this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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President Joe Biden goes into next year's election with a vexing challenge: Just as the U.S. economy is getting stronger, people are still feeling horrible about it.

Pollsters and economists say there has never been as wide a gap between the underlying health of the economy and public perception. The divergence could be a decisive factor in whether the Democrat secures a second term next year. Republicans are seizing on the dissatisfaction to skewer Biden, while the White House is finding less success as it tries to highlight economic progress.

“Things are getting better and people think things are going to get worse — and that’s the most dangerous piece of this," said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who has worked with Biden. Lake said voters no longer want to just see inflation rates fall — rather, they want an outright decline in prices, something that last happened on a large scale during the Great Depression.

“Honestly, I’m kind of mystified by it,” she said.

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[–] TheBananaKing@lemmy.world 98 points 10 months ago (26 children)

Whenever anyone says "the economy", you can and should mentally substitute it with "rich people's yacht money".

Rich people's yacht money doing well doesn't do shit for 90% of the population. It doesn't pay the rent, put food on the table or clothes on their back. They can't afford to see a doctor or ride the damn bus.

And you want them to be happy because some stockbroker is getting a second holiday in the Maldives this year?

Stupid arrogant fucks.

[–] Ultraviolet@lemmy.world 35 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

That's why they say "unemployment being too low is bad for the economy". Low unemployment means higher negotiating power for workers, which means higher wages and better working conditions. The only way that statement makes any sense is if they're exclusively talking about yacht money.

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[–] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 22 points 10 months ago (5 children)

When people say they’re not happy about the economy, this is the shit they’re talking about, not statistics.

Ordinary people get fucked in this economy, and there isn’t any party that can do anything about it.

[–] Nudding@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (16 children)
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[–] Fades@lemmy.world 89 points 10 months ago (1 children)

the grocery stores and the rest of the capitalist pigs have yet to stop price gouging

[–] tacosplease@lemmy.world 28 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Groceries really are the problem. I lived comfortably up until about a year ago. Now the checking account gets pretty low every couple weeks. And that's with decent raises for me and my wife. I don't even care about gas prices except in how they add to the cost of everything that gets shipped. Food prices are killing us.

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[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 85 points 10 months ago (3 children)

If "the economy" doesn't translate to the purchasing power of our labor, then it's a useless metric.

[–] Fades@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

it’s about capitalist scum pice gouging the fuck out of people for literally everything. The economy is doing better but we don’t see it directly because we’re still being abused as if the economy hasn’t upturned

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

But stock market go up! You're welcome!

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 18 points 10 months ago

"We just don't get it, our portfolios are performing so well! I just sit here and rake in money how can the ~~poors~~ people not love this economy!?"

[–] grue@lemmy.world 76 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Pollsters and economists say there has never been as wide a gap between the underlying health of the economy and public perception.

There's never been as wide a gap between the rich and the working class, either. Gee, I wonder if that could have something to do with it?!

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I assumed that was true. The article, however, claims

Inequality has lessened somewhat in recent years as wage growth has favored poorer workers.

Ed: even if the article is correct, the gap is still massive. And so the increased profits (due to price gouging) may make some numbers look better, I can't help but think many households are still struggling to catch up?

Supposedly pay has increased across the board but enough to catch us up to, say, 2019 buying power? The article claims households are better off than in 2020.

The article seems to want to blame those with dim views of the economy without a satisfactory explanation of the psychology, just a bunch of guesses that, to me, don't seem convincing. The supporting evidence seems rather cherry picked.

If food is up 25% since the pandemic, have all wages also gone up that much? Ok, ok, sure, overall cost of living probably hasn't gone up that much. But my wages most certainly have not even come close to catching up with the current COL.

So maybe it is the middle classes, rather than lowest earners, who are feeling shafted. Maybe those in charge aren't looking at the right statistics to understand the perceptions.

[–] SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

Inequality has lessened somewhat in recent years as wage growth has favored poorer workers

Also that means pretty much nothing without also looking at how much more money the richest of us have. Their wealth increases by the trillions during covid. To say that inequality is now better because some of the lowest earning workers might be making a few thousand more each year is disingenuous at best.

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[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 58 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Wages have not kept up with inflation. Why is this so hard for the media to understand?

[–] WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml 13 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Wages have shot up like crazy over the past few years. But the FTC has not enforced antitrust regulations over the past 30 years which led to everything being owned by megacorps with no competition - so we're getting the screws turned on us right now. The FTC is finally engaging in some antitrust measures, but it is too little, too late. It's kind of hard to blame that on the current regime.

[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Shot up like crazy is a weird way to talk about how the federal minimum wage is still $7.25

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[–] SuiXi3D@kbin.social 13 points 10 months ago

My wage has certainly gone up. I also can’t seem to go grocery shopping without spending $400 now. Literally everything is more expensive, bills included.

So if I look at my wage as 100%, rent and groceries and bills all take up a larger percentage of that then just five years ago.

Unless there are enforced laws around consumer pricing, every company on the planet is gonna raise prices when wages go up.

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[–] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 50 points 10 months ago (7 children)

Because they’re calling the stock market “the economy” instead of actually looking at the qol of the average American. It’s just more ammo for the government only cares about the rich and corps argument

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[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.world 41 points 10 months ago (7 children)

“Things are getting better and people think things are going to get worse ...

Because they are worse ... because many people don't have a well-paying job as a pollster ... and it's expected that the price of groceries will still rise in 2024 ... and rent will still go up ... and fires/droughts/storms/heatwaves will get worse ... and electricity/water bills will still go up ...

It always surprises me when otherwise intelligent people seem to set aside their critical thinking skills.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The problem is that lots of people think Trump will fix all of that rather than make it far worse.

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[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 40 points 10 months ago (6 children)
[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

The people selling missiles to Israel

[–] GuyDudeman@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

voters no longer want to just see inflation rates fall — rather, they want an outright decline in prices, something that last happened on a large scale during the Great Depression.

“Honestly, I’m kind of mystified by it,” she said.

Why the fuck would anyone be “mystified” by the fact that shit is still way more expensive than it used to be, and we’re still only getting paid what we used to be?

Fucking liberals.

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[–] Wooster@startrek.website 36 points 10 months ago (8 children)

Second, Biden recently started to blame inflation on corporations that hiked prices when they saw an opportunity to improve their profits, bringing more prominence to an argument first used when gasoline prices spiked. The president's argument is suspicious to many economists, yet the intended message to voters is that Biden is fighting for them against those he blames for fueling inflation.

“Let me be clear: Any corporation that is not passing these savings on to the consumers needs to stop their price gouging,” Biden said recently in Pueblo, Colorado. “The American people are tired of being played for suckers.”

Wow. There's no question who's side the reporter is on.

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago

Abcnews shut the fuck up. You republiQan corporate pulp mill fuckers.

“Voters feel horrible about it” fuck you.

[–] Heresy_generator@kbin.social 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The oligarch-owned media shouts that everything is terrible when the only thing they care about, the interest rates that impacts their cost to borrow capital, is going up because that limits their ability to run their VC Ponzi schemes. The far-left media and far-right media shout that everything is terrible all the time because they both start from wanting a revolution that tears everything down and won't ever let reality get in the way of that being the proper solution; things must always be bad and getting worse to justify their revolution. And that's basically of all of our media.

[–] GuyDudeman@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

I came in here to try to explain it again and find post after post of people explaining it for me. I am so proud of you guys.

Now, somebody tell the DNC that...

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I swear this is like the 5th "Economy is great but people are suffering for some weird reason" article on this community lmao

And every single time without fail everyone in the comments is showing a big middle finger to these awful pieces lol

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[–] TransSynthesist@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 10 months ago

Remember kids, 'the economy' means 'rich people's portfolios'.

[–] ares35@kbin.social 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

it's not his 'fault'.

if you want someone, anyone, to blame, it's the republican clowns in congress and the greedy af CEOs.

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Lake said voters no longer want to just see inflation rates fall — rather, they want an outright decline in prices, something that last happened on a large scale during the Great Depression.

“Honestly, I’m kind of mystified by it,” she said.

My dad told me once: "never trust the words that come out after the 'honestly' or before the 'but'."

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