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Wonderful caption pic; content less so.
The U.S. economy remains deeply unequal, with vast gaps in wealth and financial security persisting even as inflation has ebbed and incomes have risen.
Look, if you think income/wealth ineq is in any way a thing, just go away please. That beat was always ridiculous. Don't think I can take another round of it. So what, who cares? (#929023)
  • wealth matters
  • financial security matters
  • wellbeing matters
  • the largely invisible difference between you, your neighbor, and the guy two blocks over driving a Porsche does not.
Some stuff in there too about real wages being hit/records; unemployment low; inflation coming down... BUT ALAS, there are differences among people. Enter: serious problem.
The share of wealth held by families in the top 10 percent has reached 69 percent, while the share held by families in the bottom 50 percent is only 3 percent, according to the latest reading from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. (When future income claims from Social Security benefits are included, the bottom 50 percent hold 6 percent of total wealth.)
Love that nice little add-on... literally double the wealth share if we count all the assets—however phony— they own.
Interview some researcher at JP Morgan...
"Massive home equity gains, and my 401(k) is way up, but I can’t touch that, either!’” Mr. Sullivan explained, channeling the tension many people feel.
Yes, idiot, it's called inflationary environment and it directly related to the money printing you retards unleashed in the rona years.
No idea what this means (also, psychology is a bullshit field; literally 0 replicable/accurate results).
If it means what the next paragraph suggest, then the analogy to addiction/drug use should raise some seeeerious flags:

"Lump sums of direct federal aid in 2020 and 2021 helped tens of millions of households pay down debts, save more of their income and get a brief taste of what living standards were like well above their usual income."

That aid, as expected, ended. And there has been a harsh comedown from those highs.
Yeah, I mean... you get bitcoin at the price you deserve; it's the great leveler, the great equalizer.
We're in for a wonderful couple of decades.

can't find a non-paywalled link... but the piece just opened for me on the phone/incognito mode
Non-paywalled link: https://archive.vn/DpRSl
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Thank youuuu! Archive wouldn't give it to me
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I wonder why it works for some ppl but not everyone
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For a while, for me, it wasn't working for WSJ articles. Now it appears to be working again. No idea why.
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The wealth inequality in the US in combination with the inflation... gave Mr. Trump the victory. Without both and in particular the inflation... I don't think he would have won.
And the inflation + wealth inequality is the source of the bitterness... the divisiveness, and the nervousness oozing throughout the United States especially leading up to the election and after.
Mr. Trump far better than the democrats understood that people feel attacked, undermined, and nervous about their future with a declining standard of living... relative to China's (relative) economic rise and that of the BRICS. Mr. Trump's solution?
Tariffs and immigration crackdowns.
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that's fair... and that's kinda my objection too: It'd be much better if the inequality crowd was talking about the problems for which wealth ineq is merely a partial symptom -- money printing, regulation, cronyism, big gov etc.
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I don't know if you hold Experimental Econ in any higher esteem than psychology, but we also consistently detect loss aversion.
Anecdotally, I would describe myself as loss averse.
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Maybe a little in general.
As an explanation for why people feel sour on the economy in recent months (bc "loss" compared to gov showering/def-spending in ~2021) not so sure
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Oh yeah, this does not seem like a typical loss aversion situation.
What they’re pointing out seems more like people are upset because their wealth is uselessly illiquid. What sentiment could be better for bitcoin?
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If only there was a way to hold wealth/monetary premium without crazy lock-up and 24/7 market!
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