Why are Americans so unhappy? High costs
creates discontent in the US despite positive economic news during the Biden administration according to Robert Reich. Reich was formerly the Democratic Secretary of Labor in the United States
Expensive housing, food prices and childcare
Trots positive economic indications, including growth of 3.3 percent in the final quarter of 2023 and an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, Americans are facing economic challenges. According to former Labor Minister Robert Reich, high costs of housing, food and child care are the reason for the dissatisfaction.
At its lowest, unemployment under Biden was 3,4%. That's lower than when it was at its lowest under Trump at 3,5%. But Trump is lying about unemployment being lower under him. At the same time, Biden brought the unemployment rate down from the 6,4% it was at at the start of his term.
Reich points out that despite increased wages and more jobs, the high monthly costs are a source of concern. In particular, housing costs are taking a larger share of wages than at any time since 1984. Although inflation has fallen from a peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022 to 3.4 percent in December, it is still affecting American households.
According to a Jacobin article, the situation is exacerbated by appalling working conditions and wages for those doing menial jobs. Red Justice believes that in order to reduce right-wing extremism, class divisions must be reduced, and no one must feel left out. To achieve this, I propose measures to reduce economic inequalities and create a solidary social structure in the United States.
Grocery store employees suffer in silence
Jacobin highlights how The mainstream media often ignores economic insecurity among the working class. The article shows how grocery store workers suffer in silence when the media does not report on their financial challenges. Many of these workers live paycheck to paycheck and lack financial security.
Author Ann Larson shares in the anthology Going for Broke: Living on the Edge in the World's Richest Country his experiences from the pandemic as a shop employee and highlights how the media gives a distorted picture. People struggle with high living costs, and nearly half can't handle a $400 emergency. Female chicken butchers in the US have to wear diapers on the job because they are not allowed to go to the bathroom. Poor customers in America's grocery stores are stealing more and more openly out of sheer desperation. They do this even though the police usually catch them. When poor customers can't afford the toilet fee, they poop on the shop floor. Larson believes that to reduce economic inequality, labor must be redistributed, and that higher wages and access to basic goods are the keys to change.
A society must offer a high degree of equality and truly good levels especially to the citizens lowest in the hierarchy if our democracies are not to collapse into chaos and right-wing extremism.
Peter Turchin's book End times argues that, ever since the 70s, wealth has been pumped up from the majority to a small few. This not only makes the majority dissatisfied, but primarily those who have acquired an expensive education and still get no use for it. They consider themselves entitled to power and are prepared to do anything to get it.
Se https://peterturchin.com/books/end-times/. See also the article at https://peterturchin.com/intra-elite-competition-a-key-concept-for-understanding-the-dynamics-of-complex-societies/ about the factional battles.
A funny example can be found at https://peterturchin.com/when-a-i-comes-for-the-elites/ which shows how the lawyers have split into a well-off and a proletarian category. Turchin reminds us that both Lenin and Castro, not to mention Robespierre, were lawyers...
Precisely the purpose of the neoliberalization and austerity policies that took a new beginning or new re-intensification (for Clara E Mattei believes that Keynes was also an austerity politician) in the 1970s was to sacrifice everything in society to protect the very richest's opportunities to get growth on their passive financial and property capital.
Even social democrats like Wigforss and Sträng were careful that the money that was available to buy did not exceed what was available to buy. Because in that case only inflation would follow.
But from what I know of Keynes, he was strongly in favor of surplus resources in society being used to invest in the future. See e.g. http://gesd.free.fr/knat33.pdf
As the English blogger Chris Dillow has pointed out, money is just a symbol, the important thing is the real resources. There will be no better healthcare because you pour money into healthcare if there are no trained doctors and nurses, e.g. See https://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2022/12/its-not-about-the-money.html
(Now this happens to be wrong precisely for England, there are lots of trained healthcare workers who have fled their jobs due to cutbacks. But the principle applies.)
Completely agree, but to school, care and social care, there are lots of people who have left the professions who would certainly be ready to come back if the conditions and resources were improved. But quite right that money is only a resource and production claim. There must be real resources and real output to claim.
Here is an article that contributes to the explanation: https://jacobin.com/2024/02/nancy-pelosi-gaza-cease-fire-protesters-russia-china.
"Pelosi appears unable to believe that many Americans might be genuinely outraged at Joe Biden's aiding and abetting of Israeli war crimes. What's particularly remarkable, though — especially given that this is a presidential election year — is that Pelosi is slandering her own party's base, a supermajority of whom support a cease-fire.
In addition to claiming that opposition to the genocide in Palestine is "Mr. Putin's message," Pelosi called on the FBI to investigate the pro-cease-fire movement's financing. The day after, when confronted by pro-cease-fire protesters, she doubled down, telling them to "go back to China where your headquarters is."
They simply regard D management as arrogant and rude.
Yes, and then the inequality of the entire American society for the working and large parts of the middle class is so brutally harsh in the USA despite the Democrats' improvements that if ordinary people get a finger they want the whole hand. It is only right that ordinary people want their share of the social pie, but when the Democrats want to improve just a little bit, it gives room for Trump and the far right to create false hopes based on false economic doctrines and anti-immigration.
The same phenomenon can be observed everywhere. Because the right-wing parties are a little more anarchist, they get support. While the vaguely social democratic parties are beaten, because, as Bengt Göransson used to say, they take responsibility for the shop, not for the citizens.
The right-wing parties do not even take responsibility for the shop, but only for the wallets of the upper middle class. But apparently it is quite enough for them to turn towards the store. It is the store most people see, and are quite tired of.
And then we have this phenomenon that is common to all OECD countries: https://gemensam.wordpress.com/2021/01/30/i-landernas-regeringar-gynnar-mest-den-rikaste-procenten/. It doesn't matter if it's "left" or right-wing governments, it's the richest percent that wins.
Yes, but the right-wing extremists are deceived in a populist way that they should help the people. But those are just false fog curtains.
Another one who distrusts the message of good times in the USA: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/03/the-reality-of-bidenomics-how-good-was-biden-for-the-economy.html. The stock market is going up, as are housing prices. That is, the notorious percentage earns well, the rest not so well.
Just
Did you read this one about how Biden, like Lyndon Johnson, will only be remembered for his biggest mistake: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-stain-biden-s-legacy?
Yes, Biden's foreign policy mistakes were terrible. But I don't think Trump would be better for the world.