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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy many Americans aren't benefiting from robust US economy
WASHINGTON The economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell declared this week, is doing very well.
And it is. Steady hiring has shrunk unemployment to 3.8 percent the lowest since the 1960s. Consumers are spending. Taxes are down. Inflation is tame. Factories are busy. Demand for homes is strong. Household wealth is up.
Yet the numbers that collectively sketch a picture of a vibrant economy dont reflect reality for a range of Americans who still feel far from financially secure even nine years into an economic expansion.
From drivers paying more for gas and families bearing heavier child care costs to workers still awaiting decent pay raises and couples struggling to afford a home, people throughout the economy are straining to succeed despite the economys gains.
They are people like Katy Cole, a 33 year-old music teacher from North Creek, New York, whos still repaying her student loans. It took her two years of working a second job to repair her credit and amass enough money to try to buy a home with her boyfriend. She just gave birth last month the fourth child in her blended family which means having to take unpaid leave from her school job.
As far as the numbers saying everyone is working, thats great, Cole said. But is everybody surviving? I dont think so. In a great economy, everybody is thriving and not just a certain group.
When analysts at Oxford Economics recently studied American spending patterns, they found that the bottom 60 percent of earners was essentially drawing on their savings just to maintain their lifestyles. Their incomes werent enough to cover expenses.
Many people are still living on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis, said Gregory Daco, head of U.S. economics at Oxford.
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https://www.heraldnet.com/business/why-many-americans-arent-benefiting-from-robust-us-economy/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=0213af034c-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-0213af034c-228635337
shockey80
(4,379 posts)Most Americans have forgotten this simple fact of life. Today Americans are looking for a savior to give them better paying jobs, a better life, Fools. I am an old school American and I can say without a doubt average americans have helped destroy their way of life. I watched it happen.
They stopped fighting. They stopped organizing, they turned their backs on unions. They voted against their best interests. That is a fact. You want a better life, get off your ass and fight for it. I have.
Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)
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Kingofalldems
(38,459 posts)And you claim we are spoiled?
SWBTATTReg
(22,143 posts)number of jobs created (which I am sure the vast majority of jobs are at min. wage rates)...if you can't survive/live on a min. wage job, then it doesn't really count, does it? It basically just keeping your head above the water, and that's it.
Better minimum wages = better ability to pay bills and buy stuff, w/o dipping into savings (either by using credit cards or the like). I would think that this would be far better for the economy as a whole to be more productive by not forcing those to go into debt just to simply live (or live at the same level), but this msg. has been ignored repeatedly by repugs, who are so pro business, it's sickening. A simple rule of economics means equal pay for equal work is better for everybody around, not just one party.
How long has the fed. min. wage (the current one) been in effect? Too long, I think. Congress should not enact another stupid tax law like rump wants (what he should have done in the first place, but he was more concerned about himself and his cronies' tax bills then ours), but instead, put in place finally after decades of ignoring, a better, more reflective minimum wage law. States have already proven (in some cases) that they would roll back cities' efforts to increase the min. wage (like in St. Louis and KC MO).
shockey80
(4,379 posts)of how we voted, how we fought. Strikes were once normal in America. We averaged hundreds of strikes a year back in the 50s. The people we work for are making records amounts of money . They are not sharing it with their workers. Thats normal. Thats greed. You have to organize and take from them what you deserve. Life is a fight.
No president is going to do that for you.
msongs
(67,420 posts)here min wages around $10/hr or so for entry level. supply and demand leading to higher pay does not seem to happen tho
unblock
(52,257 posts)The little guy is unemployed when times are rough and barely employed when times are good.
When times are good the rich make money hand over fist
Hard to get ahead