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naraburns  nihil supernum  16d ago (text post)   26870 thread views

U.S. Election (Day?) 2024 Megathread

With apologies to our many friends and posters outside the United States... it's time for another one of these! Culture war thread rules apply, and you are permitted to openly advocate for or against an issue or candidate on the ballot (if you clearly identify which ballot, and can do so without knocking down any strawmen along the way). "Small-scale" questions and answers are also permitted if you refrain from shitposting or being otherwise insulting to others here. Please keep the spirit of the law--this is a discussion forum!--carefully in mind.

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American workers are very rich by world standards. Claiming that they can barely afford necessities, when even the lowest paid among them make several times what people in other countries make or what the average American made a couple generations ago is absurd.

The original point was never to compare American workers to those across the rest of the world.

Even someone earning the minimum wage in the US, which is rare, makes far more than most people in the world and makes more than the average person did in the 60's, even after adjusting for the cost of living.

Wages are up, but the price of goods in the United States is outpacing that growth to the point that lower- and middle-class people making decent wages still can barely afford the necessities, e.g., rent, groceries, gas, childcare. Swing state voters said this was their biggest concern and hope (and believe) Trump and the Republicans will come to the rescue.

The original point was never to compare American workers to those across the rest of the world.

My point was that if the rest of the world gets by on much less, then they clearly get paid enough to keep up with basic necessities.

Wages are up, but the price of goods in the United States is outpacing that growth to the point that lower- and middle-class people making decent wages still can barely afford the necessities, e.g., rent, groceries, gas, childcare.

The word "real" means the numbers are adjusted for inflation, so if real wages are going up, that means that nominal wages are increasing faster than the price of goods. This is especially true for lower and middle class people. Their earnings have risen more than those of upper class people. The wages of the poorest have risen the most.

Swing state voters said this was their biggest concern and hope (and believe) Trump and the Republicans will come to the rescue.

If you look at polls that have been done over the last few years, most Americans say they're doing fine but believe most other people are not. These economic problems are completely imaginary. This has been the best period for the increase in the standard of living of the American poor in a very long time,

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