Discussion on the Economy

[thetragichippy]

This was a post by Shipwreckedcrew from X that made some great points. 

There are a few things that stood out that I bolded, the truck rang a bell.....

Republican or Democrat, we can't hold the Government responsible for our own bad decisions. 

A person buying an 80K truck at 6% interest will pay 98K over the 84 months with a $1168 monthly note, then likely trade it in or get another truck once paid off.  Ironic that this same person would probably complain about gas prices, when he could of purchased a 45K truck and put the other 45K in a savings account. 

Thoughts?

 

The problem is there is nothing "wrong" with the "economy." 

Economic growth is rising and unemployment is falling. 

Prices remaining high because of PAST INFLATION  isn't an "economy" thing.

Home prices being high because of a shortage of affordable inventory for first or second time homebuyers isn't an "economy" thing.

Buyers taking out car loans for 84 months at 15% interest rates, and being upside down in their equity for 36-48 months isn't an "economy" thing.

Having a large portion of the college educated workforce emerge from academia with worthless degrees that employers place no value in for hiring purposes isn't an "economy" thing. 

Trump and the GOP are going to pay the price for an "economy" when the problems are not a feature of the "economy." 

They are a product of choices made by voters in their own lives. 

Gas prices have been expensive before.

Interest rates have been high before.

But I've never seen so many $60,000 pickup trucks and $85,000 SUVs being driven down the road ever in my life.

[5GallonBucket]

I agree that plenty of those complainers are exactly what u call out but not all.

most people make some dumb financial decisions all so they can be on the up and up with everyone 

for myself and family we don’t have any such vehicles (4).  2 that are 2001 models, one 2011 and one 2020.   All have been paid off for some time now.  Mortgage is lower than most peoples car payment and it’s at a 2.95 interest….beat that 😁

1 job with two side jobs

father to 5 kids

youngest child is 8

grandfather to 2

I garden I hunt and I raise meat

My wife for most our marriage didn’t not collect a paycheck because she stayed home with kids. And we were able to make it work financially.

She is now having to work.

Petroleum prices, grocery prices, taxes, insurance, electricity prices, etc

we ve done away with health insurance(legal fraud) and just pay cash….as long as nothing major happens we are better off.   Yes we re making it but wife had to go to work…. And therefore there s the most damage in my opinion….im old school because im a product of it and it worked perfectly……. i trust only my wife to bring up our kids…..especially in this day of age

many of the issues we deal with world wide wouldn’t exist if the family structure was still in place……. High prices and continually raising prices causes more issues….capitalism is good until greed comes in.

though I do believe that peoples poor choices have contributed like you said but also there are many others it doesn’t.

 

 

 

[thetragichippy]

2 hours ago, 5GallonBucket said:

I agree that plenty of those complainers are exactly what u call out but not all.

most people make some dumb financial decisions all so they can be on the up and up with everyone 

for myself and family we don’t have any such vehicles (4).  2 that are 2001 models, one 2011 and one 2020.   All have been paid off for some time now.  Mortgage is lower than most peoples car payment and it’s at a 2.95 interest….beat that 😁

1 job with two side jobs

father to 5 kids

youngest child is 8

grandfather to 2

I garden I hunt and I raise meat

My wife for most our marriage didn’t not collect a paycheck because she stayed home with kids. And we were able to make it work financially.

She is now having to work.

Petroleum prices, grocery prices, taxes, insurance, electricity prices, etc

we ve done away with health insurance(legal fraud) and just pay cash….as long as nothing major happens we are better off.   Yes we re making it but wife had to go to work…. And therefore there s the most damage in my opinion….im old school because im a product of it and it worked perfectly……. i trust only my wife to bring up our kids…..especially in this day of age

many of the issues we deal with world wide wouldn’t exist if the family structure was still in place……. High prices and continually raising prices causes more issues….capitalism is good until greed comes in.

though I do believe that peoples poor choices have contributed like you said but also there are many others it doesn’t.

 

 

 

I was certainly not calling out the hard working people like you. 

You bring up a good point, my wife COULD of stayed home with my Son back in the day, but we were young and wanted new cars and "stuff" 

If I had to do it over, it would be different and I would have more money in my pocket for sure. 

Luckily, I was blessed with a kid that made parenting look easy. 

[UT alum]

On 9/29/2026 at 12:04 PM, thetragichippy said:

This was a post by Shipwreckedcrew from X that made some great points. 

There are a few things that stood out that I bolded, the truck rang a bell.....

Republican or Democrat, we can't hold the Government responsible for our own bad decisions. 

A person buying an 80K truck at 6% interest will pay 98K over the 84 months with a $1168 monthly note, then likely trade it in or get another truck once paid off.  Ironic that this same person would probably complain about gas prices, when he could of purchased a 45K truck and put the other 45K in a savings account. 

Thoughts?

 

The problem is there is nothing "wrong" with the "economy." 

Economic growth is rising and unemployment is falling. 

Prices remaining high because of PAST INFLATION  isn't an "economy" thing.

Home prices being high because of a shortage of affordable inventory for first or second time homebuyers isn't an "economy" thing.

Buyers taking out car loans for 84 months at 15% interest rates, and being upside down in their equity for 36-48 months isn't an "economy" thing.

Having a large portion of the college educated workforce emerge from academia with worthless degrees that employers place no value in for hiring purposes isn't an "economy" thing. 

Trump and the GOP are going to pay the price for an "economy" when the problems are not a feature of the "economy." 

They are a product of choices made by voters in their own lives. 

Gas prices have been expensive before.

Interest rates have been high before.

But I've never seen so many $60,000 pickup trucks and $85,000 SUVs being driven down the road ever in my life.

I reckon a bunch of them trusted Trump when he said he’d bring prices down on day one.  

[Porter]

On 9/29/2026 at 12:04 PM, thetragichippy said:

This was a post by Shipwreckedcrew from X that made some great points. 

There are a few things that stood out that I bolded, the truck rang a bell.....

Republican or Democrat, we can't hold the Government responsible for our own bad decisions. 

A person buying an 80K truck at 6% interest will pay 98K over the 84 months with a $1168 monthly note, then likely trade it in or get another truck once paid off.  Ironic that this same person would probably complain about gas prices, when he could of purchased a 45K truck and put the other 45K in a savings account. 

Thoughts?

 

The problem is there is nothing "wrong" with the "economy." 

Economic growth is rising and unemployment is falling. 

Prices remaining high because of PAST INFLATION  isn't an "economy" thing.

Home prices being high because of a shortage of affordable inventory for first or second time homebuyers isn't an "economy" thing.

Buyers taking out car loans for 84 months at 15% interest rates, and being upside down in their equity for 36-48 months isn't an "economy" thing.

Having a large portion of the college educated workforce emerge from academia with worthless degrees that employers place no value in for hiring purposes isn't an "economy" thing. 

Trump and the GOP are going to pay the price for an "economy" when the problems are not a feature of the "economy." 

They are a product of choices made by voters in their own lives. 

Gas prices have been expensive before.

Interest rates have been high before.

But I've never seen so many $60,000 pickup trucks and $85,000 SUVs being driven down the road ever in my life.

You keep telling yourself that. Lol

[thetragichippy]

1 hour ago, Porter said:

You keep telling yourself that. Lol

What do you disagree with?

[Porter]

36 minutes ago, thetragichippy said:

What do you disagree with?

There are still a lot people being very frugal and conservative on their financial decisions that have had to tighten up on their spending the last 6 years. My wife and I being one of them. We are virtually debt free but still feel the squeeze. 
 

Basically what I am saying is the Golden Era is not here. At least not for the average American imo. Maybe the wealthy elites. 

People have always been financially irresponsible for at least that last 30 or 40 years. It’s nothing new. 
 

I just purchased/ co-signed for my son a truck at 4.99% because of excellent credit that we have maintained. It’s a 2018 with 59,000 miles on it in excellent condition. I drove to north Austin to get it yesterday from a 85 year old couple. 
 

There are millions people that do the Right thing that are feeling the squeeze. Believe what you want.