https://fortune.com/2024/05/06/americans-pandemic-savings-spent-2-1-trillion-san-francisco-fed/
Consumer spending hit a peak of $85 billion per month last fall.
All the multinational corporate who exploited PPP loans and then fired all their staff. You know... the important people. /s
There are also the legitimate use cases that went to corporations, exactly as Trump intended. The eligible businesses were required to have fewer than 500 employees…per location.
This was always what the big businesses wanted - to recover all the cash they didn’t get during 2020. Then blame the inflation on democrats.
to recover all the cash they didn’t get during 2020
COVID facilitated the greatest transfer of wealth from the masses to the few in history.
Corporations: thank you for your money 🙏
Also corporations: people are just irresponsible with money and all welfare programs should be cut and in turn corporate taxes should be lowered.
The saddest thing is how this generation praises people for spending money while scoffs at those who save it.
It really is backwards.
What the hell are you talking about about? Who is out there "scoffing" at those who save?
Sometimes I wonder how awesome the Internet would be if people didn't constantly spout some made up bullshit as fact.
People do tend to follow the "parked money is lost money" mentality, but that's more about saving vs investing.
Lol, what? Are you just upset because I'm calling out reality?
Who is out there “scoffing” at those who save?
"What are you, poor?" You've never heard anything along these lines when criticizing the price of something?
Either you need more life experience, or you're talking out of your bum.
I think you are one of those proud consumers I'm talking about, which is why you pretend my critique doesn't make any sense.
I think you hang out with losers that derive their sense of self-worth from their personal (or mommy and daddy's) spending power. Maybe instead of extrapolating big picture conclusions from your anecdotal evidence, you should expand your horizons, get out there, and experience more life.
Also, saying "this generation" on the internet is a bit like saying "look over there" without pointing in a direction.. We can infer that you're talking about one of the younger three generations, but without context, your whole argument is muddied and pointless. It's pedantic, I know, but if you're gonna dole out criticisms on a whole generation universally, it's only fair you get some in return.
I think you hang out with losers that derive their sense of self-worth from their personal (or mommy and daddy’s) spending power.
You mean, most Americans? Especially those who live in major cities? Color me surprised.
Which one is "this generation"? All the advice I've heard for years is "stop buying the new iPhone and the avocado toast and the Starbucks, use your 401k".
Another one? That was quick.
I'm talking about your generation. The one that doesn't take that advice.
You're referring to the previous generation giving that advice.
Come on guys, use your 🧠.
You're making assumptions about who you're talking to and expecting us to make assumptions based off of that, as if the world can read your mind? You are responsible for making sure your arguments are intelligible, not the people reading said arguments.
Mostly high earners / high spenders who suddenly had nowhere to spend all their money.
Also some extremely low earners who got elevated unemployment for a while.
And PPP grifters.
We did. My wife and I both worked 6-7 days for over a year, only got one week off during the lockdown. Plus stimulus. We hadn't had $2k to our name in a decade and then we had $20k. Thought maybe we could finally afford to go to the dentist. Ended up with $50k in home repair bills though. Still haven't been to the dentist.
Go to the dentist. It's cheaper than not going. It's only twice a year.
Skip a luxury or two. Do some GrubHub or Uber for a few days if you need to. The dentist is more important than most doctor appointments, unless you have a chronic condition.
Dude when you haven't gone in 20 years that bill is like $15k. Each. No luxuries to skip, we both already work 60 hrs.
At least get a cleaning for a few hundred bucks, opt for x-rays, then discuss what your options are for restorative work. Finding abscesses and getting screened for oral cancer is important to your overall health.
If you're wealthy and all your money is in assets, investments, residential real estate, etc and not income then your wealth significantly increased while everyone else's decreased.
I paid off 20k in debt over the pandemic. Extreme frugality and budgeting with no change in income.
Getting my wife to stop buying stuff was a critical piece.
I learned a LOT about how to save money during the pandemic.
lol. When I read "American", my brain made me see someone holding a gun into his wallet, because I could only see a small preview picture of the link...
We're holding them to our heads instead. In increasing numbers.
Also, you know what helps drive that? If you guessed easily-available guns, you would be correct!
Why do I feel this is a false narrative for the rich so they stop perpetuating the lie that "nobody wants to work" from two stimulus checks that came 4 years ago? I probably spent more during the pandemic than usual at periods to adapt to it and buy hand soap and toilet paper among other things. It also triggered a pattern of more savings than ever that won't be undone any time soon. Events like that tend to have a generational effect that can't be explained away in a two bit headline.
Yes, if this is regarding the stimulus checks, then wouldn't it all having been spent be good? Yeah, we spent it, we stimulated the economy during a time when the government decided it needed stimulation. Unless the conversation is about the economy needing more stimulation and that giving stimulus money to consumers works better than tax cuts for the wealthy, because the working class actually put the stimulus into circulation rather than hoarding it.
I thought for sure the housing market would implode after the moratorium for evictions during COVID expired.
I was wrong. Corporations just own too much real estate for something like that to make a dent.
People spending all their savings is a consumer confidence indicator. Almost never a recession indicator
