I'm just going to take this completely out of context and focus on one thing which probably isn't the actual cause, but people got PAID!!!!! during Covid. There's a reason the US had the lowest credit card debt and the highest savings amount in like a half century during Covid. I was working at the time in a very non-critical job and was one of the last jobs allowed to go back to work. I was collecting unemployment for 8 months. $974 after taxes every week, plus 2 fatty $1200 checks. Granted, this was roughly about what I was making at the time, but there were a lot of people who were making a quarter of that before and were now taking home insane amounts of money for months on end. When a large population of the US is barely getting by on $500 a week take home pay, doubling that for months is going to have some unintended consequences in places you probably can't point to a data study to figure out, but there's a lot of correlation you can attach to it.
That's what I was trying to say. People may not have been getting "buy a new house" type money but like I've mentioned on here way back in the stimulus days, my brother and his wife (plus four kids) got a new $4k wine fridge, new top of the line washer and dryer, two TVs, an area rug and new couch. All with stimulus money. I just got 60+ hour work weeks and no stimulus money. I did get some of that sweet sweet PPP money though. Which I used to keep our doors open as no one was driving, therefore, no accidents.
I had started my job in November 2019, and I volunteered to stay on the “special team” during the covid furlough. I could’ve made way more in unemployment, but I figured nobody knew what was going to happen and if there were layoffs I’d be first to go.
My little brother had worked as an intern for 6 months prior to the lockdowns. The only job he’s ever had post college. Actually ended in December few months before, but still got full unemployment for however long that lasted, like 8-10 months? Kept his townie bar fly lifestyle going. Even with used cars though a 1400$ down payment will help getting a loan. It wasn’t a bunch people only buying 1400 dollar shit boxes. I remember boat sales going crazy too.
You had: -Stimulus checks -Savings from people who stopped commuting -Savings from cancelled vacations -Explosion in side work, especially in construction -PPP loans to any LLC that wanted $50k (horrendous grift) -Low interest rates and skyrocketing assets, allowing for a ton of newly appearing equity to serve as collateral. Lots of people had more money to throw at toys, and that demand surged forward. Sell your old car/boat/bike for more than it was worth 8 months ago and use that as a down payment on your next one. Similarly, you had lopsided inventory. Some stuff was essentially worthless, like office equipment no one could use in their home. Some stuff was sold for pennies on the dollar because of the challenges covid imposed, such as gym equipment or restaurant stuff that required extensive installation that was either impossible to get done, wildly expensive or both. The supply issues were fleeting, and then the manufacturers blamed chips or complex parts, in part so they could continue to drag their heels. Manufacturers pivoted to a different model that involves selling fewer cars and higher margins per vehicle, in part because they couldn't hold back the tide of cheap Indian and Chinese cars forever, and because people were getting their first drivers license later and later, and driving fewer miles. Also, the core demographic that buys the highest margin vehicles is aging rapidly, and their buying power will remain on the decline. American automobile producers are in the early stages of a pivot to a Harley Davidson model where a Silverado or Camaro is more status symbol than transportation option, and an underlying pivot to electric vehicles. The EV piece is just waiting on the market to settle and the big 3 will buy out the winners. They are afraid of the self driving tech, because it would be too expensive to buy. Teslas market cap made them the clear front runner, and they largely squandered that lead. The European manufacturers have a major advantage over the Americans, and are going to nip at their most profitable models soon, as evidenced by the number of manufacturers planning to bring trucks to the US market.
A huge number of the people, maybe even the majority, that got stimulus checks would have been just fine without them. It was never about helping people, it was about helping businesses stay open. It would have been more targeted at low income people if it was about people I think we saved ours. I bought our pontoon, but I was going to do that anyway. When inflation skyrocketed the years '21 and '22, that was when we struggled. I didn't make much those years and we spent more than we brought in.
China did legitimately fuck it up too. They had much stricter and longer lock downs and we were still dealing with it with our suppliers until a year and a half ago. Cities where the suppliers' factories were would go on lock down randomly and we just couldnt do anything until they were open. Then there were the shipping container companies that jacked up the cost per container ten fold. Since 90% of our stuff comes from Shenzen they just told us, where else you going to go? We just order one container instead of ten and only brought our biggest products. Eventually they caved.
Supplier diversity wasn't a new concept in 2020. Some of that was intentional in the same vein as some inflation was caused by "if we don't raise prices now, we won't be able to later (and everyone else is doing it now)". Corporate bullshit.
Just saw a headline on Drudge. “Mitch McConnell: ‘we’re in a very, very dangerous world right now…’” And my knee-jerk response was “Wheelchair, my dude…”
No one in Congress is more performative than Nancy Mace. According to her former communications director, she wanted to get punched on Jan 6 because she thought it would get her on TV: https://bsky.app/profile/nataliejohnson.bsky.social/post/3ld4tbuqth22l Also a sling is for immobilizing a shoulder, not a wrist.
I found this video interesting (and not at all because it confirms my priors...): The ultimate thesis, which the data seems to bear out, is that patterns we associate with "rural" correlate much more strongly with whether an individual identifies as rural, and not whether they actually live in a rural area. That is to say, the difference between "rural America" and "urban America" isn't environmental, it's cultural. Put another way, "rural America" is a form of... identity politics.
That’s the idle time YouTube you consume you must be a HOOT at parties. He sounds like Beavis and Butthead’s hippy teacher got a degree in urban planning.
We live on a dirt road in RUCA code 10, in case any of you question my hillbillyness. I think the big truck guys from RUCA 4 and 5 are dumbasses, too.
The Government Is Shutting Down Because Elon Musk Has Factories in China https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-20-government-shutting-down-elon-musk-factories-china/
It's almost like the Americans elected a fucking idiot into office and the rich people are taking advantage of that. Who could have possibly seen this coming?
Yeah, I get that, and it’s not my intent to shit on everybody…. just saying that he was legally elected into power using the system you have in place.
I am confused by the Gaetz report...ain't "sex with a minor" pedophilia and statutory rape? Am I missing something?