US Misery Index Rising
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W2R
Moderator Emeritus
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Misery Index? 
Maybe I should feel guilty about this.... but I have never been happier in my entire 73.9 year life. No misery here!
All my problems from youth have vanished. I am living in a paradise of my own making, in my dream home here in Louisiana. I wish I had got to the happiest part of my life about 60 years earlier, but I'll take what I've got.
Misery Index? That probably makes miserable people feel that their misery will be short-lived, which in turn could be an illusion. My non-misery seems to last and last and last.... and I try not to take it for granted! Sometimes one is lucky for a while.
Maybe I should feel guilty about this.... but I have never been happier in my entire 73.9 year life. No misery here!
All my problems from youth have vanished. I am living in a paradise of my own making, in my dream home here in Louisiana. I wish I had got to the happiest part of my life about 60 years earlier, but I'll take what I've got.
Misery Index? That probably makes miserable people feel that their misery will be short-lived, which in turn could be an illusion. My non-misery seems to last and last and last.... and I try not to take it for granted! Sometimes one is lucky for a while.
JohnRM
Recycles dryer sheets
It's all relative
While I am a bit concerned about inflation, the tight employment situation factored into my autistic son finding a job in a pleasant mom and pop production facility, assembling some sort of electrical panels. Just a few miles from our house! So things are not "miserable" here, in fact I don't recall a time when that label would apply.
Save that label for Ukranians, and probably a lot of Russians too. This index needs a milder label.
While I am a bit concerned about inflation, the tight employment situation factored into my autistic son finding a job in a pleasant mom and pop production facility, assembling some sort of electrical panels. Just a few miles from our house! So things are not "miserable" here, in fact I don't recall a time when that label would apply.
Save that label for Ukranians, and probably a lot of Russians too. This index needs a milder label.
Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yes, you've put the whole misery index in perspective. I often find myself suggesting that WE deal with 1st world problems. I doubt we have much of a handle on the problems of the rest of the world. YMMV
iRent2u
Dryer sheet aficionado
Misery Index
I don’t think it will be a big problem for people on this forum. However, I when I see. My grandson (age 17) paying double price for a tank of gas. I have great concern for the kids getting started in life. We need to support better domestic policy. I have concerns about trusting the globe for our domestic needs.
I don’t think it will be a big problem for people on this forum. However, I when I see. My grandson (age 17) paying double price for a tank of gas. I have great concern for the kids getting started in life. We need to support better domestic policy. I have concerns about trusting the globe for our domestic needs.
Bamaman
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
The index dropped like a rock to 6/1972 levels--when I married my first wife.
Then it shot up like a rocket. There's validity to these numbers--and my divorce a few years later.
Then you see it top out in 1980--the Jimmy Carter Voo Doo economics years when businesses were dropping like flies due to ultra high interest rates. My job was to close down non-performing automobile dealerships--a very difficult time in American industry.
Then it shot up like a rocket. There's validity to these numbers--and my divorce a few years later.
Then you see it top out in 1980--the Jimmy Carter Voo Doo economics years when businesses were dropping like flies due to ultra high interest rates. My job was to close down non-performing automobile dealerships--a very difficult time in American industry.
The misery index would be a lot closer to 1980 if we measured CPI the same way (and to a lesser degree, the UE index). I think the main difference we've just had one year like this vs a decade in the 70s and 80s. Even folks that haven't really felt it yet will in a few years if inflation continues to be MSD to HSD, especially if stocks stagnate or continue to drop.
copyright1997reloaded
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I'm with you. For whatever reason, I am more concerned now about the country's position and economic outlook than ever before in my life. That includes stagflation of the 70's/early 80's, the dot com bubble burst, and the 2008/09 housing bubble bust.
Perhaps it is age, being older now vs. young and optimistic about my ability to navigate.
Or perhaps my fears are real. We have seen an everything bubble, massive $ into assets, enormous growth in government debt, a loss of the middle class, a continually deteriorating trade imbalance, and at the risk of sounding political - a lack of awareness about these problems from anyone in a position to try to solve them.
Honestly, I hope that I am wrong about my feelings about where things are going. Not really for me - while I hope to have a lot more good life to live, I've already lived a good life. My worry is about our children and their children. I have a friend who is in his 80's, and just about every conversation discussing things he says "I have enough to when I die" - and I have to point out to him that it isn't all about him.
I think we are heading to some bad times ahead, worse than 2008/09.
ShokWaveRider
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
The amount of folks that "Call" themselves middle class that are becoming homeless may explain it. The misery index that is.
I say "Call" because I watched a news article today about the so called middle-class families earning ~$2k a month not being able to get by and definitely not being able to afford rent, don't even mention the number of kids they may have or the fact some are single parents.
How do these folks even remotely think they are middle class, lower class or working poor is a better classification? I think that is a common problem, folks who think they are middle class (or should be) who definitely are not but are conned by whoever into thinking they are..
I say "Call" because I watched a news article today about the so called middle-class families earning ~$2k a month not being able to get by and definitely not being able to afford rent, don't even mention the number of kids they may have or the fact some are single parents.
How do these folks even remotely think they are middle class, lower class or working poor is a better classification? I think that is a common problem, folks who think they are middle class (or should be) who definitely are not but are conned by whoever into thinking they are..
The Steinbeck effect
In America the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. John Steinbeck
I don't think the actual poor do that. They know the score and seem to be more honest about it. But those "tweeners" do it. I'm not "on welfare" so I must be middle class. Like a comb-over guy insisting his hairline is only receding a little. I thought we were middle class growing up, or that's what they always said. Then I got out into the world and saw how high up the middle was.
In America the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. John Steinbeck
I don't think the actual poor do that. They know the score and seem to be more honest about it. But those "tweeners" do it. I'm not "on welfare" so I must be middle class. Like a comb-over guy insisting his hairline is only receding a little. I thought we were middle class growing up, or that's what they always said. Then I got out into the world and saw how high up the middle was.
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