How is the state of the United States Economy?

[Suburbia]

How do you feel deep down about the state of the United States economy regarding jobs, financial conditions, housing, student loans and other expenses, and general economic feeling in the United States of America today? Does it depend which state you live in?

[Blue3]

Fair to Good.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The economy is growing, employment is returning, interest rates and inflation are under control ... sure things are not perfect and nor is it uniform, but I think things are chogging along in a pretty decent way - so I'd agree with fair/good.

[Modernity has failed us]

It's alright, and getting better. Which is good. Not ideal though.

[AggregateDemand]

Poor. Marginal rate of borrowing is still higher than economic growth. After 6 years, and $7T of new debt, and a domestic energy boom, we shouldn't be struggling with tepid growth rates below marginal rate of borrowing.

[King]

Good in the rebound from the 2008 crash but still plagued by long term issues.

[Brittain33]

Things are booming in Mass.

[Ban my account ffs!]

The economy is good here. Fair for the nation as a whole.  The main issue here is finding enough workers... And the shuttle buses to various manufacturing plants are full. But they'll subsidize your commute costs. Good luck finding affordable housing though.

[ElectionsGuy]

Fair as an overall judgement, but poor considering the circumstances now.

[pendragon]

Fair. There's an enormous asset bubble which the fundamentals aren't improving remotely fast enough to justify. If there isn't another stock market crash in the next two years, I'd be shocked.

That said, the fundamentals are improving, if slowly.

[RR1997]

Fair to Good.

[TDAS04]

Fair to Good.

[© tweed]

depends who you are.  there is no general economic interest.

[Person Man]

Fair to Good.

The fundamentals are strong but we are about halfway through digging ourselves out of the mess we are in. If things can be stable for another 3 or 4 years, I think things will be doing very well. Of course that depends on their being no major disaster or our nation's politics not sprinting in one direction. 

[AggregateDemand]

The fundamentals are strong but we are about halfway through digging ourselves out of the mess we are in. If things can be stable for another 3 or 4 years, I think things will be doing very well. Of course that depends on their being no major disaster or our nation's politics not sprinting in one direction. 

We are in this mess because people were banking on economic stability to get us through difficult times. We have laws on the books that have created and reinflated a housing bubble. Budgetary instability caused by social security and medicare have been stabilized for 30 years by deficit spending, and the baby boomers were working during that time, not retiring.

California will be the safest place on earth when these damn earthquakes stop. So relevant.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Budgetary instability caused by social security and medicare have been stabilized for 30 years by deficit spending, and the baby boomers were working during that time, not retiring.
 

[Brittain33]

AggregateDemand, what are the most recent predictions for Medicare spending? Is the trend toward slower growth, or faster?

[AggregateDemand]

AggregateDemand, what are the most recent predictions for Medicare spending? Is the trend toward slower growth, or faster?

Why is it growing at all? Revenues as a percentage of GDP have been quite similar since the end of WWII regardless of who is in power. When spending increase as a percentage of GDP and percentage of revenue, cuts have to be made in other programs. Military spending has been cut by 50% since the late 1960s. It sounds dovish and peaceful, but it's actually 1.5M fewer jobs for lower-middle class youths and 1.5M fewer paychecks and job training programs (replaced by student debt). Despite rising vehicle miles traveled, lane miles have been more or less stagnant, and road funding is woefully inadequate to replace the crumbling infrastructure. Maintenance backlogs in the national parks are nearly $15B.

Has any Atlasian actually looked at a federal budget? Does anyone understand how CBO projection differ from those at BEA or other agencies? Intragovernment holdings (mainly borrowing from SS and MED) are over $5T. You're either going to cut benefits or raise taxes to cover that debt. You can't count on long-booming it away, when we've dismantled investment spending to cover SS and MED.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Military spending has been cut by 50% since the late 1960s.

Has any Atlasian actually looked at a federal budget?

Given how consistently wrong you are when it comes to very basic facts, the better question is probably this: Have you ever looked at a federal budget?

[AggregateDemand]

Given how consistently wrong you are when it comes to very basic facts, the better question is probably this: Have you ever looked at a federal budget?

If you think historical spending is measured in nominal dollars, you lack the requisite intelligence to carry on a conversation.

[Lief 🗽]

Very good, thanks to the hard work and perseverance of President Barack Obama.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Given how consistently wrong you are when it comes to very basic facts, the better question is probably this: Have you ever looked at a federal budget?

If you think historical spending is measured in nominal dollars, you lack the requisite intelligence to carry on a conversation.

That's a really bold statement coming from an R-Texas avatar.

[AggregateDemand]

That's a really bold statement coming from an R-Texas avatar.

You idolize Lyndon B Johnson who was a war-monger and one of the least savvy economic operators in the history of our country.

Would you prefer that I were a Southern Democrat who pretends Indian-extermination, slavery, and Jim Crow never happened? Or maybe I can be the kind of Southern Democrat who thinks that Great Society programs are economically effective and cost efficient?

Sure. I'll sponsor crimes against humanity so you don't have to look at an R-avatar.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Given how consistently wrong you are when it comes to very basic facts, the better question is probably this: Have you ever looked at a federal budget?

If you think historical spending is measured in nominal dollars, you lack the requisite intelligence to carry on a conversation.

Oh, so you can't read either. That explains all your ridiculous posts where you pretend to know everything about economics and budgetary matters. Noted.


The top of the graph says "Inflation-adjusted".

[AggregateDemand]

If you think historical spending is measured in nominal dollars, you lack the requisite intelligence to carry on a conversation.

Oh, so you can't read either. That explains all your ridiculous posts where you pretend to know everything about economics and budgetary matters. Noted.


The top of the graph says "Inflation-adjusted".
[/quote]

I can read the chart. You're supposed to have enough exposure to the US Federal Budget to realize that those are not inflation-adjusted dollars, at least not by any measure economists would recognize.

Federal spending is measured in %GDP and % revenues. In both statistical categories, military spending has been cut in half. Cutting the military budget in half is the main source of power for our inept social bureaucracy, and they know that gullible people are eager to believe that US military spending is perpetually rising, like gun crime or gun ownership rates any other fictitious liberal talking points.

Congrats. You guys fall for it, which would be less annoying, if you'd actually look at the source of the data. Military spending as a % of outlays 1962 = 46.91% by 2015 it's 14.99%. The author doesn't highlight this stat because it doesn't jive with his ideological orientation or the political objective of OMB.



This is what military spending looks like.