indeed very few people that wrench and you are right. Trading in car every 3-5 years have been the norm or leasing.

Fact is consumers are carrying the largest private debt ever. We are 34 trillion in debt as a country. Were spending 6 trillion a year and only taking in 4 trillion from taxes. Regardless of what ***** says. He is lying about the debt.

ONe thing is for certain a recession will come. When it happens is anyones guess but we are due for one. I would suggest saving your money. Fix ur cars, perform your own maintenance. Get rid of car loans. Nothing wrong with being prepared. IF you are not living paycheck to paycheck. Thats great. iF you are then people should change that bad habit

I see help wanted signs everywhere. When there are more jobs than people to fill them, then isn't it up to working people to make sure they get a decent wage? Business owners can try every way to maximize their profit, but without workers nothing good happens at all.
Wages are also the responsibility of the workers.

I believe your estimated costs for repairing things are way higher than reality. Perhaps you are looking at the cost of having a repairman do the job. I'm looking at the cost of doing it yourself.
Alternatively, every town I know of has a used appliance store packed with appliances that work just fine.

About fixing old clothes..... Edgeman, there is a limit to all things, and there you and I agree.
Mom always said, "People won't judge you by the patches as long as the clothes are clean."
Unfortunately, Mom was wong about that. I wish it were otherwise,
BTW, I still patch my favorite old clothes - but now it is more hobby & sentiment than necessity.

rScotty

 

[rScotty]

Mixed bag for me. I have some equipment financed at 2-4%. I actually feel good about that. I can make money off that.
However, it was just reported that the average American family needed to make $11,400 per year more than 2020 just to stay the same. Thats insane. This is why the middle class is disappearing. Why a 2-income household is the overwhelming majority of families.

Whoever reported that is using some pretty skewed math.

If inflation was all the way up to 10%, then that would mean that his "average American family" makes substantially over $100,000 per year. But inflation is not 10%, it is more like half that, and so are average wages.

Inflation is a problem, but getting the math wrong doesn't help anyone fix it.

rScotty

 

[aesanders]

I see help wanted signs everywhere. When there are more jobs than people to fill them, then isn't it up to working people to make sure they get a decent wage? Business owners can try every way to maximize their profit, but without workers nothing good happens at all.
Wages are also the responsibility of the workers.

I believe your estimated costs for repairing things are way higher than reality. Perhaps you are looking at the cost of having a repairman do the job. I'm looking at the cost of doing it yourself.
Alternatively, every town I know of has a used appliance store packed with appliances that work just fine.

About fixing old clothes..... Edgeman, there is a limit to all things, and there you and I agree.
Mom always said, "People won't judge you by the patches as long as the clothes are clean."
Unfortunately, Mom was wong about that. I wish it were otherwise,
BTW, I still patch my favorite old clothes - but now it is more hobby & sentiment than necessity.

rScotty

One thing you are not factoring in is all the GOVT programs that shouldn’t be going on, keeping many from getting a job. Too many welfare programs. We are fighting ourselves. We have the people, and the need. Our idiotic govt is making everything far worse than it needs to be.

 

[K5lwq]

Times are definitely getting tough! I sometimes wonder if I will have enough to buy groceries each week.

BTW, I am looking for a new tractor, any suggestions?

 

[rScotty]

One thing you are not factoring in is all the GOVT programs that shouldn’t be going on, keeping many from getting a job. Too many welfare programs. We are fighting ourselves. We have the people, and the need. Our idiotic govt is making everything far worse than it needs to be.

I happen to agree that there are too many poorly thought out welfare programs. But I don't see how that factors into wages at all. Wages and welfare ought to be completely different things - shouldn't they?
I still think workers have a responsibility to decide what wage they need & insist on it.
Hopefully, a decent wage comes back in the form of good work.

Sure, any government trying to be all things to all people is going to look idiotic to some. It's inevitable.
We need to be very careful with our support so we don't swap one idiot for a worse one.
A well-meaning idiot isn't the best of worlds;
there are plenty of worse governments possible.
Just looking around, I'd say most of the world has worse govenment than we do.

rScotty

 

[DK35vince]

Whoever reported that is using some pretty skewed math.

If inflation was all the way up to 10%, then that would mean that his "average American family" makes substantially over $100,000 per year. But inflation is not 10%, it is more like half that, and so are average wages.

Inflation is a problem, but getting the math wrong doesn't help anyone fix it.

rScotty

Inflation is up only 5% ???
I don't know where you live but our cost of living has gone WAY up over the past 3 years
Gasoline up 40%
Groceries up 25% -30%
Water up 25%
Electric went up 45%
Propane heating up 50%
Ext. Ect. our cost of living has skyrocketed

 

[aesanders]

I happen to agree that there are too many poorly thought out welfare programs. But I don't see how that factors into wages at all. Wages and welfare ought to be completely different things - shouldn't they?
I still think workers have a responsibility to decide what wage they need & insist on it.
Hopefully, a decent wage comes back in the form of good work.

Sure, any government trying to be all things to all people is going to look idiotic to some. It's inevitable.
We need to be very careful with our support so we don't swap one idiot for a worse one.
A well-meaning idiot isn't the best of worlds;
there are plenty of worse governments possible.
Just looking around, I'd say most of the world has worse govenment than we do.

rScotty

Wages and welfare should be two different things but they are not. I see it all the time around me in Florida. For example the hydraulic shop in town can’t keep people employed, because the people that would take the job can sit on their ass all day doing nothing and make most of what he can pay. Now I guess he can pay more, which would mean the people using his shop would get charged more. He chooses not to and does most of the work himself, which means it takes way longer to get stuff done there than it should and use too.

This same scenario happens all around, not just as the hydraulic shop. Quit paying these people to not work when unemployment is so low. Makes absolutely no sense. It used to be that you could only collect unemployment and other welfare programs if you really needed it. Now they bend over backwards to get people on the Govt teat, and fight like hell not to let go.

 

[2manyrocks]

Even NPR found 23% price increases on average in their Walmart shopping cart since mid-2019. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1147894382/walmart-price-inflation-supply-chain-economy

 

[jyoutz]

Inflation is up only 5% ???
I don't know where you live but our cost of living has gone WAY up over the past 3 years
Gasoline up 40%
Groceries up 25% -30%
Water up 25%
Electric went up 45%
Propane heating up 50%
Ext. Ect. our cost of living has skyrocketed

Gasoline is only $2.54 where I live. It’s up more than 40% from the low point of the Covid shutdowns, but certainly not as much as 40% more than the pre-covid prices.

Edit: just checked gas buddy. Regular gas is now down to $2.49