Retail spending is starting to look more and more like the labor market (only the wealthy are spending)
Retail spending is starting to look more and more like the labor market
The most affluent consumers account for a bigger share of total US spending, reinforcing the lopsided dynamic of unbothered consumption for the wealthy and more cautious shopping for everyone else.
the rest of us literally don't have the money to 'spend' anymore.
I just want to buy a new pepper grinder. I have 20 years of adult poverty to make up for.
If capital wants me to spend money, they have to pay me some first.
I'm not an overgrown child that needs to have the latest iphone and every meal delivered or whatever. I've got a public library and comparably cheap food I can cook myself.
I've got a public library and comparably cheap food I can cook myself.
For now
Capital is saying they no longer need you. Capital can now sustain itself through the consumerism of the top 10%. Everyone else will get labeled as excess humanity.
Once again, you cannot have a consumerist society where the average consumer cannot afford shit.
I've been saying this for years. Seems like nobody listens.
Apparently they can, they just cater to richer people now. Eventually they'll make even the most basic essentials into luxury goods. Then they'll figure out that they can make profits go up even higher if they don't waste money actually making things and instead sell virtual goods that are infinitely replicable. Then everyone starves to death.
Only buy from local businesses this holiday season.
And before you spend your money locally, find out if the business supports maga. Not one cent should ever go to a maga business.
Spending blackout against fascism.
If somebody asks to borrow your pen, ask if they're MAGA first. If somebody asks to reach something on a high shelf at a grocery store, ask if they're MAGA first.
We have to alienate these weirdos from society.
lol, I stopped consuming during the price gouging when COVID happened. I saw the greed and just... stopped. screw their cheap shit. it's not that I can't afford it, I actively refuse to keep buying stuff and watch it break in 6-8 months needing to buy it again.
I'm just living humble by choice now
I haven't been shown a product worth buying since 2016.
New game console? Its library is trash and your live service model only gets worse.
New computer? For what?... to do what? Am4 loads Firefox up just as well as Am5.
New car? Drive an Si, and it's from 2014, check back in 2034.
I'm not buying a damn thing but clothes and food until something breaks. I'm not even politically motivated, I'm just piss-bored of Ai nothingburger products and aenemic hobby scenes because billionares own everything and they ground it all down to dust.
this is exactly my thought too. I am only replacing, and buying food. I am in the market for a guitar but those aren't typically made with obsolescence in mind plus they can be repaired which goes into a local persons labour which I am also ok with.
but yes, everything is just... why... it's so saturated with junk that I've checked out completely.
Preach. Anything you buy that was made in the last 5-ish years is riddled with ads and/or requires a prescription service to even use. And that includes luxury cars. Everything has been fucked to hell.
My shoes have holes in them and i use instant coffee and eat rice & beans most days. I havent been to a salon in 4 years. I cant afford the fruits of my own labor and im on medicaid. I work a skilled union job. They told me i should apply for unemployment when it gets slow.
I've gotten fairly skilled at mending my own cloths as of late. And fixing my shoes.
By "skilled" I mean I can keep my junk from flapping in the breeze, which IMO is good enough.
It's getting rough out there, and I can't afford to buy that shit now. Thread is cheap, sewing needles are cheap, and extra fabric is easy AF to come by.
This is why malls either die or become luxury outlets.
I dunno how they expect to keep any kind of economy when the vast majority have no money to spend.
We should remind them that our labor needs to be worth enough for us to spend that value, otherwise they’re in for a loss as well.
Let's imagine it getting as lopsided as humanly possible. Imagine if 95% of the income is concentrated in 10% of the population. There could be just as much commerce om theory even if the other 90% have no medical care and are literally eating ramen and dying in the streets in the short term just with higher prices. Just virtually entirely in support of the few.
95% of the income is concentrated in 10% of the population
New feudal overloads: "Seems about right!"
But wouldn' that make everything more expensive as the economy of scale would fail? So they end up with hyper inflation?
And this is going to suck for the American economy.
A large part of the economy is built on providing goods and services to all members of the economy. The economy is going to suck when half of it can't afford to spend.
ITT people confuse the mathematical limits of consolidating currency with the actual unbounded consolidation of power.
No, the rich don't care about the health of the economy. Yes, they will run out of money that can be directly siphoned from your consumer pockets. That's just the beginning of the real endgame.
Short on rent money? I'll be happy to write off your rents in perpetuity if you sign this contract granting rights to your organs upon death. Can't afford clothes? A lifetime agreed employment spent sorting trash will keep you in free, durable work clothes. Can't afford to raise your kids? We'll give you a sweet deal to cover necessities and they can pay it back later. Muggers and thieves got you down? Come sign on to our secure company commune!
These are the exact conditions that historically lead to feudal systems. People didn't abandon their homesteads and independence to become serfs voluntarily. It was always out of necessity.
Sorry folks but im not so keen to spend without an income.
That doesn’t concern them too much.
The Ultra Wealthy basically.
I wonder if this chart has anything to do with it.
And if the point isn't immediately obvious, there's an easy to miss little yellow line at the bottom of the chart that represents the combined wealth of half the US population.
Good thing we’re burning down fundamental government services, destroying our future and adding trillions to the national debt to fund tax cuts for those one percenters, huh
It's going to trickle down!
We're already speeding towards the cliff with our eyes closed, they might as well light the car on fire.
This is one thing that those supporting runaway capitalism don't seem to understand. Money ultimately flows up. It relies on a bunch of people closer to the bottom to start that flow. The more people taking part, the better. Each consumer can put in a little if the number of consumers is high.
If market prices go up so far that the people at the bottom can't initiate that flow, then the system fails. Money doesn't flow at all, and those at the top start taking losses. Dominoes fall. The system needs consumers to be able to afford goods. It's one reason why prices cannot just go up until the end of time. You can't squeeze blood from a stone.
But so many of these rich folks now are under the impression that money just flows in without understanding from where. Prices just go up, as if it were an infinite money glitch. These people will eventually have an awakening.
This is one of my economic reasons for progessive taxes even with corporations and investments. If its progressive the richer you are the better you have to be to keep making the same amount of profit. Rich people have to be smarter, larger corporations have to be more efficient, investments have to be sensible. All our tax cuts have resulted in idiots at the highest levels. Pro baseball should not be playing t-ball. The farther you go the harder it should get. The first million should be the easiest.
That is altogether too damn sensible to be accepted by anyone.
This is one thing that those supporting
runawaycapitalism don’t seem to understand.
I feel that it's been pretty well demonstrated that all capitalism is runaway. It may take decades, but it will run away, get out of control, and eat itself. It's the nature of the beast.
Just invest more in advertising, that'll fix it.
As someone who works in marketing, I support this decision
alexa whats a K-shaped economy
The last 3 years have been spending on basic survival ONLY for us, we are vintage dealers as well so no new clothing etc; our outfits are rad as fuck and our 4 year old dresses like an 80s photo.
The only way to survive this economy is to make yourself indispensable to the billionaire class, something I refuse to do…. Working people have to support each other, cause no one else will
Coincidentally, while walking through the grocery stores I find myself gravitating towards the cheaper lower-quality mass-produced food of my childhood.
Sadly, some of that lower quality stuff has become legit dogwater. The modern Hamburger Helper is disappointment in a box. A storebrand "lasagna skillet meal" is childhood joy these days.
You don't need that garbage any way. Just buy egg noodles or lasagna.
I can spend money but I refuse to spend any expendable income on the US economy because I’m boycotting this bullshit. All that money goes to importing trading cards and origami paper from Japan.
Same. I started cutting back on everything I could at the beginning of the year.
Switched from fast food to takeout from local restaurants, canceled all my Amazon subscribe and save orders, and bought everything I possibly could from Costco. I've actually saved a lot this year.
Yeah I’ve been digging living more modestly. I’ve noticed how much less stress I have because I don’t always think about consuming and spending. I’m a lot healthier now because of it too cutting out fast food in replacement of local places since now I don’t eat out as much and eat better at the house. Now I just sit around folding origami and avoid all that other bullshit
TFW the parking lot at dollar tree is full of beemers and Benz.
Imagine having to deal with bullshit like this all day as your job.
This is a repeat of ancient Roman history.
The wealthy elite became so wealthy that they could insulate themselves from the rest of the country and economy ..... they had so much money that they could make, produce and build everything they needed for themselves ... while the rest of the world degraded and fell apart.
And as soon as enough of the world and it's people fell apart and became a lawless land ..... everyone started attacking one another, especially the insulated wealthy elites.
We're on our way now folks ..... if I don't see you in the future hellscape, my ghost will.
I can't wait til we can strike fear into their shriveled little hearts.
I can’t wait til we start drinking water from lead pipes and slowly got deranged as a community.
Yeah but this time they've got bunkers and AI, so they think this time it's different.