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I thought to myself "Hey! An article at the New York Times that might be worth reading!" See spoiler.
(hexbear.net)
Spoiler
It's not an article. It's a podcast episode. If it was ~15m - I might listen to it or I might read the transcript. But there's no way I'm listening to Ezra Klein interviewing his wife for 90 minutes.
Opinion | The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad - The New York Times
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Sure everything has doubled in price, but your stock portfolio has also doubled in value, so you should be happy
What, you don't own any stocks? Well that's just bad fiscal management! What have you spending all your money on?!?
I think that explains so much. They assume everyone is a shareholder first, a homeowner second, a side hustle owner third, and a worker last.
I think they just take 25% of income going to savings for granted. Everyone has a 401k, an IRA, an emergency fund, and if they're really doing well, an investment account. "Savings* to these people are their fun money. It's what they dip into because the new phone just dropped and they want it now, not later. Or it's what they plan to spend on large purchases, and don't even begin to think about having to compromise their lifestyle to afford a new fridge or washing machine or bi-annual vacation. They have no concept of people whom have exclusively a couple thousand or tens of thousand--and some amount of equity in their home if they're lucky-- and nothing else to their name. For the bottom 3 quintiles of wealth in this country, any rise in the stock market is literally immaterial to their well-being.
Avocado toast.
if everything has doubled in price, then my stock portfolio doubling in value means it hasn't actually gained any value in real terms