It's Not Good, And People Are Not Paying Attention....Economics

 It is not good. 

I think we are in a recession and the government is not telling us...On Purpose. 

And the thing is, not mater who is leading the government, it won't change. 

This entire situation is worldwide. 

Why do you think the French, British elections have been in turmoil? And it's the same thing in China...India. 

Rampant inflation. 

I saw a chart where the same groceries at Walmart in 2020 cost around $150. Today in 2024, they were well over $400. 

I was shocked the other day at the cost of what at one time was cheap food at Burger King costing almost $25. Heck, it wasn't that long ago, it was less than $10. 

And places like McDonald's, Jack-in-the-Box, Wendy's are feeling it. 

Why do you think they are bringing back $5 specials. 

Many Americans, especially with children are now seeing going out to eat fast-food as a luxury. 

Long gone is the $1 "Value Menu."

Economist are saying the Americans saved money during the COVID 'times.' And that they spent after we were 'freeded' from our time at home thus our causing inflation....That plus the government printing money hand over fist. 

Then, there is the cost of vehicles. 

I stopped, just for grins and giggles the other day at the Ford dealership in Orange, to look at the 8 various types of Ford Broncos, some big, some well, glorified other Ford models, they had on the lot, plus the 3 they had on the Used Car lot.( That alone tells me not to buy one,....Plus the number of recalls that have been issued for that vehicle..)

I was shell-shocked at the prices they had on the stickers, not only of the Broncos, but on the basic F-150 truck. ( And how many re-calls has Ford had on their trucks is the last year(s).)

And Dodge, Ram, Jeep is in trouble, they've priced themselves out of the market, and the other Big 2 companies are not in much better shape. Literally no one is buying Stellantis.  

The French/Italians who own Dodge, Jeep, Ram, do not understand the American market and are driving it into bankruptcy. And don't be saying "Good," lack of competition driving prices up.

Heck, I only put around 2900 miles on my Honda SUV 'crossover' in the last year. The other day when I left Orange County going up to Buna on Hwy. 62 it kept trying to make a U-Turn at the Newton/Jasper County lines.....So, I'll keep what I got, and go in the Subie if we go anyplace else. 

I keep an eye on the commodity market, especially lumber, and the price of lumber is around $450/1000. It's not high enough for mills to stay open, And while China was buying for a while, the Chinese Government which was building just to keep people employed can no longer afford to do so. Plus, so much of what the Chinese are using now to build is rebar and concrete, and cheap, cheap. So cheap they are crumbling. 

Nationally, new construction is down, and yes part of it is the cost of interest on loans. 

Plus, Gen Z, Millennials. Are not getting married. 

And there are all sorts of reasons why, social, economics...A lot of guys are just not looking, and in the past, young men would get married and it would be a reason to get a good job. To support a family. And a lot are not looking, they'd rather stay home, play video games, pull the pud, smoke weed.....And that is another blog entirely. Boomers( People my age) don't understand what is going on, and here in rural Texas, it is not quite here. But, it is coming......And because of it, there is going to be a downturn in population growth. I am not so sure the immigration 'problem' and it are not related, and you're being kept in the dark concerning it.....Say what you want to, corporate America is always looking for cheap labor. 

Then, we are going to have a college bubble at some point. 

Young folks will stop going to college, just because it costs too much and so many degrees now are worthless. Heck, I got a history degree thinking I couple either go to divinity school or teach, heck today, there are districts with teachers without degrees. Why get one? All you need to do to teach to the test now. Kid can't do anything but pass a standardized exam. It literally doesn't mean you can do anything. 

How many trillion dollars are in college loan debt?( $1.74 trillion) How is this ever going to get paid off? How many colleges are going to go under because kids now look at college and weigh the price of attending versus the benefits....

Heck Lamar is churning out people with educational administration degrees like cord wood. There are now more people working on Master's degrees at Lamar than those working on Bachelor's degree. The vast, vast majority in some sort of education.....and most will not get those school administrator positions, and yet you say...." But, Mr. Thomas, they are getting those Master's so they will get more pay." And how many years does it take staying in the classroom to pay off the Master's degree debt?  9-15 years. And other than it looking good on paper, what do you learn in most education classes? Not a damn thing. Just a lot of education research you'll never use.

I know people with their Master's of Education who won't even put it on their CV( resume) especially when they have a M.B.A. or a M.S. in a STEM field. The business and STEM fields see it as 'worthless.' 

And then how much is the U.S. Government in debt?( $34.8 trillion) And how do we propose to pay it off? Or just kick the can down the road until we can't borrow on it anymore? Let our great-great grandkids worry with it. And a lot of stuff the government didn't prepare for, and knew it was coming, like Social Security and Medicare. And don't hop up and down about foreign spending, it really isn't that much compared to the rest of the budget. It's less than 1%. 

I need to go into detail about economics in another blog and really lose some people.

That said, I am concerned about the economy. Once again, we are probably in a form of recession and the government, the corporate world is hiding it from us.  Just like all the new jobs being reported by the government in the " Jobs Report." How many are jobs that pay nothing, like wait-staff jobs? Working for tips? 

I know I've been all over the place in this blog, but just something to think about....