But that has happened under Biden, not Trump. Much of that spending was during the pandemic when govt shut the country down.
Bidenomics
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
But that has happened under Biden, not Trump. Much of that spending was during the pandemic when govt shut the country down.
HemiHauler
Well-Known Member
I’m rattling with mirth at your lame attempt.
The revenge of the blue-collar worker: Bidenomics is working too well and Democrats’ bourgeois base is souring on it
“‘Voters Aren’t Believing in Bidenomics,” the New York Times declared last week, showcasing a joint poll with Siena that showed the president struggling in battleground state polls against his likely GOP opponent (and predecessor), Donald Trump. “Americans are unusually down on a solid economy,” NBC wrote Thursday.
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Blue-collar workers win big
The economic recovery since the pandemic has been unusual in many ways—but especially in how well less-educated and lower-paid workers have done.In a reversal of every economic expansion for the last three decades, wages since the pandemic have grown fastest for workers in the lowest-paid rungs. It’s the “revenge of the blue-collar worker,” one anonymous Amazon worker wrote in February, a month that saw employers hire half a million people but tech companies lay off 10,000.
“It’s totally, totally atypical,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist for job site ZipRecruiter. “The pandemic and the labor shortages and increase in worker leverage has been a huge boost for lower-income workers.” In a similar vein, pay growth for workers with less than a high school degree has outpaced growth of college-educated workers—the first time since at least the late 1990s that this has occurred.
That’s a problem because those well-educated white-collar workers now make up the Democratic Party’s base. College graduates (of all races) support Democrats over Republicans by a 24-point margin; those without degrees favor the GOP by 12 points. It’s the culmination of a great shift that began with the Clinton-era “New Democrats” of the late 1990s, which emphasized social progressivism while pushing through neoliberal reforms that did lasting damage to America’s working class. The declining popularity among working-class voters is even threatening Democrats’ earlier gains among Hispanics and Asian-Americans, as working-class voters of all ethnicities break toward the GOP.
It’s that decades-long shift away from economic populism that Biden’s economic agenda is attempting to reverse, albeit in a limited way.
Not only is pay for the top tiers of white-collar workers growing more slowly than for the people who serve them coffee and look after their kids, but many of the office elite are facing an entirely different job market—one with fewer prospects and more requirements. It’s the most dire in the tech and media sector, where payrolls have shrunk 3% since last fall, but also visible in finance, where bankers are expecting their bonuses to shrink substantially from last year, according to Reuters.
(Compare that to employment in construction, which is up nearly 3% from last year, or health care and education, up 4%, or oil and gas extraction, up nearly 5%.)
Those who are still employed are less than thrilled at being told to return to the office—or find another job. “The rapid shift around employee flexibility, compensation, and benefits has generated a lot of resentment among white-collar workers who are used to being treated exceptionally well,” said Terrazas.
‘Slow-Moving Train Wreck’: There’s A Powder Keg Inside The American Economy — And It Might Blow Up
Overall 30 day+ delinquencies on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), meaning the number of borrowers for commercial properties that failed to make a required payment in at least the last 30 days, increased from 2.96% from one year ago to 4.63% as of October, according to a report from market research group Trepp. The delinquencies are indicative of danger in the commercial real estate sector, as they indicate that many of those could become bankruptcies, threatening an already hurting banking industry and exacerbating any economic downturn, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.
“Commercial real estate is in deep trouble and could constitute a major risk to the banking system and the recovery,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “In fact, I would characterize the situation as a slow-moving train wreck. The underlying problem is that occupancy rates have slumped post-Covid since many workers are now working at least part of the time from home.”
Vacancy rates for offices have continued to trend up since the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many businesses to adopt remote work to continue operations — a change many workers have been reluctant to let go of, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield. In 2019, the vacancy rate hovered around 13% and has increased to around 20% as of the third quarter of 2023.
“The pandemic was an aggravating force that gave the shift from brick-and-mortar to laptop purchasing critical mass 20 years after it began,” Peter Earle, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF. “People, even (and especially) those who were suspicious of internet retail or liked the in-person shopping experience, were forced to move their consumption online during lockdowns and under stay-at-home orders. Many of them liked it, came to trust it, and now see little reason to go back to physical establishments.”
yeah, that Bidenomics math is “special” Ed math.
I'm not so sure either. Mom is cooking the ham and some sort of cranberry salad, sis is doing the green beans, asparagus and cranberry/jalapeno app and I'm making the cheesy scalloped potatoes and a pumpkin pie.
Bidenflation: Christmas Tree Costs Soar as Consumers Budget for Holidays
Data from the National Christmas Tree Association and the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA) obtained by Fox Business shows that the cost of Christmas trees has increased ten percent from 2022, with the average price now between $80 and $100.
Artificial trees have been hit the hardest by the price surge, as basic trees start at around $85 and go up to $1,000 or even more.
“According to our 2023 survey, 52 percent of artificial Christmas tree owners purchased their tree for under $200, and 27 percent paid $200 to $400,” Jami Warner, executive director of the ACTA, told the outlet.
“For artificial Christmas trees, costs vary depending on the producer, retailer, size, shape, and features such as pre-lit options.”
Rising production costs are the primary factor behind the high prices, as supply chain issues still impact many industries across the United States.
HemiHauler
Well-Known Member
Good. Maybe people will buy more real ones. Back in the 70s I helped out at a Christmas tree farm that was a side operation to the rest of the farming we did. Baled and shipped 10-15 thousand trees every year, most of them to Lion's Clubs; they were big in to using Christmas tree sales for their annual fundraising. I don't recall the prices we got for them back then and it varied both by size and by species. $8-$16 each rings a faint bell..
Hijinx
Well-Known Member
My wife has been wanting a new tree for a couple of years now, but the selection is not good at our price range and the old one is still in good shape. No way am I paying $400 for a fake tree., and I am not burning my house down with a live one.
Driving down the road I have seen Christmas trees in people's windows already and I pray they are fake trees. A tree that was once live in the window of your home for a month is a sure way to burn you place down, I don't give a damn how much water you put under it.
Driving down the road I have seen Christmas trees in people's windows already and I pray they are fake trees. A tree that was once live in the window of your home for a month is a sure way to burn you place down, I don't give a damn how much water you put under it.
‘Stop the price gouging’: Biden hits corporations over high consumer costs
“Any corporation that has not brought their prices back down, even as inflation has come down, even as the supply chains have been rebuilt, it’s time to stop the price gouging,” Biden said at the launch of a new White House supply chain initiative. “Give the American consumer a break.”
While it’s true that the annual rate of inflation has cooled from its high last summer, this doesn’t translate directly into falling consumer prices. It only means that prices are rising at a lower rate.
Prices for some everyday goods have fallen over the past year, a reality reflected in lower Thanksgiving costs this year, for example. And lower costs have in turn left some consumers with more money in their budgets for things like Black Friday shopping, when U.S. online sales rose 7.5% this past weekend over a year ago.
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As America emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, prices soared. In the two years starting in April 2021, the average price of all goods rose 13%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average price of food in that same period jumped a whopping 20%.
Biden will convene his new supply chain council and announce 30 steps to strengthen U.S. logistics
Among the 30 new actions, Biden, a Democrat, will use the Defense Production Act to have the Health and Human Services Department invest in the domestic manufacturing of needed medicines that are deemed crucial for national security. The Cabinet agency has identified $35 million to invest in the production of materials for injectable medicines.
The federal government will also improve its ability to monitor supply chains through the sharing of data among agencies. The Commerce Department has developed new tools to assess risks to the supply chain and has partnered with the Energy Department on the supply of renewable energy resources. Shipping companies are beginning to use new data resources from the Transportation Department on freight logistics.
Besides Brainard, the council will be co-chaired by Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser. Other members include heads of Cabinet departments, the U.S. trade representative, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the directors of National Intelligence, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Five Guys customer slams chain for charging her FORTY TWO dollars for two burgers, two shakes and one portion of fries: Biden administration is 'spooked' over price complaints
- Michelle Newell posted a video on TikTok furiously saying she paid $42 for two cheeseburgers, a side of fries and two milkshakes at Five Guys
- Five Guys' officials explained the food is so expensive because they only use fresh items instead of frozen
- Last month, a McDonald's customer was left furious after being charged $16 for a burger, fries, and soda