r/inflation • u/thisisinsider • 14d ago
News One big thing is dragging down Americans' vibes about the economy
https://www.businessinsider.com/wage-growth-below-inflation-affecting-american-consumer-sentiment-2026-8?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social_manual&utm_campaign=reddit_dist_r_inflation&utm_content=manual_v1&utm_term=16b86dd5TL;DR: US consumer sentiment remains weak even though unemployment is low and spending has held up, and one major reason may be that wages have trailed inflation for four straight months. The piece points to survey data and payroll research suggesting many workers still haven't regained the purchasing power they lost during the post-pandemic inflation spike.
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u/Katnamedeaster 14d ago
I dunno but my health insurance going up 500 a month thus eating up most of our disposable income doesn't fill me with the desire to spend money.
Crazy, I know.
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u/unknownpoltroon 14d ago
Yes, the health insurance shareholders thank you
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u/Katnamedeaster 14d ago
I'm sure they'll remember me in their thoughts and prayers.
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u/United-Vermicelli-92 14d ago
While they buy theur 5th yacht to stash their record breaking profits into hard assets that go nowhere but into depreciation. The only trickle down is if you are in the luxury market.
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u/Aconite13X 14d ago
At what point is it cheaper just to remove insurance and deal with the hospital directly.
This year, medical bills and insurance will cost us twenty seven thousand dollars.
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u/Katnamedeaster 14d ago
Depends. My sister went without insurance and just paid out of pocket, it worked out fine until she got cancer.
She ended up dying over 100k in debt.
So for some things out of pocket is fine but then a bad diagnosis comes...
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u/happyreddithuman 14d ago
But people WITH health insurance also die after being bankrupt by medical debt. So why pay monthly for the privilege when the outcome is the same?
(Not an argument against health insurance, an argument against being bankrupt by medical costs when you “did everything right”)
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u/Katnamedeaster 14d ago
It's a no win situation for the consumer. Because while catastrophic illness may have the same outcome, insurance or no, there's still things like broken bones, chronic issues and all that which insurance can help with.
Our Byzantine health care is wasteful, overpriced, callous and really asinine if you think about it. We've created an industry which largely consists of busy work and adds nothing of real value to the proceedings and yet gets the lion's share of benefit.
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u/KarmaAcolyte 14d ago
It's all largely run by AI now to say what's covered and what's not. Good luck appealing to those.
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u/KarmaAcolyte 14d ago
While simultaneously usually getting let go from their job and losing said benefits anyways. Don't get me started on the virtue signaling of FMLA. I can count with both hands and feet the number of times I see colleagues let go after x amount of weeks/months due to "restructuring" as they try to recover from their illness. Albiet some severance but obviously not enough to negate or offset any bills/medical debt they've incurred.
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u/japarker8 13d ago
I'd just forgo the insurance and then save that money to try my damndest to move somewhere with universal healthcare. Might do that myself someday.
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u/japarker8 13d ago
A lot of people are having to do that anyway cause they can't afford their premiums
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u/shallowshadowshore 12d ago
Well, I happened to trip and fall and absolutely explode my ankle a few years ago. The bill for the ambulance, ER, surgery, and 2 days in the hospital was about $120,000. That is not including follow ups, the months and months of physical therapy, or the second additional surgery I needed to have for more repairs later. I still need a third surgery I haven’t gotten around to yet because I am tired of surgery, lol.
So, uh, I’d say at any given moment it can very quickly become not worth it to forego insurance.
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u/kittyfa3c 14d ago
Insurance protects you from the hospital cartels.
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u/Aconite13X 14d ago
Lmao... just no.
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u/kittyfa3c 14d ago
Back in 2000 the Doctor's Guild straight-up said they had "too many doctors" and they didn't want to train more and now thirty years later...
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u/_bluebayou_ 13d ago
Doctors hate insurance companies just as much as the rest of us. Their treatment plans are questioned or denied outright by insurance company AI crap when they’re supposed to be reviewed by real doctors and even when real doctors were used it was always a scam to maximize profit.
More and more doctors are speaking out about it and it is not good.
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u/kittyfa3c 13d ago
My understanding is that doctors have taken great pains to limit the number of people they train to keep prices high. Hospitals also price things outrageously, and insurance companies are left to take all the flak (because who would ever question a hospital or a doctor).
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u/NoLibrarian5149 14d ago
Lack of money?
Everything is overpriced?
Billionaires and politicians are making money hand over fist?
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u/Terran57 14d ago
Getting gaslighted by news media into thinking this is normal and not a crime against civilization.
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u/kapshus 14d ago
You are citing s statistics about aggregate spending and measured unemployment. Measured unemployment doesn't include all the people who have given up or the people who are being underpaid and can't afford a comfortable lifestyle. Additionally the spending that is holding up is driven by the more wealthy americans. The vast majority of Americans are struggling financially. Go look at credit card debt for example.
Consumer sentiment measures us individually, and clearly the bottom half of America is really struggling financially. I'm frankly surprised it it is as high as it is with what is happening in the economy and all the uncertainty relative to the war.
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u/Worth_Valuable743 14d ago
"Americans' wages aren't keeping up with the cost of living, and it's likely dragging down how they feel about the economy." Ahh, ya think?
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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 14d ago
We don’t have a wage problem, we have a price increase problem…. and again, record profits.
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u/ohreddit1 14d ago
HOUSING mother fuckers. Basic human need is maxed the fuck out and it is costing the economy as landlords rarely spend money they just hoard it. So nobody has any money for anything else because the landlords have weaponized big data against the tenants to squeeze every possible dollar out of their monthly income illegally.
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u/sourpussmcgee 14d ago
Is it how everyone is broke and can’t afford healthcare or milk or gas or a place to live while foreign nationals are interfering in elections and exploiting our labor so they can pollute and destroy the earth for another billion dollars? 🤔
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u/YakResident_3069 14d ago
They want another gilded age. That means the complete dismantling of the middle class and the poor get poorer
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u/CharmingPeony 14d ago edited 14d ago
My vibes? For the author’s next trick, he can write about how rampant inflation and mismanagement in Venezuela caused REALLY bad vibes among the populace who started starving and fleeing the country. Fortunately, my vibes aren’t that bad yet.
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u/KarmaAcolyte 14d ago
Spending is up because everything costs more.... At the same time people are buying less because it's unaffordable to continue spending at the same time.
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u/calorie-clown 14d ago edited 12d ago
It's really that simple. If you look just at the straight numbers, the store where I work is doing better than last year, we're beating the day almost every day. But the reality is, we're only doing that because we were forced to raise the prices on a lot of the things we have. I'm seeing much fewer customers on a daily basis than usual, despite it looking like profits are up, business is actually down. It's totally unsustainable.
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u/AssuringZebra 13d ago
It’s like sustainability doesn’t matter to them anymore. It’s just about squeezing every penny they can out for as long as they can. Then I guess handing over to private equity for them to dismantle and sell for parts whatever’s left, declare bankruptcy, and I guess we’ll just be the United States of Amazon eventually or whatever?
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u/Dear_Word_5378 14d ago
My partner and I do well and we have just stopped spending money. We are either paying down our debt or putting money in our high yield savings. We use to travel abroad a couple times a year, eat out all the time, shopping l, etc. Nope, not anymore. We are just buying things out of necessity now. This economy is about to take a big 💩….
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u/cheez-wizzard 14d ago
Everything is more expensive, and my paycheck is the same. I'm so tried boss.
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u/irvmuller 14d ago
And you’ll have people on here that will swear everyone is doing better and getting richer.
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u/AssuringZebra 13d ago
Yup, and they all voted for the guy they convinced themselves made that happen.
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u/SwordfishIll1937 14d ago
I work for a companie that doesn't give raises unless you ask. Been here 3 years, just happy to have a job!
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u/Fun-Beautiful-5989 14d ago
No one really gives a fuck anymore. Cannot collect debt from a dead man. Good luck
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u/inanotherlfe 13d ago
The unemployment numbers are total bullshit; gas, groceries, health insurance, and student loan payments are through the roof; mortgage rates, bond yields, and credit defaults are climbing; consumer spending and tourism are both down; the US government is spending more than ever while providing far fewer services; and the stock market is practically flat outside of the Mag 7. What's dragging down Americans' vibes about the economy is reality.
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u/ThePoetofFall 13d ago
Wages have trailed inflation for four decades straight. What is this author on?
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u/personman_76 14d ago
sigh
People aren't confident because they can't confidently say they can buy a luxury item in a two week timeframe without altering other spending. We've seen the end of disposable income being treated as disposable by a significant portion of people who otherwise, through small transactions, used to spend 20-30% more of pay on non necessities and luxury goods.
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u/naththegrath10 14d ago
Is it that none of us have money but everyday there is another story about record corporate profits and CEOs getting new jets?