POTUS 46.10: A New Hope

[psych]

Student loans restarting sucks the worst. I blame Biden because Politico told me it was his fault.

 

[psych]

Also, I blame government stimulus for people and businesses passed by Biden and Congress, which caused around 2.6% of the 9.1% height of inflation number, according to the Federal Reserve, for my current lot in life. It likely kept millions of people paying their bills on time, much less being consumers of products during the Covid pandemic, and that just doesn’t sit right with me. As I type this, Daniel Cameron just came on my television screen in one of his campaign ads and told me Biden is responsible for higher fuel prices. Must be true.

 

[Handyman]

I can see the overall good that has happened, but for me personally, things have gotten a bit tighter over the past year. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling some sort of crunch.

(For the record, things are still livable, but I've lost the ability to throw gobs of money away at retirement trying to make up for lost time. Also a home is still just a dream, and having a vehicle that can realistically go belly up in the next 12 months is not a purchase I welcome with open arms.)

It is something that people don't really understand the inner workings of, but they definitely realize when it hits them personally.

Things are tighter...but not because of economic forces. Corporate greed is behind all of this. The cost to manufacture goods hasn't risen as much as prices have...it's all fueled by executive pay and shareholder satisfaction.

Using the studios as an example, they all cried foul/poor when the WGA asked for better wages...but all the CEOs kept their millions in compensation and NBCUniversal spent almost half a billion for 3 Exorcist films. Corporations are destroying everything.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Couldn't happen at a worse time, either. However, loan payments restarting should itself just about kill off any remaining excess inflation as a bunch of Millennial and Z consumers lose that discretionary income boost they've had since 2020.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Things are tighter...but not because of economic forces. Corporate greed is behind all of this. The cost to manufacture goods hasn't risen as much as prices have...it's all fueled by executive pay and shareholder satisfaction.

Using the studios as an example, they all cried foul/poor when the WGA asked for better wages...but all the CEOs kept their millions in compensation and NBCUniversal spent almost half a billion for 3 Exorcist films. Corporations are destroying everything.

This.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

We saw the greed last year when the oil companies jacked fuel prices to make up for lost profits from 2020-2021.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

We saw the greed last year when the oil companies jacked fuel prices to make up for lost profits from 2020-2021.

It's the inherent problem with everything.

CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460% since 1978 CEOs were paid 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021

Fuck these people. I just went through this greed thing in the last 4 years. It wasn't evident in my life until then. It became crystal clear to me then. And the most important part about it is that "law" and "regulation" is our only defense against this shit and Republicanism since 1980 has systematically deconstructed all of it. Clinton Triangulation didn't help either.

https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2021/

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

A lot of people lost their jobs this year so bonuses for execs won’t be touched.

I think we need to cap exec pay and we need to somehow tax more on the price gouging.

Then you add shrinkflation to food- paying astronomical
prices for a smaller package. I hope this help some people quit buying junk food and I wish some of these companies would just go bankrupt

 

[St. Clown]

If Politico and the New York Times area to be believed a great economy is the death kneel of the Biden Presidency!

Apparently "It's the economy stupid" means something completely different now...

when Pres. Clinton started with that slogan, the economy was no longer in recession, and hadn’t been for close to a year. Creating optics to your advantage often matters more than reality.

 

[psych]

A lot of people lost their jobs this year so bonuses for execs won’t be touched.

I think we need to cap exec pay and we need to somehow tax more on the price gouging.

Then you add shrinkflation to food- paying astronomical
prices for a smaller package. I hope this help some people quit buying junk food and I wish some of these companies would just go bankrupt

Dollar General is just getting started, baby! Every time I head to Nashville, I drive past their headquarters just north of town in the beautiful city of Goodlettsville. A former boss of mine’s wife was the head of marketing there until they retired- in their mid 50s- to a mansion in Florida.

 

[SJHovey]

Things are tighter...but not because of economic forces. Corporate greed is behind all of this. The cost to manufacture goods hasn't risen as much as prices have...it's all fueled by executive pay and shareholder satisfaction.

It seems to me that if this statement is true, we should see a bunch of people jumping into those businesses. If I can manufacture a product and sell it cheaper than a competitor or existing manufacturer, and still make a reasonable profit, seems like a lot of low hanging fruit to me. Might be time for you to ditch academia and bartending and jump into business. Come to the dark side, Handy.

 

[RaceBoarder]

I'm well aware of all of this stuff that is happening. But again, y'all seem to forget that many, MANY people aren't actively engaged in intellectual discussions on these matters on a daily/weekly basis. And there are many places that simply want to provide a "simple" answer for these people. That is what we (educated, well read, people) are up against. We still can't figure out how to send a "simple" answer to these folks.

That is what I'm getting at. Sure, we can post individual stats that show net gains between 2020 and now. But that doesn't overcome what everyday people see & feel on a daily basis.

And look, most of the people here have dual incomes, a home, multiple vehicles, etc. Y'all aren't millionaires, but if you need to do a $1500 emergency repair on your car or have an injury, you don't need to do a deep dive into your financial books to figure out the best way to pay that off. That's the main point here. The optics are definitely different based on your perspective here.

 

[Jimjamesak]

The unions are making a dent into the fiction the cons are trying to create though. It’s kinda hard to say “Biden’s fault!” when you’ve got the UAW and the Teamsters and the WGA and SAG (and others) pounding out the facts of corporate greed in every interview and social media post they do. It’s obviously not going to reach everyone but it’s more pervasive than you might think.

 

[rufus]

It seems to me that if this statement is true, we should see a bunch of people jumping into those businesses. If I can manufacture a product and sell it cheaper than a competitor or existing manufacturer, and still make a reasonable profit, seems like a lot of low hanging fruit to me. Might be time for you to ditch academia and bartending and jump into business. Come to the dark side, Handy.

Lot of people do. And then they sell out their profitable little company to Big Corp for a bit of quick cash.

See the microbrewery business. Or tech in general.

 

[Handyman]

It seems to me that if this statement is true, we should see a bunch of people jumping into those businesses. If I can manufacture a product and sell it cheaper than a competitor or existing manufacturer, and still make a reasonable profit, seems like a lot of low hanging fruit to me. Might be time for you to ditch academia and bartending and jump into business. Come to the dark side, Handy.

Trust me I am trying...academia paid well but when jobs are plentiful enrollment drops so my benefits got cut to a point it isn't profitable anymore.

Keep acting like there is no barrier to entry though. Life is amazingly easy when you ignore all obstacles.

 

[Handyman]

I'm well aware of all of this stuff that is happening. But again, y'all seem to forget that many, MANY people aren't actively engaged in intellectual discussions on these matters on a daily/weekly basis. And there are many places that simply want to provide a "simple" answer for these people. That is what we (educated, well read, people) are up against. We still can't figure out how to send a "simple" answer to these folks.

That is what I'm getting at. Sure, we can post individual stats that show net gains between 2020 and now. But that doesn't overcome what everyday people see & feel on a daily basis.

And look, most of the people here have dual incomes, a home, multiple vehicles, etc. Y'all aren't millionaires, but if you need to do a $1500 emergency repair on your car or have an injury, you don't need to do a deep dive into your financial books to figure out the best way to pay that off. That's the main point here. The optics are definitely different based on your perspective here.

It's called having a conversation with people. It's amazing how that works. Explain it like they are a 5th grader...it works! I explain it to Boomers all the time and even the senile get it!

 

[Handyman]

The unions are making a dent into the fiction the cons are trying to create though. It’s kinda hard to say “Biden’s fault!” when you’ve got the UAW and the Teamsters and the WGA and SAG (and others) pounding out the facts of corporate greed in every interview and social media post they do. It’s obviously not going to reach everyone but it’s more pervasive than you might think.

100% this. It's why public union support is at 40 year highs.

 

[aparch]

100% this. It's why public union support is at 40 year highs.

I talked with a couple coworkers about the UAW strike because they mentioned how ridiculous the pay increase ask was. When I pointed out it was the same % increase the CEO had over the last few years, they went "oh, makes sense then."

Also, now armed with the stat posted here a few days ago (or maybe I saw it on Threads) where CEO pay for the big three are 10 to 20 times more than the highest paid European car CEO, has been beneficial in making sense of it with people.

 

[Chuck Murray]

 

[French Rage]

Thank god the writer's strike ended, now people can get spoon-fed their opinions again.