Economics

969 readers

116 users here now

founded 2 years ago

161

Top economist on the economy’s dirty truth: The only people who feel good are ‘making over $200,000’ and ‘have large stock portfolios’ (finance.yahoo.com)

submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/economics@lemmy.world

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Inflation may be increasing at a slower pace than expected, the markets might be cheering, and the Fed will likely soon be cutting, but Diane Swonk isn’t popping Champagne.

The veteran economist says the economy “looks better than it feels” because the very data used to measure it is eroding, and the illusion of resilience could shatter heading into the fourth quarter.

“The only groups that feel good about the economy now are making over $200,000 in the surveys and have large stock portfolios,” Swonk said.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Yeah, I make well over $200k but between general COL, family medical things, a lot of past debts, and zero investments - I'm basically check to check right now. I'm also the only one in the house bringing in any money.

[–] Iceblade02@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you're living paycheck to paycheck on a $200k household income, it sounds like you might want to rethink your budget.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If they live in the US, medical debt and/or student loans will eat away at anything they'd try to set aside swiftly.

[–] Iceblade02@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Even in the screwed up US system there's something wrong if you're struggling to break even with a 200k income. That's a household income in the 84th percentile for the US, or the top 2% globally (adjusting for PPP).

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

Long story short I had to liquidate my retirement and go another half a mil into debt. Is what it is. Life happens.

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's rough for you now, but once you pay those things off you're going to be well off

My friend has a family of 6 in SF bay area (one kid in college) and he spends ~120K per year. That's not abnormal when he has nothing to pay off anymore.

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

That's the goal! Unfortunately it's quite a few years off even if I can keep it up. I'd argue maybe by the time I'm 45-50 and I still have retirement to rebuild.