The Economic Boom That Isn’t
Trumpists can never defend their support of the criminal sitting in the Oval Office without bringing up 2 subjects: 1) What about Hillary, and 2) The economy is booming. The problem is that both answers are bullshit. The whole Hillary thing is a simple dodge that Trump and his sycophants use on a daily basis to deflect attention away from the damage he is inflicting with the deepening constitutional crisis of his own making; but what about the economy? True, the stock market (at least the S&P) touched an all time high on Friday, a whopping $2.00 over the previous high attained in January of this year. The Dow remains about $1,000 below its January high. Never hesitant to give himself credit for something, Trump tweeted this just as John McCain passed away:
Trump’s narcissistic personality disorder aside, is the economy really booming? The answer depends on where you actually sit. For those who received unnecessary tax cuts that are now overheating the economy, exploding the national debt, and kicking off inflation, yes, they are receiving a windfall that they are using for stock buybacks and acquiring more personal goods. For those who are on the other end, not so much. Wages have been stagnated since Reagan. 42% of Americans earn below $15 per hour. One third of Americans earn less than $12. The minimum wage has stagnated at $7.25 since 2009. Wages are only rising at 2.9% per year, and inflation is now outpacing increases in wages. Interest rates are rising to keep the economy from overheating further, and debt rates are increasing because of the supply of more and more federal debt. To make matters worse, healthcare costs are rising 20% this year, credit card debt is now over $1 trillion, and student loan debt is burdening a huge part of the next generation of Americans.
In short, the economy is NOT booming for working classes of Americans. The income gap is widening, and anger is increasing as Republicans in Congress and state houses step up their efforts to destroy the healthcare system, defund public schools, refuse to raise the minimum wage, keep the homeless in the streets, refuse to fund infrastructure, refuse to fix our voting system, ignore Russian interference in our lives, ignore the opioid crisis, refuse to reform the immigration system, jail children on the border, and pile on the national debt by spending over $700 billion a year on defense (not counting military retirement and healthcare) while slashing taxes. Pile on top of that Trump’s idiotic trade war based on lies that’s destroying jobs and kicking off hyper-inflation is some sectors, and you have a volatile combination that is unsustainable.
Conservative leaders all over the country pledging fealty to His Orangeness do so at their own peril. However, we can begin to fix this only if normal people show up at the polls and vote. If we do that, then we can declare an end to this long national nightmare and rebuild our much damaged society.
There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.
Market isn’t at an “all time high”; that was earlier this year (1/22/18 @26,616)
1Trying to convince any middle or upper class person around D.C. that the economy isn’t boo,mime ALL OVER THE COUNTRY is their opening to yell Treason!! My family members out in the midwest are having a tough time handling as many as three part time jobs to come anywhere close to what one full time job would pay and even then they are behind the eight-ball. But hey. What you can’t see doesn’t bother you and isn’t your problem. Its as if the heart and the conscience of this country has evaporated.
2The Dow, S&P, etc, are not the economy. The economy is people spending money to get goods and services. The Dow, S&P, whatever, is the top 1% playing silly buggers with the economy.
3When they can tell me that a billion dollars has evaporated in five minutes, or whatever it was, I continue to regard the stock market numbers as sheer fantasy.
4“1) What about Hillary”
strangely enough, I can find no evidence of HRC holding any public office in the land, elective or otherwise. unfortunately, the idiots (and yes, they are idiots) that constitute Trump’s supporters never let facts interfere with their fantasy world.
5I’m really, really tired of living in poverty.
6I’m really late to comment. In 1991 I lost my job. I was making $12/hr.
I took a job making $6/hr. I was told at unemployment I shouldn’t expect to make what I was making at the job I I lost
By the time 2006 rolled around I was making $12 base pay with a $1 add on for second shift and another $1 add on because I worked in a clean room. Lost that job in the great recession of 2008.
Wages stagnant. Hell yes.
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