Goldman Sachs identified a potential culprit for sour consumer sentiment readings: A decline in happiness.
The consumer sentiment index tracked by the University of Michigan hit record lows this year. The index fell 13% year over year in September, due to a drop of almost 8% from August alone.
Economists have widely questioned why sentiment has remained depressed since the Covid pandemic, even as the economy hummed along on paper. Goldman economist Joseph Briggs told clients this week that the downward pressure may stem from broader pessimism in society.
“Low reported economic sentiment likely reflects a more fundamental, downbeat assessment of the state of the world rather than the economy,” Briggs wrote to clients.
Its not the escalating COLA? It definitely isn’t the coming disel crunch. It’s just a sour mood?
You know what helps me when I am in a bad mood? Comfort food. Maybe this Goldman guy should advise that the government let the people eat cake. That sort of advice has always had a good outcome.
Guys, I don’t even know what to say anymore. So much of this shit isn’t worthy of being dignified as based in reality.
I’m really, really, super fucking really tired of just reading and arguing. I’m tired of years of regression being sold to us as progress that we’re just too simple to understand the realities of.
I want class solidarity with my fellow humans who feel the same way. I want to take actions that will actually change things or at least stand a chance or even just get people talking more.
Lemmy is fantastic, it’s doing what it set out to achieve, I would say. But I want to start thinking about something more, and I nor any of us can do that alone.
Perhaps a group chat? Signal or SimpleX?
One person is enough for me to start it.
Class solidarity. Power to the people. Representative government. Social safety nets. Corporate reform.
Are you in a socialist party? Getting organized is the number one task to build such a movement. With a worker party, we can educate ourselves, creating disciplined and effective organizers that can help convey these ideas to others in the working class, struggle alongside them for unionizing and tenant struggles, and get more people organized.
I am consistently in favour of socialist policies, so I think calling myself a socialist is absolutely apt. Capitalism as I know it has completely beat me down. I’m sure I’m not alone in that.
Socialist countries consistently score highest on citizen happiness indexes. Their taxes are high because they are going towards policies that make measurable differences for all citizens. Why is it that those entrenched in capitalism so often dream of escape from their lives? Maybe they aren’t the problem, maybe the system is.
I am in Canada, but the organization needs to spread across borders to anybody who feels that this resonates with them.
You’re right that we need to get organized. I hear this so often and I never see anything truly being done. The alternative political parties I’ve seen have never succeeded in hooking people. We need a way to organize for the new age.
I am open to all ideas. We are the majority, we are brothers and sisters of the working class.
Please, people, I understand being a lurker online and being tired as hell. Not every day will we have the fight in us, but together we can make the fight persistent and strong. For all of us.
How should we organize online in a way that will be effective, and that won’t be censored or flooded with propaganda? I suggested Signal and SimpleX to start, but what do we all really want?
I’m a Statesian, so if you were down here I would recommend an org like the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Instead, I recommend channels like Red Pen who are based in Canada and bring a Marxist analysis to the forefront. I cannot say which orgs are good or bad as I am not familiar. I do think it’s important to point out that welfare in capitalism is not socialism. The Nordic countries are social democracies, not socialist, and as such are both reliant on the imperialist system propping up the west and are seeing a withering of social safety nets as capitalism continues to decay.
Sorry, I did mince words when I labelled social democracy as socialism. Sometimes I find myself simplifying things because I feel like describing idealogies and systems of government can get confusing for those who aren’t too familiar with all the terminology yet.
I will check out Red Pen, thank you. I’m also still on Lemmy and all of my words still stand in case anyone else is reading.
I appreciate your recommendations.
No problem!