Opinion Biden’s Unpopularity Is More Mysterious Than It Looks

[Jacket time]

 

[Andy Capp]

Note that inflation reduces debt loads.

And here's debt payments as a percentage of disposable income:

Near the lowest in history. I just don't get why people tell such easily checkable lies. You know, telling the truth about the economy doesn't require you to stop being a Republican or whatever. You can maintain your identity AND be honest. Try it.

But what if that's the result of a lot of people with maxed out credit cards and lines of credit making the minimum payment each month?

 

[Jack V Savage]

But what if that's the result of a lot of people with maxed out credit cards and lines of credit making the minimum payment each month?

Well, it's showing that people can easily afford the debt payments they are making.

 

[I Am Legion]

I am not sure why he keeps doing that. Its bad optics, creepy, the kids and parents don't like it, but he keeps doing it. His handlers need to tell him to stay away from kids....

 

[Via Heeto]

I am not sure why he keeps doing that. Its bad optics, creepy, the kids and parents don't like it, but he keeps doing it. His handlers need to tell him to stay away from kids....

doesn't matter. lefties either pretend it doesn't happen or respond with trump talking about his daughter. we have become so split that almost nobody will ever call out their side for doing anything at all. he could literally grope a child and they would laugh it off

 

[Andy Capp]

Well, it's showing that people can easily afford the debt payments they are making.

Yes, but what if they're doing the personal finance equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns?

Just playing devil's advocate, mind you. I obviously support your position on the whole and as you well know I'm no expert in this stuff--although circumstances have forced me into some first-hand knowledge, so I'm just wondering.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Yes, but what if they're doing the personal finance equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns?

Just playing devil's advocate, mind you. I obviously support your position on the whole and as you well know I'm no expert in this stuff--although circumstances have forced me into some first-hand knowledge, so I'm just wondering.

I don't think it's plausible that there was some big immediate behavioral shift like that. I don't think it's impossible, though.

 

[Jawth]

Note that inflation reduces debt loads.

And here's debt payments as a percentage of disposable income:

Near the lowest in history. I just don't get why people tell such easily checkable lies. You know, telling the truth about the economy doesn't require you to stop being a Republican or whatever. You can maintain your identity AND be honest. Try it.

Is this not simply because of the student loan pause? It will skyrocket in September

 

[Rob Battisti]

I am not sure why he keeps doing that. It’s bad optics, creepy, the kids and parents don't like it, but he keeps doing it. His handlers need to tell him to stay away from kids....

This cuts out before he sniffs her

 

[Jack V Savage]

Is this not simply because of the student loan pause? It will skyrocket in September

Good question. It's mortgage and consumer debt service. I know the BEA just adjusted student loans out for its purposes to avoid the issue of suspended payments. Not sure if it's measured there (student loans are sometimes considered consumer debt, sometimes not). But the effect wouldn't be that significant.

 

[Jeffy37]

I am not sure why he keeps doing that. Its bad optics, creepy, the kids and parents don't like it, but he keeps doing it. His handlers need to tell him to stay away from kids....

Get over it. Mr Biden does what he wants and you need to accept it.

 

[58miles]

half the population has to worry about not being raped by a transgender degenerate in the bathroom but at least there's no more mean tweets.

Half the population should be worrying about being raped by a Catholic priest and not a transgender so called degenerate in the bathroom because they are the ones doing the raping.

 

[58miles]

That’s bidenomics , wonder who came up with that lame slogan probably the same guy that came up with “I’m with her “

Real wages are starting to out pace inflation which means that the GOP nominee isn't going to run on the economy instead they are going to run on culture war bullshit and get bitch slapped in 2024.

 

[Hdfi]

Half the population should be worrying about being raped by a Catholic priest and not a transgender so called degenerate in the bathroom because they are the ones doing the raping.

Priests are not allowed into women's spaces and statistically trannies commit more violent sexual crimes.

 

[BigSexy444]

I don't care about "debt payments" because these dummies around me are taking out car loans for seven years and forty year mortgages. It's a mix of things not being as affordable as they were and people wanting to keep up with the joneses and having zero impulse control.

"I can afford my monthly payments" is a sign of someone bad with finance.

 

[Andy Capp]

I don't think it's plausible that there was some big immediate behavioral shift like that. I don't think it's impossible, though.

Fair enough. And from a financial management perspective it makes zero sense to lower payments on your debt when interest rates rise. Just sayin', as it were.

 

[SKYNET]

 

[Andy Capp]

Looks like the back of her shoulder.

 

[Makani]

Its a nice number to tout but it doesn't actually reflect how people are doing. Inflation has outpaced worker wages, so people are effectively worse off.

Yeah, I feel like the Unemployment statistics are massively overrated as a measure of the economic health of a population, even before you get into the myriad ways to spin them. Unemployment could have been a flat 2.5% for the past 40 years and people would still be far worse off, because the jobs are getting shittier and the world is getting more expensive.

 

[Andy Capp]

I don't care about "debt payments" because these dummies around me are taking out car loans for seven years and forty year mortgages. It's a mix of things not being as affordable as they were and people wanting to keep up with the joneses and having zero impulse control.

"I can afford my monthly payments" is a sign of someone bad with finance.

Although I'd agree in the general case, I don't think that's necessarily a fair point when it comes to mortgages. When I bought my house in 2021, it was just before interest rates started to rise and we got locked in on a great rate for 7 years.

However, the only reason we had to move in the first place--and make the decision to buy rather than rent anymore--is that we were evicted from our rental condo because it was sold out from from under us. What if that had happened a year later? And what if we were somehow suckered into a variable rate mortgage rather than a fixed rate? Interest rates keep going up even though many experts are saying the most recent increase (here in Canada, that is) is likely to be useless.

I freely grant that some peoples' pain is caused by the silly believe interest rates would continue to hover around zero indefinitely and failed to prepare for the inevitable. But some people are just innocently getting fucked, sadly. But that kind of sadly fucked happens all the time. Take any criterion for receiving financial assistance from the government and there are people who juuuuust barely don't qualify and are struggling as a result. That's essentially my argument for the need for a full-on basic income.

OT: @Jack V Savage apropos of the preceding paragraph, I'm not sure it merits its own thread--maybe it does(?)--but if you'd care to take on that particular point in terms of an overall discussion of your objections to UBI I'd be down to meet you in the lounge.