MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
This question is stemming from a conversation I was having with the wife this morning. We were talking about they should bring home ec back in schools, but expand it past teaching girls how to bake. Change it to Household Management and teach budgeting, basic home repair, and life management in general.
Part of that was saying people don't know how to manage their finances, budget, and live within their means. That lead to the economy and people not being able to afford things. I asked the rhetorical question is the economy really that bad? Or is it that people are not tracking their finances, trying to fund a lifestyle outside their means on credit, racking up unnecessary consumer debt then bitching they never have any money blaming it on the economy instead of their poor decisions.
You turn on the news and it's nothing but Trump's economy is crippling the nation. No one can afford basic necessities because the economy is so bad. The cost of everything keeps going up. Then you watch some man on the street type videos asking about people's finances. You see stuff like I have $90,000 in consumer debt plus student loans. Oh I didn't realize I was paying $300/month for subscriptions I didn't know I had. We couldn't afford eggs but just came back from a $10,000 destination vacation we put all on the credit card. Basically everything saying the average person doesn't track their finances and spends outside their means.
In my personal life I've seen prices on select items go up; like beef and gas, but overall I'm not seeing/feeling any effects of a bad economy. We also track our finances, have zero debt, budget for the future/savings, and overall live within our means. The needs are met, the savings goals are hit, and we can generally afford the wants with no issues or struggles. I haven't had to adjust our monthly budget since back when Biden was in office and there was the runaway inflation. In most months we have more money left over than planned/expected. Oh, and as an added personal stat, my retirement and investment accounts have been doing really well this year.
With all of that and an attempt to answer that rhetorical question I had AI pull the stats. I'm definitely seeing a disconnect between what people are saying about the economy and what it's actually doing. The numbers say the economy isn't perfect, but overall it's better than it was prior, trending in the right direction, and generally floating in or doing better than historical averages. My conclusion is the economy is growing a little slower than normal, but pretty decent right now. It's people's poor financial habits and life decisions that are the problem. Instead of taking responsibility, they blame it on a bad economy.
Here's the stats I pulled.
Of the categories shown, GDP and Consumer Spending are the ones you want to see stable/go up and the rest trend down to indicate a healthy economy. Housing price is nuanced and influenced by other factors. So that category can be a bit over the map due to that.
What are y'alls thoughs on the matter?
Part of that was saying people don't know how to manage their finances, budget, and live within their means. That lead to the economy and people not being able to afford things. I asked the rhetorical question is the economy really that bad? Or is it that people are not tracking their finances, trying to fund a lifestyle outside their means on credit, racking up unnecessary consumer debt then bitching they never have any money blaming it on the economy instead of their poor decisions.
You turn on the news and it's nothing but Trump's economy is crippling the nation. No one can afford basic necessities because the economy is so bad. The cost of everything keeps going up. Then you watch some man on the street type videos asking about people's finances. You see stuff like I have $90,000 in consumer debt plus student loans. Oh I didn't realize I was paying $300/month for subscriptions I didn't know I had. We couldn't afford eggs but just came back from a $10,000 destination vacation we put all on the credit card. Basically everything saying the average person doesn't track their finances and spends outside their means.
In my personal life I've seen prices on select items go up; like beef and gas, but overall I'm not seeing/feeling any effects of a bad economy. We also track our finances, have zero debt, budget for the future/savings, and overall live within our means. The needs are met, the savings goals are hit, and we can generally afford the wants with no issues or struggles. I haven't had to adjust our monthly budget since back when Biden was in office and there was the runaway inflation. In most months we have more money left over than planned/expected. Oh, and as an added personal stat, my retirement and investment accounts have been doing really well this year.
With all of that and an attempt to answer that rhetorical question I had AI pull the stats. I'm definitely seeing a disconnect between what people are saying about the economy and what it's actually doing. The numbers say the economy isn't perfect, but overall it's better than it was prior, trending in the right direction, and generally floating in or doing better than historical averages. My conclusion is the economy is growing a little slower than normal, but pretty decent right now. It's people's poor financial habits and life decisions that are the problem. Instead of taking responsibility, they blame it on a bad economy.
Here's the stats I pulled.
Of the categories shown, GDP and Consumer Spending are the ones you want to see stable/go up and the rest trend down to indicate a healthy economy. Housing price is nuanced and influenced by other factors. So that category can be a bit over the map due to that.
What are y'alls thoughs on the matter?
| Economic Indicator | Current Stats | Last Year | Year 2022 | Projected EOY 2026 | Projected EOY 2028 | Historical Average |
| GDP Growth | 1.5% | 2.2% | 2.5% | 1.8% | 2.1% | 3.1% |
| CPI Inflation | 3.4% | 2.7% | 8.0% | 3.0% | 2.5% | 3.2% |
| Unemployment Rate | 4.3% | 4.1% | 3.6% | 4.2% | 4.0% | 5.7% |
| Consumer Spending Growth | 4.4% | 3.8% | 7.5% | 4.1% | 3.5% | 3.0% |
| Interest Rates (Fed Funds) | 3.6% | 4.5% | 4.3% | 3.25% | 3.0% | 4.6% |
| Housing Price Growth | 1.3% | 2.0% | 7.5% | 1.5% | 3.0% | 4.0% |
