EmilyD wrote:
Other than inflation what is bringing us down?????
How many things does inflation impact???
Just about everything is the answer! Food, mortgages/rent, utilities.....our wallets!
People are becoming a one-car family because the price of cars, gasoline, maintenance, insurance have all pretty much doubled. NONE of those prices have come down.
Your last sentence is totally incorrect:
Here’s year end inflation rate in USA( which is significantly lower than WW inflation rates over last four years)- Source statistic
2017-2.1, 2018-2.4, 2019-1.8, 2020-1.2. (2016 was 1.3)
2021-4.7, 2022-8.0, Nov 2023- 3.1. 2020 was 1.2)
Fed Target 2%
Inflation and prices of many of the items you reference as not going down have, especially gas has gone down significantly . Your statement that None have gone down is an inaccurate statement.
Insurance has gone up mostly due to significant amount of claims due to natural disasters (floods, tornadoes, fires, hail, hurricanes, etc) that have hit many areas of USA. Insurance has definitely gone up.
I have been unable to find any items that doubled other than interest rate (2001-3.5 to urgent-8.5) which the Fed raised to reduce inflation. Fed has held interest rate as inflation is coming down slowly as needed, stock market and employment have peaked, unemployment low. May start lowering inflation in 2024 depending on economy.
Real estate brokers are quitting their jobs and finding other employment because they can's sell houses...no one is either buying or selling right now unless it is an emergency. None of those rates have come down...if anything, they are still going up.
At this point interest rates have been stable for months- Fed currently plans to hold and consider reducing in 2024 if inflation reduces and employment remains stable.
They are not “ if anything-increasing” as you state. Inaccurate statement.
Home sales dropped to ~4.0 M annual rate during C***d to mid 2020, Fed dropped prime during C***d to support unemployment and recovery. Steep increase in home sales to 6.0-6.5 M annual rate, highest in past ten years(5.0 to 5.5 M annual rate is the norm) from mid 2020 to Jan 2022. ( recover from C***d and projected Fed actions to increase prime rate)
Currently at ~ 4.0M annual rate lowest in ten years due to increase in home values, increase in interest rates and the 1 1/2 year buying rush.( source Trading Economics
So due to home sales boom and factors above in mid 2020 til Jan 2022, the current market has tanked as you stated ~ 1M home sale a year from norm (—5.0-5.5 to 4.0, minus +20%)
Interest rates in banking institutions have plummeted, so any interest income you may have had has pretty much dried up. Dividend rates are a joke - it's not even worth putting your money in an investment that is going to hold it up from access that people might need in these troubled financial times.
Stock market has been strong in 2023 and hit an all time high last month. Investment income is strong. Company revenues are growing and unless they are making stock buybacks dividends should be increasing. Investments in stock market( major investment method) are growing. Dividend.com indicates most companies are keeping dividends stable or increasing them while only a few are reducing.
Not sure where you are getting your information that “dividend rates are a joke”, the data I found indicates your statement is inaccurate.
Investments, 401(k) and other types of retirement plans have dwindled down to almost nothing being contributed by employers. Working class people who have retirement savings funds invested in their futures have had to use those to live on now because they can't make it on the paychecks they earn anymore.
My 401 K is still running at plus 10%14% per year return( very good return), recovering from 2021/22 ~3% total two year decrease.
Credit card debt has reached records highs. People are late on payments, or unable to meet the payment requirements and are getting more and more in debt. People who can't find jobs, or had to accept jobs with less pay (sometimes even half of what they made pre-p******c) are living off their credit cards!
I hear you on credit card debt increasing, people on fixed or limited income are using more credit for purchases due to inflationary pressures.
The number of people not able to find jobs is very low- there are tons of unfilled jobs. Regarding people accepting jobs with lower pay sometimes half of what they made pre-p******c is true. Key word is sometimes- not very often but sometimes, many sk**led jobs are unfillsble due to competition for sk**ls and pay in these areas are higher.
Jobs: The C****-** p******c and the resulting lockdown caused 114 million people to lose their jobs over 2020 alone! People who had to quit during the p******c because of the mandates, have not been able to find work with salaries that are comparable to their pre-p******c salaries. 99.9% of all businesses in the U.S. qualify as small businesses. 60% of Americans worked for small businesses before the C***d h**x. Do you know how many small businesses had to close permanently due to the C***d h**x? THIRTY-FOUR PERCENT!!! That's a lot of people who lost their jobs who had to find something else to do to make enough income to live on!
Harvard Business school study and surveys of over 5800 small businesses found that 41% had TEMPORARY Closures and 1.8% permanently closed. Government programs were available to assist businesses and employees affected. While it was not same as salaries, some relief was available. Job market has fully recovered and this year and part of last year employment has peaked beyond pre p******c levels( chart wouldn’t copy or I would have added it)
That's all I can think of at the moment, but there is a LOT more that inflation had impacted than what I have put down here.
Trump can handle all of these problems...and more! At this point in time, there is no one else that has the ability to do that...and he is our best bet. He is not perfect, but he is GOOD at what he does professionally, and that is what we need. Who gives a flying fig if he had affairs or wh**ever personal baggage he has. What he can do - what he has already done for us - WHAT HE HAS ALREADY SHOWN US FIRST HAND - is that he is able to help us out with this. The fact that he is even willing to do that after all you 'Rats have put him through is extraordinary!!! We should humbly accept the fact that he even wants to try to help us at all!
Other than inflation what is bringing us down?????... (
show quote)
Trump handled the C***d issue poorly, did not accept seriousness, delayed actions, did band-aide fixes, did not listen to his experts probing China sources. He was told in Feb 2020 by key staff (Pottinger/O’Brien) that C***d would be his biggest challenge and biggest threat to his electability in Nov. It would be more serious than SARS and more along the lines of 1918 Spanish flu where 675,000 US Citizens died. They were correct C***d deaths were worse.( Reference: Bob Woodward taped interviews with Trump, Pottinger & O’Brien.)
Trump did not mobilize all resources at the time, told people we have it under control and it will go away. Took him months and increased deaths to recover supply of ventilators and face masks(which he did not fully embrace). His ban on inbound to USA was to little to late with a non symptom spreadable disease-band-aide.
This is the guy that can fix it. I wouldn’t bet on that horse.
Trump was put through all this by himself and his unethical and some illegal misdeeds he did. He is the “rat” whose actions are now catching up to him.
If you say it’s ethically ok to have affairs and personal baggage( three convictions - 2 for fraud and one for defamation and sexual abuse) not to mention 91 open indictments and pending civil suits. Over 1000 of his supporters indicted and hundreds of them convicted for J6, his lawyer just penalized $148m for doing Trumps bidding and defaming two e******n workers.
Your bar is way to low for President of United States candidate.
I have put facts and sources to my facts for your emotional post, and pointed out the many inaccuracies of your post. Some things were accurate many were not.
It clear Trump is your champion, can do no wrong and that is your choice. I chose to agree to disagree with you.
Thanks for sharing.
NOTE: I tried to respond to each of your statements directly below your statements where feasible.