Are you better off…

[Chuck Naill]

Just checking in; I am still happy.

[Chip]

In monetary terms, we're okay. The market goes up and down, but our income is stable and our net worth has grown.

Our needs are modest. Our electricity is 100% solar. We recycle and compost and donate a substantial part of our income to nonprofit groups, from local food banks to Doctors Without Borders. We pay our bills on time.

In climate terms, we're worse off. Our local weather is more erratic, huge storms followed by droughts, forest fire evacuations, weird signals from local wildlife (changes in bird migrations, invasive species, etc.)

One way I'm much better off is not having to see daily photos of Trump strutting, preening, golfing, or to listen to his lies (conceited porcine grunts) or to regard him as anything but a failed president, a loser of the election, a dishonest businessman, and a rotten husband.

That's worth a lot.

[kazoolaw]

Chip and Chuck-
I appreciate your focus on things which bring happiness and contentment other than the merely monetary.
For some here in the U.S. the distance between sustenance and survival is much smaller.

[TSherbs]

Chip and Chuck-
I appreciate your focus on things which bring happiness and contentment other than the merely monetary.
For some here in the U.S. the distance between sustenance and survival is much smaller.

Although many posts here on these threads are made for the scoring of personal points, I agree with this idea. I am among the lucky. I am better off every year, slightly, because I continue to have a salaried job with benefits and my income outpaces my costs and spending. I save more each year, and I have my health and live in a geologically stabile area with not much pollution. I have it made (knock on wood). I and my cohort are not the ones we should be worried about.

Inflation hurts. I hope that it is brought under better control. Personally, I don't hold presidents responsible for the movements of economies. Economies are giant oceans with their own tidal movements. Certain decisions have consequences, but mostly on the margins only.

The feds are going to raise rates, which should help cool some things off. Let's hope so.

[Chuck Naill]

As a Christian, I have often recoiled from the concept of luck. I do not just believe some are lucky and some are not. That said, there are choices we make that will determine all things turn out. If I didn't read and exercise everyday, I think I would suffer long term. If I don't try to save a little, I will not accumulate the abilty to pay cash when something breaks down.

And, there are children born into deplorable dysfunction that don't have a chance toward stabilty. Some get adopted or placed in foster homes, but many fail and it is not their fault.

I was talking to my son in law last night about why I brag on my grandson. I explained that he needs to know I am on his side and that I think he can accomplish much. I personally didn't have it, and have made sure those under my roof know they are unconditionally loved.

[Chip]

Chip and Chuck-
I appreciate your focus on things which bring happiness and contentment other than the merely monetary.
For some here in the U.S. the distance between sustenance and survival is much smaller.

Because the Republicans in the US government have done everything in their power to increase the number of people (including children) in poverty; deny them support, whether monetary, medical, or food; force them into low-wage jobs without benefits; subject them to oppression and outright theft by employers; and with tax breaks and other schemes, increase income and wealth inequality, especially in racial terms, we make it our personal task to donate as much as we can afford to direct aid for those who need it.

Scumbags like Rand Paul (R-KY) should offer a public apology for their amoral opposition to disaster aid, except for their own states. Kentucky demands more and contributes less to the nation than any other state.

[Chuck Naill]

Chip and Chuck-
I appreciate your focus on things which bring happiness and contentment other than the merely monetary.
For some here in the U.S. the distance between sustenance and survival is much smaller.

Because the Republicans in the US government have done everything in their power to increase the number of people (including children) in poverty; deny them support, whether monetary, medical, or food; force them into low-wage jobs without benefits; subject them to oppression and outright theft by employers; and with tax breaks and other schemes, increase income and wealth inequality, especially in racial terms, we make it our personal task to donate as much as we can afford to direct aid for those who need it.

Scumbags like Rand Paul (R-KY) should offer a public apology for their amoral opposition to disaster aid, except for their own states. Kentucky demands more and contributes less to the nation than any other state.

You have to include Joe Manchin.

[kazoolaw]

My mistake: clearly unhappy.

[Chuck Naill]

My mistake: clearly unhappy.

I understand if your're bored. Nothing like a daily tweet from a whiner to make some happy...LOL

[dneal]

How’s that inflation going?

Gas prices?

McDonalds’ Big Mac meal price?

[Chuck Naill]

No problems here. Haven’t eaten a Big Mac is 20 years. So, no idea. Do you like them?

[dneal]

It's been a story for 2 or three days. Something about $16 for a meal in New York.

It's a long and historically significant economic benchmark. I don't eat them.

[Chuck Naill]

Annual growth rates:
2010-2019 2.3%
2018 3.0
2019 2.2
2023 3rd qtr. 4.9%

[dneal]

Those are numbers that don't mean anything, cited by pundits and politicians.


Numbers voters care about are things like:

How much did a gallon of milk increase?

How much did a bag of Doritos?

What does a pound of ground beef cost?

How much for new brakes on my car?

[Chuck Naill]

Milk is down from 2020

Ground beef is up .80

Doritos down 9%

Replacing brakes or any auto repairs depend on availability of parts and rising costs of labor. I guess If you want you can blame the Democrats that more people are working and making more money than before the pandemic. Biden walked the picket line. It would have been hilarious to see Trump walking amongst the rank and file.

[724Seney]

Biden walked the picket line. It would have been hilarious to see Trump walking amongst the rank and file.

OMG, you didn't just swallow that 100% pure politically motivated STUNT hook, line and sinker. You swallowed the whole rod & reel with it!!!
The only thing remarkable about the event was that Biden made it through without falling on his ass.

[dneal]

Milk is down from 2020

National average is up $.70/gal 2020 to 2022.

Your grocery store is as fake as the rest of your fantasy world.

[dneal]

Milk is down from 2020

National average is up $.70/gal 2020 to 2022.

Your grocery store is as fake as the rest of your fantasy world.

"More people working and making more money" briefs well, but it's the same people working another job to make more money to make ends meet.

You and Brooks and HCR are out of touch.

[Chuck Naill]

Milk is down from 2020

National average is up $.70/gal 2020 to 2022.

Your grocery store is as fake as the rest of your fantasy world.

"More people working and making more money" briefs well, but it's the same people working another job to make more money to make ends meet.

You and Brooks and HCR are out of touch.

Do you have anything that backs up your pessimism? Since you often complain about the lack of discussion, simply saying the figures are wrong does not further the conversation. Those were your products of concern and I addressed them. I was surprised to see Doritos mentioned, however.

Automotive products were both scarce and people were not working. It is as if you think Biden caused all of this. We had a global event that affected supply chains. Trump or Biden could not have turned it around in the short term. You do know about milk subsides?

[Chuck Naill]

Biden walked the picket line. It would have been hilarious to see Trump walking amongst the rank and file.

OMG, you didn't just swallow that 100% pure politically motivated STUNT hook, line and sinker. You swallowed the whole rod & reel with it!!!
The only thing remarkable about the event was that Biden made it through without falling on his ass.

It is called having the capacity to show empathy for those less fortunate, Seny. It is being able to be human, show solidarity when having power. FDR and Lincoln had it. LBJ had it. Eisenhower had it. McCain had it. MLK had it. You can probably name some yourself.

And it paid off,

"Yesterday, President Biden, in a buoyant mood, reflected this America when he congratulated members of the United Auto Workers in Belvidere, Illinois, for the strong contracts that came from negotiations with the nation’s three top automakers—Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors—thanks to the UAW workers’ 46-day graduated strike. The union demanded the automakers make up the ground that workers had ceded years ago when the plants were suffering.

The final contracts that emerged from long negotiations gave workers wage gains of 30% over the next four and a half years, better retirement security, more paid leave, commitments that automakers would create more union jobs, union coverage for workers at electric vehicle battery plants—the lack of that protection had been a key reason autoworkers had been skittish about electric vehicles—and a commitment from Stellantis to reopen the Jeep Cherokee plant in Belvidere that had been shuttered in February. "

My concern is that you don't care about when your fellow Americans benefit from something Biden was behind. These are the non-college graduates that have been so squarely behind the former president. These people helped are not the coastal elites.