The mini recession continues

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Bluntone22

Oh yeah everyone buys 1000 cell phones huh.

Yes. They finance them into their monthly payments. Most brand new smart phones range anywhere from $800.00 to $1,500.00.

It's not like we're buying 1st gen Nokia analog phones anymore. We also have internet expenses, satellite expenses, and other extra expenses that our parents didn't have.

a reply to: MarkOfTheV

Obviously individual experiences my vary. In a tile setter getting a STEM degree I break all the alleged stereotypes.

Also, tile setters take home pay doesnt buy you anything near what it did 10-15 years ago. I'm discussing economic trends not individual experiences.

The house you live in is burning, your fine but are you going to put the fire out?

a reply to: toysforadults

I'm here for discussion, not a fight. You were correct on Apple going down, I replied to the wrong person. Calling people tools is not a compliment. Unless you are calling me a Leatherman tool.....then I could see that.


As far as data, I have done a couple threads on student debt myself on here, but a google search show ups thousands of articles of how tuition has blown up in relation to this notion that everone should have a degree to suceed. Education is the 2008 housing market....tich, tick, tick.

a reply to: LSU2018

Well I stopped doing that years ago but is 35 a month really enough to bring the economy down?

Is that logical?

Also, we spend less per capita on entertainment by a wide margin than boomers did can you explain that?

a reply to: toysforadults

I dont believe I questioned your pretty little charts or their information.


I am questioning the conclusion you have come to from the info they contain. Decades of experience in business gives me that right.

On a side note I do disagree with the entertainment section of the chart. I dont believe people spent anywhere near the money on entertainment that they spend today.

a reply to: LSU2018

Actually no.

Show something to back your point of view or get shredded.

Thats what made this board so popular in the first place. The demand for actual evidence.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Believe is the key problem in your statement.

Have any evidence?

Ill be back later to see if anyone makes an argument with actual data. I'm open to that.

You cant change my mind without it.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: Bluntone22

Believe is the key problem in your statement.

Have any evidence?

www.google.com...


www.google.com...

www.investors.com...

a reply to: toysforadults

What's probably behind all of this??? I mean besides the record debt to income ratio and lowest savings rate driven by massive inflation and no wage growth????

To avoid getting personal — leaving the ‘tool’ calling out — would you kindly present data to illustrate this massive inflation?

A second one: do you understand that the ‘real average wage’ adjusts for inflation and having the same purchasing power means exactly that? If inflation had outstripped wage growth all these years, average wages in 2018 would not have the same purchasing power as average wages in 1978.

Moving on, if you’re confident in FANG equities tanking, why not meet your weekly margin call and short the hell outta them and come back with a new thread in 6 months, crowing about your windfall gains?

The myriad reasons for stagnate wage growth are troubling to many economists, but the main culprit for the low-to-middle income earners feeling it the most is productive gains from technological advances.

The rich getting richer (links I read mentioned high-earners seeing meaningful gains), that’s not new or surprising.

a reply to: toysforadults

I agree with your wage to inflation and I would also say it is worse than that. The reason is that the US govt decided some years ago to not include certain items in its inflation equations. I think food was the funniest one to leave out. I need to make sure I am right about that though as my memory isn't the best at times. But I am pretty sure I read that.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: LSU2018

Well I stopped doing that years ago but is 35 a month really enough to bring the economy down?

Is that logical?

Also, we spend less per capita on entertainment by a wide margin than boomers did can you explain that?

I don't know, TFA, you're the one who claimed we don't spend $1,000.00 on cell phones. I'm telling you we do.

Does your graph detail what they consider entertainment? We have 110,000,000 more people in the U.S. than we did in 1975 so when you say per capita, what does that really entail? I use my internet, satellite, and cell phone daily. I consider that entertainment. We go out to eat more. We go to movies more. We fill 100,000+ stadiums across America every week. How in the world do we not spend more on entertainment than our parents did?

One problem I see with that is the buying power of the dollar figure given in today's dollars compared to 1996. If I took those figures and just put Jan 1996 and Jan 2016 in the BLS CPI Inflation calculator, one can see that $54K in 1996 dollars requires $83K for the same buying power.


www.bls.gov...

$54,105.00 in Jan 1996 = $83,020.34 in Jan 2016 dollars.

So the income sure hasn't risen with inflation, so ultimately we are making less money even if we are paid a little more now?

a reply to: toysforadults

What do you think causes economic trends? Yep, you guessed it... a culmination of individual experiences.

Tile setting is one of those gigs that's been dominated by the low wage day labor force. In 10-15 years you should have been honing your skill so you can leave the $1500 bathroom remodel rental property special to the day laborers and move on to the bigger and better-paying jobs.

It's a changing world man... you gotta adapt or you'll get your lunch eaten.

Harsh realities.

The primary reason for stagnation in wage growth is the quality of performance has constantly declined over the last 30 years. The American work ethic is at an all-time low. We live in a time where when someone does get hired they constantly bad mouth their employers and search for ways to stick it to the man.

The entitlements era and the masses blaming others that have achieved wealth for their woes rather than fighting their way to the top.

The key is if one puts forth the effort to better themselves and works hard at it can achieve nearly anything.

a reply to: MarkOfTheV

What stupid and arrogant post.

I've already cleared 6 figures this year in various trades.

People will always need houses to live in.

The tech sector eats itself over and over as it finds more efficient ways to do stuff.

How much work does it take to sell insurance or push buttons?

They will be the first to go.

a reply to: JAGStorm
When young you tend to burn the candle on both ends with little regard for the future. Party while you can, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.