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| IkePoR said: So lets see if I got this right: it's covid and only covid then? And nothing to do with mortgage interest rates, mortgage payments and rent being higher, the Russia-Ukraine war, or profligacy in the treasury? |
And which of these are you blaming the current administration on?
A lot of different things are factors. The Russia Ukraine war meant oil has more competition. Which will affect transportation and other goods.
Covid was absolutely massive though. The shutdowns that started under Trump's administration and reopening caused two huge shifts.
Companies spent many billions to adjust to people staying at home. There were tons of shortages in tech, household goods, etc.
And a lot of that has reversed in a pretty ugly way over the past couple years.
Other things were factors absolutely, there are always a "billion" factors. But Covid was a massive one, and that wouldn't have been notably different regardless of who was president right now.
| IkePoR said: It's not brought up enough just how downright abysmal they are. Both sides are horrible with spending.  |
Personally I consider spending amounts to be just a small piece of the puzzle. It's not something that particularly concerns me in isolation. What matters is where it's going, how's it being spent, how it's being paid for.
Take for example, healthcare spending. Universal healthcare was projected to cost something like $34 trillion over a decade. That's an absurd amount, and yet it's less than what we are projected to spend on our current healthcare system. So I consider the savings worth it, as well as the problems it solves.
