this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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politics

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[–] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 84 points 8 months ago (2 children)

What would it take? Higher wages, lower rents and house prices, lower food costs. It’s pretty fucking straightforward.

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 73 points 8 months ago (1 children)

no material conditions, only vote

[–] viva_la_juche@hexbear.net 29 points 8 months ago

Yes I could go for that, seconded

[–] Tommasi@hexbear.net 65 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] Sickos@hexbear.net 60 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Somehow all my lib friends have fully bought into stock market = economy, and they're raving about how great the economy is. None of these fuckers grew up poor.

[–] zifnab25@hexbear.net 57 points 8 months ago (3 children)

If you're watching the big 401k line go up, it must seem strange to magically get 20% richer every year and see people complain about how they're feeling increasingly impoverished.

None of these fuckers grew up poor.

Poor is a phase you go through in college when you're living in student housing, dressing in sweat pants, and eating bowls of lukewarm ramen between classes. But then you graduate, work your way up through the New Hire program at your Fortune 500 company, get that first big five/six figure bonus check, and settle in as a 30-something with a proper labor aristocrat lifestyle.

Of course I grew up poor, but then I yanked hard on my bootstraps and now here I am!

Why didn't you get a position earning six figures as a mid-level accountant at an insurance adjustment firm? Must not have worked hard enough, clearly.

[–] raven@hexbear.net 37 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

You're just mad because you weren't smart enough to invest during the downturn. Didn't you ever hear "buy low sell high"? smuglord

[–] zifnab25@hexbear.net 22 points 8 months ago

you weren't smart enough to invest during the downturn

Christ, I still see people say this shit about Bitcoin. For so many reasons, it fills me with rage.

[–] Adkml@hexbear.net 19 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The crazy thing is half thenpeople amijg the argument aren't even actually raking it in.

But they've been conditioned just as much as the "temporarily embaressed millionaires" to think advocating for their continued exploitation is virtuous.

[–] zifnab25@hexbear.net 20 points 8 months ago

yea

A nation of temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

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[–] Aryuproudomenowdaddy@hexbear.net 36 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I knew a woman that went completely rabid for Trump boasting about how great the economy was doing during his admin. She had been posting on FB like a month before asking if anyone knew of a working car that she could buy for around 1k.

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[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 34 points 8 months ago

Somehow all my lib friends have fully bought into stock market = economy

Where we go one we go all. Trust the plan. Patriots are in charge of the economy.

[–] Adkml@hexbear.net 21 points 8 months ago

Also all these same libs u derstpod this perfectly when Trump was bragging about how great the economy was because the stock market was high.

But then blue Maga got elected and those exact same people somehow conveniently unlearned that fact and are now just literally running red Magas script.

[–] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 52 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What would it take to convince economists that "the economy" is fucking meaningless?

[–] sovietknuckles@hexbear.net 51 points 8 months ago

You seem to be focusing on material conditions (derogatory)

[–] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 47 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I just spent 9 months at various degrees of homeless and the government couldn't even do so much as act as a matchmaker for me and either a job or a home. Couldn't even fucking help me navigate the ancap hellshit. Now I have two roommates and an hour commute for a job people give me gifts throughout the day out of SYMPATHY.

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 44 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The Gini Index is the highest it's been since the Gilded Age
speech-r
is-this "Is this a functioning economy?"

[–] frogloom@hexbear.net 41 points 8 months ago (1 children)

i feel cold i feel hungry too bad facts don’t care about my feelings

[–] BumbleBeeButt@lemmy.zip 28 points 8 months ago (1 children)
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[–] Parzivus@hexbear.net 40 points 8 months ago

I think a lot of libs are genuinely unaware that price increases for necessities like food and rent make line go up

[–] FnordPrefect@hexbear.net 40 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] Findom_DeLuise@hexbear.net 21 points 8 months ago
[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 38 points 8 months ago

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 37 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Ben Garrison is wild because sometimes he has these moments of clarity where he draws something actually good and not wildly unhinged.

[–] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Conservatives are always like that. They’ll always say some shit like “damn blue haired college kids are getting their college debt forgiven while I was homeless for 5 years and now I live in a crack house! That’s not fair!” Then they support conservatives because they’re beaten like a dog who comes back to the owner for food.

Democrats are like that too. But unlike the republican dogs that mindlessly eat from the hand that hits them, democrats will list out all the reasons why their party and politicians suck, then insist they’re the only capable people of defending democracy and minorities. They’re the adults who “turned out fine” after being repeatedly beaten and berated growing up.

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[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 34 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The toll of inflation on the American psyche is undoubtedly part of the story. That people hate high inflation is not a novel observation: The Federal Reserve has long been obsessed with preventing another ’70s-style inflationary spiral; its patron saint is Paul Volcker, the former Fed chair who famously broke that spiral by jacking up interest rates, which plunged the economy into a recession.

So, bloodletting. Volcker shock destroyed Latin American economies and so did the recent interest rate hikes.

The entire article is just so smarmy and annoying to read. Sure, U.S. was one of the less affected countries in part due to all the capital flowing from the Global South.

Support for this project was provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Bill and Melinda Gates foundation sponsoring videos on how awesome neoliberal poverty 'reduction' is type shit.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, commonly known as the Hewlett Foundation, is a private foundation, established by Hewlett-Packard cofounder William Redington Hewlett and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1966.

HP-branded corporations provide and operate technology that Israel uses to maintain its system of apartheid, occupation and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people. Hewlett Packard’s violations of Palestinian human rights have been well documented. Aside from providing services and technology to the Israeli army and police that maintain Israel’s illegal occupation and siege of Gaza, HP provides Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority with the exclusive Itanium servers for its Aviv System.

So progressive

[–] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 33 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Maybe it's because a good economy is a bad thing, and we need to make it worse. If a good economy is all that matters, then California wouldn't be a punchline. California is quite literally too good of a place to be a good place to live. California is being punished for being so successful. California is rich but Californians are poor. Americans are poor but America is rich.

But sure, import more exploitation of the global south back in house in the country that just so happens to be the bourgeoisie's vector for hegenomy. What could possibly go wrong when millions of us poors and minorities have a reason to oppose you?

MFW I just went Maoist-third-worldist but I invited millions of Americans into the third world atmosphere.

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@hexbear.net 33 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

How can a person read this thing and not immediately know in their bones the author is lying to them? Is being an average American liberal like being a beaten and emotionally abused spouse? How else could one make their way through that venomous gaslighting "article"?

[–] duderium@hexbear.net 24 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Liberals benefit from this shitty economy. That’s why they believe in it.

I mean, I call myself a Marxist, but I am also benefiting immensely from this economy right now because, while I despise capitalism and colonialism and imperialism and patriarchy, I’m not really doing anything about it. If these systems weren’t working so well for me (if, for instance, it became impossible for me to get food), I would be a lot more inclined to riot rather than to just whine on the internet and attempt in vain to convert my last few liberal friends to communism.

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 18 points 8 months ago

How can a person read this thing and not immediately know in their bones the author is lying to them?

being rich and comfortable and insulated

Is being an average American liberal like being a beaten and emotionally abused spouse?

it's when you still get the treats and the only suffering people you see are of the untouchable homeless caste

How else could one make their way through that venomous gaslighting "article"?

being rich and comfortable and insulated and wanting absolution for that whisper deep down saying you are murdering the world

[–] thebartermyth@hexbear.net 32 points 8 months ago (1 children)

pay me $2,000 literally right now

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[–] LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net 29 points 8 months ago (4 children)

From the article

"Meanwhile, although sentiment among Democrats has recovered to nearly where it stood before inflation began to rise in 2021, it remains well below its level at the end of the Obama administration. It may never return to its previous heights. Over the past decade, the belief that the economy is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful has become central to progressive self-identity. Among Democrats ages 18 to 34, who tend to be more progressive than older Democrats, positive views of capitalism fell from 56 to 40 percent between 2010 and 2019, according to Gallup. Dim views of the broader economic system may be limiting how positively some Democrats feel about the economy, even when one of their own occupies the Oval Office. According to a CNN poll in late January, 63 percent of Democrats ages 45 and older believed that the economy was on the upswing—but only 35 percent of younger Democrats believed the same. To fully embrace the economy’s strength would be to sacrifice part of the modern progressive’s ideological sense of self."

agony-immense

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 29 points 8 months ago

lmao, "young democrats are refusing to alter the way they perceive reality even though their guy is in office, therefore they must personally identify with their dysfunctional environment"

[–] Parzivus@hexbear.net 27 points 8 months ago (3 children)

the belief that the economy is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful has become central to progressive self-identity

Isn't that the whole point? They don't call it "rigged" in school but its not a hot take lol

[–] LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net 21 points 8 months ago

I find it dreadful The Atlantic the supposedly "learned" and "reasonable" calls it a an accurate understanding of a rigged economy a "belief".

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[–] wombat@hexbear.net 28 points 8 months ago (1 children)

usians are the most propagandized people on earth

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)
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[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 28 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

A serious response to the question being asked is for wages to increase and cost of goods and services to go down. But of course that would damage the "economy".

[–] Adkml@hexbear.net 31 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Pretty fucking wild that all these economists who constantly insist nobody but them can read the divine tea leaves of the economy can't come up with the answer "people would be satisfied with the economy if working full time was sufficient to cover their bills"

People want to be paid more money than it costs to live.

That's literally it.

[–] GrouchyGrouse@hexbear.net 22 points 8 months ago

If my pay let's me address my immediate needs with enough left over for some fun and a rainy day fund if life gets pear shaped my peace of mind skyrockets.

No amount of articles about "the perks of van life" or "the benefits of skipping breakfast" are going to convince me that I should be forced to do those things. if I choose to skip breakfast because I'm doing intermittent fasting for my health it's nobody's business especially not some dickbag columnist shilling for the status quo.

[–] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 20 points 8 months ago

It’s so bizarre to watch. Mental gymnastics to decide the economy is bad vs mental gymnastics to decide the economy is good

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[–] zifnab25@hexbear.net 26 points 8 months ago

punished-bernie Healthcare, please.

[–] kleeon@hexbear.net 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)
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[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Liberals need to gaslight the hungry into thinking they have cake to eat if they're going to gaslight them into thinking the lich king has 100% brain so that they can commit a genocide against children. You tankies just don't get the 5D chess. Pretend everything is fine and we'll get to murder all the children I promise just trust me this one time.

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[–] TreadOnMe@hexbear.net 22 points 8 months ago

Well it would take not losing a shit ton of actually important businesses in the last year, for one.

[–] Greenleaf@hexbear.net 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This is the person who is telling you you’re just not smart enough to understand the economy is doing great, actually.

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