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I probably should be happy about this, but I really don’t care. This seems like something that’s more important to experts and academics. Regardless of what the official indicators say, something just doesn’t seem right to me. I can’t necessarily quantify it or express it through some equation, something just feels…wrong.
I can say for myself, I’m certainly not apathetic towards progress.
But is it really progress, or did the price of everything jack up an it has come down just a bit because companys are finally getting the blowback they deserve as consumers reduce spending?
The problem is we’ve had huge inflation for a long time now. Itstacks and accrues and gets compounded, and wages just arent keeping up.
Minimum wage went to 7.25 BEFORE the 08 housing crisis.
Yes, that’s progress.
Consumer price index falls 0.1% in June
CPI increases 3.0% year-on-year
Core CPI gains 0.1%; rises 3.3% year-on-year
Weekly jobless claims fall 17,000 to 222,000
Continuing claims decline 4,000 to 1.852 million
While that is a better trajectory, I do kind of have the mildly pessimistic view that a large part of the costs of good going down isn’t truly a positive sign for inflation, but the market forcing prices down due to decreased spending. I’m luckily in a decent position financially (my bills are paid, rent, while not cheap, is paid on time), but the cost of pretty much everything has become so much higher with not much of an increase in earning. If the minimum wage were forced up it would probably help, but idk, every person I’ve talked (in person) about the issue with is pretty negative about the issue.
Minimum wage has seen positive movement in 2024, granted not everywhere. And a federal would definitely help.
On January 1, 22 states will increase their minimum wages, raising pay for an estimated 9.9 million workers. In total, workers will receive $6.95 billion in additional wages from state minimum wage increases. In addition, 38 cities and counties will increase their minimum wages on January 1 above their state’s wage floors, adding to the number of workers likely to see increased earnings. In the absence of federal action, states and localities continue to take the lead in advancing fairer wage floors via legislation, ballot measures, and automatic inflation adjustments.
Well, congratulations on the good news, I suppose.
If you’re in the US, congrats yourself.
Don’t get me wrong, if these numbers are indicators that some people are going to experience less stress and that they will be less overwhelmed or that they will be made to feel more secure in their financial situation, I do think that is objectively a good thing and I’m happy for those people. It’s just that these numbers don’t make me feel any better about the economy or my personal financial situation. Maybe I should feel better, but I don’t. I generally feel pessimistic, and these numbers don’t change that.
Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I too hope this continues to unfold in the ways we’re seeing.
Nice. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a trend and it keeps going in the right direction.
Just a reminder that inflation slowing down doesn’t automatically mean the prices will drop too. It only means the prices stop increasing. You’d need deflation to make the prices come down and that would be even worse for the economy.
