[bumpa]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

I always ask people if they think that their children or grandchildren will have a better life than they did.

The question is....will our children and grandchildren be fortunate enough to have the same economic conditions we had at their age? NO they will not. Most of us started working with 100% paid medical, many of us had well paid pension plans. We worked for companies where the CEO's were paid 20-30% more than their employees NOT 300% as it is today. We went to colleges that cost $1000-$2000 per year not $40000 and most of us left school without any significant debt. The conditions for today's economy were first established in the 80's with the war on Labor unions and the shift in tax rates, lower and middle class rates went up and the top rates came down from 50% in 1986 to 37% in 1988. Higher education costs have increased more than 170% over the last 40 years while middleclass incomes have increased by only 50% from 1970 to 2020. It isn't today's economy hurting our children it's the changes made years ago.

[NJRICHARD]

Originally Posted by Altavia

It seems like all we hear from the media lately is how bad off we are – when the facts say just the opposite.

One point of view:

5 Questions I Have About the Economy - A Wealth of Common Sense

MANY MUCH-LEARNED MEN HAVE NO INTELLIGENCE (Democritus)

[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by bumpa

The question is....will our children and grandchildren be fortunate enough to have the same economic conditions we had at their age? NO they will not. Most of us started working with 100% paid medical, many of us had well paid pension plans. We worked for companies where the CEO's were paid 20-30% more than their employees NOT 300% as it is today. We went to colleges that cost $1000-$2000 per year not $40000 and most of us left school without any significant debt. The conditions for today's economy were first established in the 80's with the war on Labor unions and the shift in tax rates, lower and middle class rates went up and the top rates came down from 50% in 1986 to 37% in 1988. Higher education costs have increased more than 170% over the last 40 years while middleclass incomes have increased by only 50% from 1970 to 2020. It isn't today's economy hurting our children it's the changes made years ago.

My wife and I are of 'The Silent Generation' and most of our generation inherited nothing from our parents.
They were poor, and our formative years were hard.
Today most inherit fair amount from parents and relatives, even if only a property, but in many cases, cash as well.
My good lady and I hope to keep the cash inheritance to our children as low as possible, by spending it, but our house value alone is more than either of us saw as a lump sum in our lives.
Outlook not as bad as many claim.

[LuvNH]

I think the future is very bright for our young people, but only if the young person understands that you need to have knowledge and education to get a good paying job. If you have decided to leave school and hang out on the corner doing drugs etc, you are doomed unless you are lucky enough to meet a real do gooder who will give you a start in life.

Having said that I believe much of what happens to you in life is self inflicted. My granddaughter works in the medical field in a job dealing with suicidal drug addition. She is employed by a major hospital in the Northeast and every night they are inundated with people begging for help with drug addition. They do what they can and hope they have helped, but the next night the same person is back. She told me she has to get out, it is soul destroying to see people literally killing themselves for drugs.

I truly believe much of what you make of your life is learned at home during your formative years and if you are unlucky enough to have parents who use drugs (either pills or alcohol) it is very difficult not to follow their example. So we are right back to the haves or have nots.

[Byte1]

Originally Posted by Pennyt

1. Just saw today that inflation is down to 3.2% which is a significant drop from the past 2 years.
2. Mortgage rates are slowly dropping - back when I bought my first house, interest rates were over 13%. I would have thought 7% was a bargain!
3. Gasoline prices are down -we've always been much cheaper than the rest of the world.
So, the media keeps repeating how awful we all have it. But I see that health insurance is now available to more people than ever before, drug prices are being negotiated so our prescription costs may drop, infrastructure is beginning to be improved which will create more jobs....to me that sounds like more good news than bad. Economies take time to react to policies. Things seem to be looking up!

Gotta love it when they tell you that inflation is ONLY 3.2%. Anyone that does the grocery shopping, knows better. Eggs down? Yes, they were but now twice what they were before covid. Maybe I am mistaken, but just two days ago someone on TV said inflation is still 90% higher than three years ago. Gas "down?" C'mon!!! Yes, we have always paid more than other countries, but other countries are NOT America and we certainly use a lot more than those tiny countries in Europe, where they can get to work on a bicycle. It's nice to live in the Villages where $3.00 a gallon seems okay. But, many Americans drive an hour one way to work every day. In Jan 2021 the price of gas was a little over two bucks a gallon. When our leaders tell us that inflation is down, they mean that the current rate has gone down after it had skyrocketed earlier. When they say unemployment is down, they are blowing smoke because the truth is that almost one third of our population is NOT in the labor force today. Only a little less than half our citizens are working full time. Over 43 million are living in poverty. The average price of a new car in 2000 was $22610 and now over $55K. That information was from government sites.
Sure, we are doing great, .....not. If you are on a static pension, then you are losing money every year and the little raise in Social Security won't be enough to pay the increase in your private health insurance premium. By the way, the price of a dozen eggs is twice what it was in 2000.

[Normal]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

All this has happened before, and will happen again.
Good times, bad times, and yet we are all still here.
Problem these days is everything is politicized, the world is full of disinformation, everyone seems to have an agenda. Suck it up.
Nobody ever promised us a living, you just got up off your butt, and found it!
WTH.

A cyclist was once questioned about his long trek. His response in the end said it all,”For every hill there is a valley and for every valley there is a hill.”

[cjrjck]

Originally Posted by Wondering

The only media outlets who are painting a bad outlook are the 'Noise" cable networks - Fox, Newsmax One America, and all the other conspiracy, propaganda outlets. Eggs are back to normal prices, gas is in mid $2 range in many areas of the country. Products that are high in price is due to corporate greed - Look at their record profits. They are trying to make up for lost revenue during the pandemic.

Inflation is up about 19 percent over the last 3 years. Nobody is disputing that. Now, it may be only 3.1 percent. Is that a good thing? Remember, that is measuring the price of a "basket of goods" this year compared to the same basket of goods purchased last year. What we know is that the basket of goods is 19% more expensive today than in 2020. In that context, perhaps 3.1 percent inflation is good but in more normal times it is horrendous. The FED wants it down to a more manageable 2 percent. It is currently 55% higher than that. Nothing to cheer about.

[Blueblaze]

Originally Posted by GoRedSox!

Regarding the Labor Force Participation Rate….10,000 people a day turn 65. There are more people who leave the labor force every day than come in.

There were also at least 2 million excess retirements in 2020-21 due to COVID. Excess retirements are those above the normal trend line. .

Meanwhile ... by the gooberment's own fake numbers, over 9 million people moved here illegally in the last 3 years (which is probably closer to 15M when you realize that over 10K PER DAY are now crossing the border). That's more than the population of SEVERAL ENTIRE STATES COMBINED!

So we've actually way more than doubled the number of new entrants to the labor force --even accounting for retirees -- while the participation rate stayed the same.

And here's the telling part of the story. Where have all the "new jobs" come from? The SERVICE INDUSTRY. You know -- the maids, lawn service, and fast food jobs that citizens take as 2nd jobs, or "migrants" take for any wage they can get.

There simply is no "good news" in this economy beyond the hope that it might get better someday. But Good News, everybody! The Great Depression did finally end, after 10 years of gooberment meddling that merely made it worse. Of course, it took the worst war in history and the deaths of millions to do it.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by bumpa

The question is....will our children and grandchildren be fortunate enough to have the same economic conditions we had at their age? NO they will not. Most of us started working with 100% paid medical, many of us had well paid pension plans. We worked for companies where the CEO's were paid 20-30% more than their employees NOT 300% as it is today. We went to colleges that cost $1000-$2000 per year not $40000 and most of us left school without any significant debt. The conditions for today's economy were first established in the 80's with the war on Labor unions and the shift in tax rates, lower and middle class rates went up and the top rates came down from 50% in 1986 to 37% in 1988. Higher education costs have increased more than 170% over the last 40 years while middleclass incomes have increased by only 50% from 1970 to 2020. It isn't today's economy hurting our children it's the changes made years ago.

The upper 1% have more wealth today than the entire middle class in the US. Some of the major factors are outsourcing to China and the devastation of labor unions. And income for the middle class in constant dollars has been ZERO from 1970 until a small increase in the last 2 years.

[Decadeofdave]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

All this has happened before, and will happen again.
Good times, bad times, and yet we are all still here.
Problem these days is everything is politicized, the world is full of disinformation, everyone seems to have an agenda. Suck it up.
Nobody ever promised us a living, you just got up off your butt, and found it!
WTH.

Yep, in 1980 with our 13.5% mortgage and 9% unemployment, it was a rough start. Work hard and you will be surprised how lucky will get.

[cherylncliff]

Much has changed since this article was written almost a year ago. Inflation is down to 3;1%. Gas prices are way down. Wages are up, even adjusted for inflation. Stock market is way up. Unemployment is at historic lows. Sadly, corporate profits are at historic highs. Tax rate cuts by republicans have created higher deficits. Reagan voodoo trickle down has been proven wrong over the last 50 years.

[2newyorkers]

When I bought my first house in 1980 mortgage interest rate was 17.5%. Everyone went yahoo years later when you could refinance your mortgage to 8%.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

My wife and I are of 'The Silent Generation' and most of our generation inherited nothing from our parents.
They were poor, and our formative years were hard.
Today most inherit fair amount from parents and relatives, even if only a property, but in many cases, cash as well.
My good lady and I hope to keep the cash inheritance to our children as low as possible, by spending it, but our house value alone is more than either of us saw as a lump sum in our lives.
Outlook not as bad as many claim.

The outlook today is NOT so wonderful for women, blacks, and browns.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by LuvNH

I think the future is very bright for our young people, but only if the young person understands that you need to have knowledge and education to get a good paying job. If you have decided to leave school and hang out on the corner doing drugs etc, you are doomed unless you are lucky enough to meet a real do gooder who will give you a start in life.

Having said that I believe much of what happens to you in life is self inflicted. My granddaughter works in the medical field in a job dealing with suicidal drug addition. She is employed by a major hospital in the Northeast and every night they are inundated with people begging for help with drug addition. They do what they can and hope they have helped, but the next night the same person is back. She told me she has to get out, it is soul destroying to see people literally killing themselves for drugs.

I truly believe much of what you make of your life is learned at home during your formative years and if you are unlucky enough to have parents who use drugs (either pills or alcohol) it is very difficult not to follow their example. So we are right back to the haves or have nots.

The future CAN'T be bright for today's youth as long as it costs too much for them to afford an education in College. For most, only the military is a possible way out of poverty.

[photo1902]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

The future CAN'T be bright for today's youth as long as it costs too much for them to afford an education in College. For most, only the military is a possible way out of poverty.

Not even close to the truth