I’ve always thought that the only meaningful measure of overall economy is real median wage. Don’t talk to me about GDP or the frankly insulting per capita GDP. I can’t spend money that’s being hoarded by price-gouging industrialists and tech-bros.
I still think the dumbest thing we continue to do is demand a specific number…
Great fight for fifteen sounds nice, but guess what? The assholes elected officials will drag their feet until that $15 is equal in value to what you’re getting now. That slogan was pushed around so long ago and only now is a supposedly “blue state” like NY getting minimum wage to $16/hr…
We need to be demanding a living wage based on the minimum amount required to rent an apartment and buy necessities. And no, I shouldn’t have to have roommates just to afford a shit apartment. That just dilutes the requirement and allows the assholes elected officials to drop that living wage calculation way down when “you just need roommates.”
A specific number is specific to an area not the whole country so we allow Republicans to argue “$15/hr is way too much for backwoods shithole Alabama! You’d live like a king and bankrupt all the businesses!”
GDP gives an idea of how much value is being produced by the economy, which can help judge what kind of further pressure should be put on price-gouging industrialists and tech-bros.
There was a pandemic spike that’s now gone, but it’s otherwise following the generally upward trend that it has for the last decade or so. If we want to use that, then the economy is doing pretty well.
OP gives a lot of other reasons to think otherwise. Using any one measure isn’t a good way to measure the economy.
Edit: also, people need to stop saying “inflation adjusted wages are flat since the 70s”. That was true in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, but it isn’t anymore. But as another poster in this thread points out, the working class is still not getting their fair share of GDP growth over that same time period.
I’ve always thought that the only meaningful measure of overall economy is real median wage. Don’t talk to me about GDP or the frankly insulting per capita GDP. I can’t spend money that’s being hoarded by price-gouging industrialists and tech-bros.
deleted by creator
I still think the dumbest thing we continue to do is demand a specific number…
Great fight for fifteen sounds nice, but guess what? The
assholeselected officials will drag their feet until that $15 is equal in value to what you’re getting now. That slogan was pushed around so long ago and only now is a supposedly “blue state” like NY getting minimum wage to $16/hr…We need to be demanding a living wage based on the minimum amount required to rent an apartment and buy necessities. And no, I shouldn’t have to have roommates just to afford a shit apartment. That just dilutes the requirement and allows the
assholeselected officials to drop that living wage calculation way down when “you just need roommates.”deleted by creator
I was referring to a national push.
A specific number is specific to an area not the whole country so we allow Republicans to argue “$15/hr is way too much for backwoods shithole Alabama! You’d live like a king and bankrupt all the businesses!”
deleted by creator
GDP gives an idea of how much value is being produced by the economy, which can help judge what kind of further pressure should be put on price-gouging industrialists and tech-bros.
It’s funny you bring up tech bros when Lemmy is full of them.
If that’s your measure, than it’s up:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
There was a pandemic spike that’s now gone, but it’s otherwise following the generally upward trend that it has for the last decade or so. If we want to use that, then the economy is doing pretty well.
OP gives a lot of other reasons to think otherwise. Using any one measure isn’t a good way to measure the economy.
Edit: also, people need to stop saying “inflation adjusted wages are flat since the 70s”. That was true in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, but it isn’t anymore. But as another poster in this thread points out, the working class is still not getting their fair share of GDP growth over that same time period.
Good point!