American Economics Thread

K

KYli

Brigadier
HighGround said:
I am not going to waste my time on a lengthy reply (not that there is much of substance to reply to). Needless to say, I don’t believe your self-aggrandizing claims, nor do I miss the hypocrisy of someone saying “you don’t know me” when they just accused their interlocutor of “living in an ivory tower”. You’re rude and argue in bad faith.

For everyone else out there, do not make generalizations from anecdote. That’s not just bad economics, that’s bad critical thinking.
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Don't give a damn if you believe me or not. It isn't important. But most Chinese immigrants that have parents owning and operating restaurants have endured the same hardship until their children are wise enough to pursue a different career path. If not, most would end up regretting.

I labelled you self-centered due to your view. You made assumption about my age and my background which is different. I don't know you and not going to assume I know your age or what your previous or current occupation.

you are just another guy that got defensive in an argument and refuse to accept anything bad about the US. You just refused to face the reality that American today for middle class is far worse than before 08 financial crisis.

Any articles that I posted that labelled the US in negative light would cause you to jump out to defend and accuse and divert.
 
H

HighGround

Senior Member
Registered Member
FairAndUnbiased said:
Is there improvement?

Let's look at people living paycheck to paycheck.
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You are comparing survey data from different sources.

One of the sources is from Bankrate, another one is from Prudential.

If you want to look at personal savings, look at the personal savings rate.

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or the median weekly real wages.

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FairAndUnbiased said:
What about people without permanent contracts or benefits?
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Contract workers can get their own insurance. Though I hope you realize that many contract workers elect to do contract work, because it either pays better or is far easier to get into for a myriad of reasons.

Also note what I said earlier.

“Not everything improves at all times, in every area. There are some things that take a turn for the worse, certainly. But in aggregate, things tend to improve.”

But anyway, rather than conclude that the rise of contract workers means we are worse off, you should actually verify whether that rise is a bad thing to begin with.

The
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
siegecrossbow said:
Slacking off is okay. What I can’t tolerate are people who get paid to do nothing.
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If they don't do their jobs, they got canned. I don't have sympathy for people don't perform their obligation and fulfill their contracts or try to pass works to others.

Although the issue of lying flat, quiet quitting or don't go above or beyond won't disappear no matter what we think or believe. We have a Chinese saying that goes "Wealth does not last beyond three generations." Most youngsters today are forth generation after the Great Depression and WWII.

In addition, due to income inequality and wealth concentration, I don't have a high hope that marginal improvement in life quality can split evenly enough for middle class and to young adults. That's I would argue extremism and fringe beliefs would continue to split and gain popularity. Quiet quitting is just one of such ideas that gain popularity.
 
Philister

Philister

Junior Member
Registered Member
HighGround said:
No we aren't. First of all, you never specified that you are talking about a subset of young people, specifically working on a career.

Second of all, the article isn't talking about those people either. In fact, it's specifically focusing on people who slack off at work.



Because they have. You wouldn't have lasted a month in any pre 2000 workplace, with that attitude.



Lol. I am willing to bet I worked more minimum wage jobs than you. Your problem is, you look for information to reinforce your prior beliefs. I let information correct them.



What you referring to is declining social mobility, which is different from working conditions.

Furthermore, the part about "retail" is just a lie. I've worked in several retail jobs in my life. All of them offered health insurance and 401(k) options. This is reflected in statistics.

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As for manufacturing, what does that have to do with working conditions? It is an entirely different topic.



Says a person who's never seen what workplace injury does to a person's quality of life and lifetime earnings.

Now who's living in their "ivory tower"?



I don't think you've met many "youngsters". And it is precisely people with ambition, who tend to become entrepreneurs or freelancers.
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Just let the market decide, I’m against all compensation and social welfare , if someone doesn’t like what he/she gets , he/she should look for another job, just don’t expect government to save their asses .
I honestly don’t care what their excuses are , mental illness ,lacking motivation, mom didn’t kiss much as she should’ve,bluh bluh bluh. Get your shit together or get ready to lose some weight.
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
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About 44% of respondents reported skipping meals in the last month, a 7% increase and a record high, Propel noted. Those findings were echoed in a
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from the Greater Boston Food Bank, which found that some local families are making desperate choices, such as watering down baby formula or other food.

"When I see one in three households with children reporting that their children were hungry, or they skipped a meal, that shouldn't happen," said Catherine D'Amato, CEO of the Greater Boston Food Bank, told CBS MoneyWatch. "This shows this is a hunger crisis that is persisting in Massachusetts."

D'Amato said that current rates of food insecurity are the highest she has ever seen in her career. Her group's study, released Tuesday, found that 33% of Massachusetts households were food insecure in 2022, while 36% of those with children didn't have enough food last year.

The research jibes with findings from the U.S. Census, which for three years has asked households about their food consumption. The number of Americans who say they sometimes don't have enough to eat has jumped 23% — from 15.8 million prior to the pandemic to 19.2 million in the most recent survey, taken in late April and early May.
 
P

paiemon

Junior Member
Registered Member
KYli said:
If they don't do their jobs, they got canned. I don't have sympathy for people don't perform their obligation and fulfill their contracts or try to pass works to others.

Although the issue of lying flat, quiet quitting or don't go above or beyond won't disappear no matter what we think or believe. We have a Chinese saying that goes "Wealth does not last beyond three generations." Most youngsters today are forth generation after the Great Depression and WWII.

In addition, due to income inequality and wealth concentration, I don't have a high hope that marginal improvement in life quality can split evenly enough for middle class and to young adults. That's I would argue extremism and fringe beliefs would continue to split and gain popularity. Quiet quitting is just one of such ideas that gain popularity.
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The problem as I see it today, is that hard work or even work in general doesn't pay off for much of the population. Lying flat and quiet quitting to me is a response to a scenario where people can barely stay afloat covering essentials by working, let alone getting ahead or getting some joy out of their life. When people working full time jobs, or multiple jobs for 40 or more hours per week can barely cover a basic quality of life, it is quiet dispiriting and removes motivation. So I can't blame people for not doing more then the absolute minimum, if there is little reward for going beyond besides more work. At this rate without social mobility we are going to regress back to the age of serfdom and nobility, which is not a good sign for progress.

As you pointed out, the heart of the problem is the average worker sees a diminishing share of the wealth created from productive work, with the resultant income/wealth concentration squeezing average workers making ends meet. As an illustration, lets take McDonalds. It operates profitably in both Denmark and the USA but the worker compensation in both is radically
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. In Denmark, due to government regulations and other pressures it is forced to allocate a greater proportion of the profits to the worker, who receives a better standard of living vs their USA counterparts who get a pittance. This is replicated across many other industries and is not unique to any one country. While there will always be lazy people who want things handed to them, I am of the opinion that the vast majority of the populace are willing to put in the work to achieve more, but the system is designed to keep them behind. Corporations have been squeezing workers for years, and finally its reached a point where its backfired on them with quiet quitting, lying flat, great resignation, etc. Corporations get the workers they deserve, and just like consumers get what they pay for, corporations are now experiencing the same. Without stronger government regulation of worker rights and protections, the only way corporations are going to learn is the hard way, through the bottom line. Eventually, you will run out of workers to abuse, as Amazon is finding out.
 
K

KYli

Brigadier
Even casinos are nickel and diming their customers which is shortsighted. Gamblers need to be nurture and conditioning. If new players lost their money in a short period of time, that made the game less excited and enjoyment which in turn might turn off new players. Casinos used to offer so much perks to retain customers so that they could get gamblers to become addicted.

On the plus side, less gamblers are better for the society.
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