OUR Economy vs. THE Economy
"Publicly published" economic updates abound, telling an unrealistically positive story that mostly seems to be completely disconnected from the reality of how ordinary people live, day to day.
In a sense, it feels like a total contradiction because we live in the world where the economy seems to be doing really well, and the stock market is regularly hitting new all-time highs, and companies are passing valuations above a trillion dollars... while more people than ever are struggling to make ends meet.
There's something about that logic that just doesn't quite work.
And I don't think this is really a global economic thing, I think it's more of a US thing. At the opposite end of the scale, for example, Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund is worth about 2.1 trillion dollars US. Stated a little differently, that means that the country of Norway's economy has investing $390,000 per man woman and child in that country. That's net cash not borrowed money; no debt.
I'm writing these words against the backdrop of learning that my health insurance premiums for the coming year will be about 15% higher than they were the year before, in part because the US government has reducing benefits... allegedly so they can buy more bombs.
Maybe that's a somewhat cynical point of view, but it's also a reflection of the fact that with my insurance premiums going up 15%, my income is certainly not going up 15%. Maybe if I were part of that elite 1/10th of 1% — whose primary source of income is investment income from the stock market — my income would be up 15%.
I suppose what makes the whole thing feel a bit like a bitter pill to swallow is the fact that I'm not some "lazy and entitled sluggard who thinks I should have things handed to me on a plate by a nanny state," instead I'm someone who works damn hard and yet I'm going backwards.
People assuring me that "everyone is experiencing that" pretty much amounts to cold comfort, from where I am sitting. I don't care that I am not alone in my predicament, I care that the predicament even exists, in this allegedly wealthy nation.
I know I harp on this particular subject quite a lot... but the system is deeply broken. I keep bumping into YouTube clips about homelessness, and that bothers me less than the fact that the homeless increasingly include professions like doctors and nurses and software developers. People in high income industries who live in cars and vans because they can't afford life, otherwise.
That's just wrong.
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2026.06.24 00:36 PDT
1580/2844
Your quote, ".... I think it's more of a US thing", reminds me of the chants of tricksters or magicians ..... "come and see America wonders". Apparent rosy economic figures isn't seen in the lifestyle of citizens; the only thing I can see is the widening gap between the rich and the poor. It's confusing.
The people on the upward arm of the K-shaped economy and the delusion that the stock market is an indicator of overall economic health distort perceptions. We are in a depression, but no one wants to acknowledge it or take action to fix it. Instead, interest rate need to be held low and the money supply needs to expand so the illusion of prosperity for the corporate cronies and the owners of real estate can continue until midterms, because the election cycle matters more to our political class than does the corrective pain of the business cycle. But the longer the correction is kicked down the road, the worse it will be. And the consequences will be used to justify more governmental power, because who will say central banking, corporate collusion, bureaucratic hurdles, and war are the root problems?