Goldman Sachs identified a potential culprit for sour consumer sentiment readings: A decline in happiness.
The consumer sentiment index tracked by the University of Michigan hit record lows this year. The index fell 13% year over year in September, due to a drop of almost 8% from August alone.
Economists have widely questioned why sentiment has remained depressed since the Covid pandemic, even as the economy hummed along on paper. Goldman economist Joseph Briggs told clients this week that the downward pressure may stem from broader pessimism in society.
“Low reported economic sentiment likely reflects a more fundamental, downbeat assessment of the state of the world rather than the economy,” Briggs wrote to clients.
Its not the escalating COLA? It definitely isn’t the coming disel crunch. It’s just a sour mood?
You know what helps me when I am in a bad mood? Comfort food. Maybe this Goldman guy should advise that the government let the people eat cake. That sort of advice has always had a good outcome.
My decline in happiness comes partially from the fact that these consultant fucks got paid $300k to send the report that said this.
The economy is solid, because the people only get paid 40% of their productivity. The rest goes to the rich, and they are “the economy”.
Never forget to mentally replace “the economy” with “rich people’s yacht money” if you want to make sense of these kinds of articles
No one but the 1% cares about the fucking “economy”
Good. Withhold on buying new applicances, or any non-essential purchases. Don’t buy cars. Don’t eat out. Buy and prepare foods and refrain from sweets, bagged and boxed goods. When you can walk, use a bike or just stay home if you don’t need to go to work or run essential errands. Don’t take trips abroad or fly. Refrain from all social media use that pushes ad traffic when possible.
Tips: A lot of ethnic stores, like Indian markets, sell big bags of things like legumes, rice and various flours that are dirt cheap. Hell, eat vegan. Fuck livestock farmers. You’ll do good for the animals and the planet.
Focus on the things that really matter in life - each other. Make friends spend time with family. Break free from the need for consumeristic, material bullshit. I’m seriously contemplating giving up my mobile device and reverting back to a flip phone. Join clubs, study things, acquire new skills. Enrich your like instead of doping yourself up on technology. If you use technology, use it to learn things, not just a 24/7 stream of shit news. Go to bed on time and get some sleep.
Even if you can’t directly participate due to being imprisoned by a capitalistic grind (which we could actually break free from at any time, it just takes all of us at once to not comply, eg not working , paying bills, squatting in our living spaces), donate money to action networks like the DSA.
Let all of this BS collapse in on itself. Deliberately crash the economy. Twist the arm of the capital class. The only way they’ll surrender is if you run the value of their stolen assets into the dirt. It’s either that or violent overthrow.
Look at this way. We’re all going to be living in a third world anyway, where they’d prefer we die. Do it before they extract any more wealth from us and complete their mission. They’re counting on us to comply.
How do I boost a comment on lemmy
I’m imagining the guy staring at his bank account wondering “how could people be upset about this?”
Soon there will be a critical mass of people who have nothing left to lose
damn, they fuck you then call you ‘bottom’!
“The citizens we are bleeding dry for grossly huge profits are not happy”, said a befuddled collective of CEO’s. “What are we doing wrong?”. A green acolyte mewled, “What if we gave ourselves bigger bonuses?” and he was immediately made King of the CEO’s for his originality. /s
Dateline 1860: Slave Sentiment Low Despite Record Plantation Profits — Economists Baffled
@Sunflier it’s not peoples happiness level, it’s the fact that people are only spending on necessities. Nobody is running out to put $2000 on a credit card for a foldable iPhone.
The money isn’t there or quite possibly won’t be there going forward.
Folks are embracing a simpler more affordable life either by choice or circumstance.Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
Let’s see I bet people still buy the foldable. Which is insane.
In other words, the term “the economy” actually means “rich people’s yachts”.
I visited a flea market today - a big one in my region - for the first time in a very long time. To my horror, it was 50% TEMU trash - all sales final. It was selling. It made me really, really sad. People buying cheap shit online, marking it up, and selling it to their neighbors. Maybe there is some not-garbage in there but a huge portion of it is just going to fail and end up in a landfill in a year… and this is becoming normal for these people. Things just wear out rapidly and get thrown away and they buy a replacement.
We’re killing each other and destroying ecosystems and the climate… so that we can make… this. We’re fucked.
I hate how people always throw this shit onto other people.
Yea I’m sure Cletus buying shit at a flea market is what’s killing us! It’s not Bezos going out for coffee on a 747
People need to stop shitting on their neighbours that’s exactly what the Epstein class wants.
We could all grow our own tomatoes jog to vacation and never turn on the AC and it would do fuck all for climate change.
It’s the fucking corporations and fucking mega rich that are profiting by raping the planet then dumping the cost into us as if me taking 5 min showers is what the real problem is!
Every time you blame the average person trying to survive you absolve assholes like Musk Thiel and the rest of the billionaire pieces of shit.
I’m in no way blaming the average person. I am lamenting the state of things. I likely blame them less than even you do.
I doubt any of these vendors are living large. They look like they are scraping by only slightly better than the people they are reselling their TEMU trash to. People survive however they can. I can forgive a lot in the name of keeping your family fed and sheltered.
It’s the rich fucks hoarding the wealth and the powerful doing literally whatever they want with little to no consequence. That’s the heart of the problem.
The economy isn’t just the
ponzistock market.“Solid economy” 😂
My grocery bill is something like THREE TIMES what it was just 6 years ago.
The stock market goes up and these chucklefucks think everything is fine. It’s not fucking fine!
IKR? Are these guys falling for Bessent-style blame-it-on-Biden nonsense?
We are both in a “golden age” while also suffering so cruelly under what Biden left the low-t admin to “deal with” (these phantom policies and situations are never given any specifics, of course) after he left, even nearly two years later.
I’m just waiting for the AI bubble to pop. It will go along nicely with the already rampant inflation, high gas prices, and shitty job market.
economy built on a solid foundation of serfs…
Whenever they talk about “the economy”, they’re talking about the economy for rich people. Not for you.
As long as they measure “the economy” with stock market highs and faulty job and inflation indicators they will remain “confused” and the people “irrational”.
I’m not sure the economists themselves realise this, because they’re wondering why regular people aren’t happy that rich people are doing well.
