Ask Lemmy

I limit my food intake to stay skinny & petite & cute & energetic, but skipping meals also saves a lot of money. How's the economy where I live? I can answer that in two words: Los Angeles.

Northeastern US. Things are okay. Worse than I would have predicted 5 years ago but not terrible.

We pay our bills, contribute to the 401k and HSA, and have still been saving every month. Our electric + natural gas bills fluctuate as we switch from electric cooling to gas heating, but their combined monthly average has doubled in less than 5 years. I'm eyeing up solar systems for some relief. We don't drive much so the direct price of gas hasn't been huge. Groceries are a bit more expensive, but usually not as crazy as I see on the news. Clothing has gotten wildly expensive, with thrift and outlet stores selling stuff for prices I would have paid at regular retail 5 years ago.

We're holding on. I wish we ate out, and especially drank out, less. I was always a homebody, but nowadays its $15-$20 for a cocktail, $10 for a domestic draft, plus tip.

Pretty decent in Switzerland. The cost of living has always been very high here, but so have the wages and inflation hasn't been as bad here as in other places over the past few years.

Edit: Also, the fuel prices don't really affect me at all, or at least only very indirectly. Now, more than ever, I am grateful for the awesome trains we have.

Belgium. Personally, I have a job now so I feel fine, has a good bit of leftover money despite being on single salary. Salaries here are indexed against cost of living (not too many countries do this anymore), so anyone who is not living in the capitol can survive even on minimum salary; and in the capitol, yes with cohousing. People without a job are somewhat fucked though... yes the unemployment benefits are quite generous, but there simply aren't many jobs out there. Belgium has a competitive strength in pharmaceuticals but then last year there was a pretty notable company shutting down, and recently GSK let go of a large chunk of their R&D team. Things are not looking very bright

I guess this isn't what the topic is about but... macro-economics numbers seem functional? The fiscally conservative leading party implemented some budget cuts that were supposed to help, I'm not an economist so I can't say whether they helped but there certainly were lots of protests. GDP is slowly growing, not as fast as NL but the numbers are going up

Edit: Just saw the news that the PM (Bart De Wever) submitted an official request to the king to resign. I take it back, we ball I guess 😂

well to put it nicely in egypt we are doing bad and probably failing because the ~~President~~ Dictator is just not wanting democracy and is just bad at his job

In the provinces of the Philippines, electricity and diesel prices are hitting hard. Add to that a bad rice harvest and an expected drought which will make the next one worse, and things get bad. For me personally I am working a remote position from the us, so I am earning dollars which are worth more an more pesos each week. We try to take care of people where we can but too many people struggling will lead to instability and safety issues

I personally live in survival mode.

I hope these people will stop believe narratives of oligarchs backend politicians and stop to blindly trust politicians. Israel annually receive at least 3.5 billion dollar of aid from the USA ever year, while millions of american doesnt have proper life standard and basic healthcare insurance.

While oligarchs and upper-classes get more rich, middle class is eliminating, but if you listen their narratives, they will say GDP and economy is growing. Yes, it grows but only for the oligarchs and rich class.

I am in Melbourne, Australia, things are still ticking along fine enough BUT we can see the wave coming.

There was a book from 1957 called 'On the beach', it was about Melbourne being last city on Earth that has survived a nuclear war and how we would surcumb to the same fate as everyone else. It is starting to feel like that but in economic terms.

Most folks here in Vietnam seem pretty happy.

Not sure if I should write this, but here is a summary from Russia:

Everything is fine overall. There are some cuts (I work in a telecom company). Nevertheless, there are enough vacancies, and the only downside is the merging of positions from different departments in some places. At my last test interview sprint, I got a job in 3 days.

Fuel prices have almost doubled, so I've started driving less for non-essential matters. Small businesses have closed down in some places, so now there are only 3 snack bars in the neighborhood instead of 5. Inflation is felt unpleasantly; prices are slowly rising.

Nevertheless, I eat whatever I want, drink whatever I want, and buy electronics. Maybe I'm just lucky and things are worse for blue-collar workers.

Exactly how Habeck and every smart person foretold it if we dont innovatd: going down the gutter

• germany

Live in rural northern Nevada. Everything is pretty expensive now. Especially because of being so rural everything has to be bought in by truck. And 90% of the people here are insanely conservative and are all preparing for WW3 or civil war 2. This up coming week is gonna be crazy and interesting.

Researcher here who taught graduate level research skills: I’m walking dogs.

Because of the belief that the economy is bad, employers are taking advantage of working class people by removing their niceties like remote work and easy work days. We’re being told to work harder and produce +50% to make up for a 10% shortfall which feels like a fucking scam.

Live in CA, everyone I know that wants to work has decent jobs, houses, families. Pretty good times in our little part of CA

UK, depends who you talk to. Russian bots would have you believe everything is falling apart. London is also really expensive.

I live on the south coast, even on minimum wage I have never struggled. As long as you can find stable employment you will have enough money to be comfortable. Honestly, I don't even know what to spend my money on.

Approx monthly bills, 900 mortgage (fuck you Liz truss), 175 council tax, 80 electricity, 120 food, 22 internet. Water is on a 6 month cycle and costs some mid 2 figure number each time so that is barely anything.

So about 1300/month. That is for 2 of us, £650/month each, or £7800/year. Minimum wage is about £25k.

Rural north-eastern Brazil.

I'm unemployed, living with my mom and sibling and we're neck-deep in debts while living on less than $400 a month. I can't afford to go to university and there are little to no jobs that I can do nearby (I'm autistic and have a shitload of sensitivities). I've a couple more places to apply to, and my dad is studying the possibility of bringing me to live with him somewhere else.

I only paid $200 of my rent today and have to backpay the rest. been eating white rice with random stuff mixed in to sustain. sometimes vegetables, sometimes beans, sometimes absurdly random shit like mustard or pickles lmao. gotta do whatcha gotta do I guess. I live not far in the central valley

Supermarkets are struggling because there aren't enough people buying groceries.

I grew up somewhat privileged. We weren't rich, but my family never really wanted for anything growing up. And then I was able to live at home until 25 and pay off my student loans and get a good career with no debt. So the economy doesn't really affect me. I don't live paycheck to paycheck but I'm extremely frugal and I do notice grocery prices increases. That being said I'm 100% progressive and do have sympathy for others and we need to fix this system.

I'm on the look out for jobs for 4 people right now but not seeing anything good so far despite their talents.

Everyone is stuck housing wise where prices are so high plus inflation most I know can't get into buying a house and those that want to sell are holding off.

Every retired person I know is on active look out to reduce expenses drastically because the fixed income just enough.