Election 2024 & Presidential Cage Match: Dark Brandon 46 vs Demento Donny 45

[Renegade7]

12 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

Bruh, he signed an executive order last year on affordable child care for low income families (I think the rules got finalized recently) and talked about expanded child tax credit and the need for more affordable child care in the most recent state of the union.  What more do you want him to do without the help of Congress?  I know child care cost are insane and bites hard, especially in Nova.  Believe me most of us who've raised kids in the area know first hand.  But if you are somehow faulting Biden for not fixing the problem or not highlighting the problem enough, you're not gonna be happy with any US president for a very long time.

 

That's not where this conversation started, this was about the disconnect in how well the economy is doing and that folks are still kinda bummed out about cost of living going up.

 

Bringing down childcare cost was supposed to be in build back better, I remember that, I will have a visceral reaction to "things have always been like that" and insinuating that at some point last year having two toddlers in daycare, my Wife on unemployment, and both my parents living in my basement because they lost their place is jus a bunch of feels I need to get over.

 

And I still had it better then many I know that got it worse.  There's a reason I voted for Bernie in the primaries, and still voted for Biden in the general.  I'm going to vote for Biden again soon as early voting opens up.

 

Two things I don't want to hear as a voter, right or wrong, for better or worse:

 

1. That's the way it's always been.

2. You're too emotionally attached to this issue to realize how good you got it.

[bearrock]

6 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

 

That's not where this conversation started, this was about the disconnect in how well the economy is doing and that folks are still kinda bummed out about cost of living going up.

 

Bringing down childcare cost was supposed to be in build back better, I remember that, I will have a visceral reaction to "things have always been like that" and insinuating that at some point last year having two toddlers in daycare, my Wife on unemployment, and both my parents living in my basement because they lost their place is jus a bunch of feels I need to get over.

 

And I still had it better then many I know that got it worse.  There's a reason I voted for Bernie in the primaries, and still voted for Biden in the general.  I'm going to vote for Biden again soon as early voting opens up.

 

Two things I don't want to hear as a voter, right or wrong, for better or worse:

 

1. That's the way it's always been.

2. You're too emotionally attached to this issue to realize how good you got it.

 

Well, I'm gonna step back say that I understand and you're right, when things are on a downturn personally, pointing out how that's just the way things are or how others have it worse don't help.  I hope things are looking up and your family is all doing well.

[tshile]

8 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

 

It's nuts, the childcare industry today is out of control and absolute needs the government to step in regarding the price gouging as opposed coming and offering more money to pay for it.

 

They know they have parents by the balls, and I still don't think the government gets that.

Short side note:

this is something that seems obvious to me but no one is doing much about it. One side adheres to trickle down policies where they pump money into the top under the guise it’ll trickle down to everyone else. The other wants to give people more money (minimum wage increases, various welfare programs, etc)

 

to me the best thing the govt could do is tackle significant cost of living expenses that have an outsized impact on the economy because it drives critical decision making at home. Child care and health care expenses are the biggest. We have people giving up careers, or putting them in serious pause, or making other significant decisions based on how much it costs for childcare. The government should subsidize that. To me that’s the best approach - instead of trying to put more money in peoples pockets, and dealing with the various side effects of that type of move, tackle cost of living areas that target damn near everyone and handicap many when it comes to significant decisions in their household. 

[Die Hard]

In Ontario, our provincial government has been implementing a $10/day child care system. It’s still in its very early implementation stages.

 

[tshile]

1 hour ago, bearrock said:

What more do you want him to do without the help of Congress?

Not run around talking about how awesome everything is, and complaining that the rest of us “don’t get it”

 

?

 

Thats what started this conversation. We have economic indicators that say one things and a society that mostly seems to feel the other way. 
 

No one gives a **** about the unemployment rate or the inflation rate when day-to-day they see a significantly more expensive life than how they felt about things a few years ago. 
 

Telling them they’re “wrong” because they don’t appreciate the latest jobs report, is the definition of being disconnected from the majority of the people. most people can’t disconnect the stock market performance from the health of the economy, you want them to table what’s in their face day to day because economists have formulas that say this number is better today than it was a few years ago? 
 

There is a total disconnect here. That’s the point we’re making. Some of us have been making it for a while - dating back to when the Biden admin foolishly used the Covid recovery to try to pitch that they belong in the history books for creating the best economic situation. 

 

my wife and I have doubled our income since Covid first started. Even we see the impact of all that inflation, labor wage increases, supply crisis, chip crisis, etc. I can only imagine how a household with a closer to stagnant income growth is feeling. 
 

I know some outspoken, long term dem supporters that like to talk about the numbers. Everyone else I know is complaining about how expensive it is to do  basic stuff anymore. 
 

What anyone thinks about the republicans is irrelevant - the issue is how people feel about the current situation, which translates into how they feel about Biden, and it seems to not be great, and then the Biden admin and dems basically take the approach of telling everyone that is unhappy that the real problem is “you all just don’t get it”

 

this is a problem.
 

 

[tshile]

1 hour ago, bearrock said:

 

Well, I'm gonna step back say that I understand and you're right, when things are on a downturn personally, pointing out how that's just the way things are or how others have it worse don't help.  I hope things are looking up and your family is all doing well.

So I didn’t read this before the other posts. So, I see you understand the point being made. 
 

in the larger context is it going to turn into Trump winning? No idea, there’s so much baggage with that guy and it seems impossible to understand what that translates to, at least for me. 
 

I personally, would prefer the Biden team stick to their real accomplishments, point out how the republicans are hampering the government and making it dysfunctional, and be more honest (or at least more connect to how people feel) when it comes to talking about average people’s lives. 
 

im also not a political strategist and one might look at me and think I’m an idiot for thinking that way 🤷‍♂️ 

 

[PleaseBlitz]

Maybe ya'll should have read the whole article. 

[tshile]

6 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Maybe ya'll should have read the whole article. 

What is it we’re missing?

 

I see it saying the Biden admin team doesn’t understand the negative perceptions (what we’re talking about)

 

I see it break down how prices are significantly higher during the last 4 years (what we’re talking about)

 

I see where it talks about some good numbers from a broad picture - which is not something we are contesting. 
 

I see a section that asks whether this is because the news is negative, or if the news is just reflecting how people feel, and that the evidence they have is inconclusive as to which one is to blame. 
 

What is in the article that has an impact on what we’re saying, in a way that’s supposed to refute what we’re saying? I see a lot that aligns with what we’re saying?

[bearrock]

22 minutes ago, tshile said:

Short side note:

this is something that seems obvious to me but no one is doing much about it. One side adheres to trickle down policies where they pump money into the top under the guise it’ll trickle down to everyone else. The other wants to give people more money (minimum wage increases, various welfare programs, etc)

 

to me the best thing the govt could do is tackle significant cost of living expenses that have an outsized impact on the economy because it drives critical decision making at home. Child care and health care expenses are the biggest. We have people giving up careers, or putting them in serious pause, or making other significant decisions based on how much it costs for childcare. The government should subsidize that. To me that’s the best approach - instead of trying to put more money in peoples pockets, and dealing with the various side effects of that type of move, tackle cost of living areas that target damn near everyone and handicap many when it comes to significant decisions in their household. 

 

Yeah, like the 24 billion Child Care Stabilization funding that got passed in ARP in 2021 but expired in 2023.  That money went to subsidize child care providers.  I'm gonna guess it wasn't Biden who pounded the table to let that program sunset.

 

10 minutes ago, tshile said:

Not run around talking about how awesome everything is, and complaining that the rest of us “don’t get it”

 

?

 

Thats what started this conversation. We have economic indicators that say one things and a society that mostly seems to feel the other way. 
 

No one gives a **** about the unemployment rate or the inflation rate when day-to-day they see a significantly more expensive life than how they felt about things a few years ago. 
 

Telling them they’re “wrong” because they don’t appreciate the latest jobs report, is the definition of being disconnected from the majority of the people. most people can’t disconnect the stock market performance from the health of the economy, you want them to table what’s in their face day to day because economists have formulas that say this number is better today than it was a few years ago? 
 

There is a total disconnect here. That’s the point we’re making. Some of us have been making it for a while - dating back to when the Biden admin foolishly used the Covid recovery to try to pitch that they belong in the history books for creating the best economic situation. 

 

my wife and I have doubled our income since Covid first started. Even we see the impact of all that inflation, labor wage increases, supply crisis, chip crisis, etc. I can only imagine how a household with a closer to stagnant income growth is feeling. 
 

I know some outspoken, long term dem supporters that like to talk about the numbers. Everyone else I know is complaining about how expensive it is to do  basic stuff anymore. 
 

What anyone thinks about the republicans is irrelevant - the issue is how people feel about the current situation, which translates into how they feel about Biden, and it seems to not be great, and then the Biden admin and dems basically take the approach of telling everyone that is unhappy that the real problem is “you all just don’t get it”

 

this is a problem.
 

 

 

You only need to look at rest of the world to see how badly post pandemic inflation can be fubar'd.  I'm not grading any president out of the context under which they served.  No president was going to escape inflation after the massive QE and flooding of money supply that occurred during covid.  Inflation was a given, the question is how did the administration respond (and I can't come up with a developed country that had a better post pandemic recovery).  Does that mean things are great?  No.  But it's the same BS hand wringing that happened after the financial crisis.  The country just went through a massive catastrophe.  What did everyone think was going to happen?  The question is not whether everything is going great (that was never in the cards), but whether he has done a better job than the alternatives and the global competition.  

12 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Maybe ya'll should have read the whole article. 

 

[PleaseBlitz]

2 minutes ago, tshile said:

What is it we’re missing?

 

I see it saying the Biden admin team doesn’t understand the negative perceptions (what we’re talking about)

 

I see it break down how prices are significantly higher during the last 4 years (what we’re talking about)

 

I see where it talks about some good numbers from a broad picture - which is not something we are contesting. 
 

I see a section that asks whether this is because the news is negative, or if the news is just reflecting how people feel, and that the evidence they have is inconclusive as to which one is to blame. 
 

What is in the article that has an impact on what we’re saying, in a way that’s supposed to refute what we’re saying? I see a lot that aligns with what we’re saying?

 

Exactly.  The article aligns with a lot of what you all are saying.  So complaining that you are being told you are "wrong" (you) or that "this was about the disconnect in how well the economy is doing and that folks are still kinda bummed out about cost of living going up" (Renegade) is sort of silly when the whole point of the article is explaining why the disconnect exists, not that the disconnect is wrong or stupid (if you read the whole article). 

[tshile]

Just now, bearrock said:

 

Yeah, like the 24 billion Child Care Stabilization funding that got passed in ARP in 2021 but expired in 2023.  That money went to subsidize child care providers.  I'm gonna guess it wasn't Biden who pounded the table to let that program sunset.

 

right and it had income caps and it expired 

 

Just now, bearrock said:

 

You only need to look at rest of the world to see how badly post pandemic inflation can be fubar'd.  I'm not grading any president out of the context under which they served.  No president was going to escape inflation after the massive QE and flooding of money supply that occurred during covid.  Inflation was a given, the question is how did the administration respond (and I can't come up with a developed country that had a better post pandemic recovery).  Does that mean things are great?  No.  But it's the same BS hand wringing that happened after the financial crisis.  The country just went through a massive catastrophe.  What did everyone think was going to happen?  The question is not whether everything is going great (that was never in the cards), but whether he has done a better job than the alternatives and the global competition.  

 

I don’t disagree with any of that. I follow the same economic news you do - I see the same thing you do. 
 

the difference is I understand why people have such a negative outlook. From the original article:

Quote

Numerous surveys have shown that voters regard inflation as the single most important indicator of how the economy is doing—and that they are more likely to define inflation as the level of prices (high or low) rather than the pace of price increases (fast or slow). Prices have risen by 18% during Biden’s first three years in office, compared to 6.2% during Trump’s first three years. Voters notice the difference, and it matters to them.

 

Why it matters becomes clear when we look at specific goods and services. Since January of 2021, rents have risen by 19.5%; used cars, trucks, and meat by 20%; restaurants and groceries by 21%; airfares by 23.5%; electricity by 28%; gas by 34.6%; eggs by 37.4%; and auto insurance by 44%.

the Biden admin wants to do victory laps on the economy, but day to day people are seeing those price increases. 
 

if you can’t see why that’s not working, I don’t know what to say. 
 

This is like falling in a guys combine numbers when on Sunday he just doesn’t play well. As with all statistics and metrics and analytics - they are meant to be one tool to inform and help advise. 
 

no one gives a **** about jobs reports and inflation numbers falling when rent is 20% higher, food is 21% higher, etc. 

 

do I personally blame Biden for that? Of course not. 
 

 But I recognize how it translates into how voters feel and ultimately vote. And I understand why doing victory laps is a bad idea. It’s like when we watch a player celebrate a tackle in the fourth quarter when their team is down 20 and the game is over. 

Just now, PleaseBlitz said:

 

Exactly.  The article aligns with a lot of what you all are saying.  So complaining that you are being told you are "wrong" (you) or that "this was about the disconnect in how well the economy is doing and that folks are still kinda bummed out about cost of living going up" (Renegade) is sort of silly when the whole point of the article is explaining why the disconnect exists, not that the disconnect is wrong or stupid (if you read the whole article). 

Oh. I wasn’t trying to crap on the article. I was furthering the conversation about the disconnect and how the Biden team is (not) handling it. 
 

that’s all. Sorry if the way I worded things suggested otherwise. From what I see in economic news, there is at least some effort put into understanding the disconnect. But it doesn’t seem to be across the board, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be happening with the Biden team. (Although as I said earlier - I’m not a political strategist and a good one might very well think I’m an idiot and that my preferred way of them doing things would cost them the election 🤷‍♂️)

 

 

[bearrock]

9 minutes ago, tshile said:

right and it had income caps and it expired 

 

 

I don’t disagree with any of that. I follow the same economic news you do - I see the same thing you do. 
 

the difference is I understand why people have such a negative outlook. From the original article:

the Biden admin wants to do victory laps on the economy, but day to day people are seeing those price increases. 
 

if you can’t see why that’s not working, I don’t know what to say. 
 

This is like falling in a guys combine numbers when on Sunday he just doesn’t play well. As with all statistics and metrics and analytics - they are meant to be one tool to inform and help advise. 
 

no one gives a **** about jobs reports and inflation numbers falling when rent is 20% higher, food is 21% higher, etc. 

 

do I personally blame Biden for that? Of course not. 
 

 But I recognize how it translates into how voters feel and ultimately vote. And I understand why doing victory laps is a bad idea. It’s like when we watch a player celebrate a tackle in the fourth quarter when their team is down 20 and the game is over. 

Oh. I wasn’t trying to crap on the article. I was furthering the conversation about the disconnect and how the Biden team is (not) handling it. 
 

that’s all. Sorry if the way I worded things suggested otherwise. From what I see in economic news, there is at least some effort put into understanding the disconnect. But it doesn’t seem to be across the board, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be happening with the Biden team. (Although as I said earlier - I’m not a political strategist and a good one might very well think I’m an idiot and that my preferred way of them doing things would cost them the election 🤷‍♂️)

 

 

 

I think we're mostly on the same page.  I just think the average voter is an idiot, that many Americans lack basic understanding of economics, and that Biden campaign really has no solution for stupidity.  All of that leaves me somewhat fatalistic about the election, but I have no particular solution for any of it (other than suggest people pick up a newspaper every once in a while)

[tshile]

6 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

I think we're mostly on the same page.  I just think the average voter is an idiot, that many Americans lack basic understanding of economics, and that Biden campaign really has no solution for stupidity.  All of that leaves me somewhat fatalistic about the election, but I have no particular solution for any of it (other than suggest people pick up a newspaper every once in a while)

I think we are too. 
 

but I don’t think this is all stupidity. The price increases outlined are real. Given how many people live paycheck to paycheck, this makes total sense. 
 

I think you fix it by being honest about it instead of doing victory laps with a “you don’t get it” “you’re just stupid” mentality. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

ultimately it doesn’t change my vote. Again, I don’t personally blame Biden. In fact,  I blame republicans for most everything right now because their whole shtick is to create more dysfunction for the government.
 

but… that’s not necessarily how the public feels, thinks, or votes. 
 

And THAT is how the Biden team should handle it - yeah we got a lot more work to do,  numbers look good, but day to day life is much harder, and here’s a list of reasons why republicans have made it harder …

Edited March 27 by tshile

[PleaseBlitz]

4 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

I think we're mostly on the same page.  I just think the average voter is an idiot, that many Americans lack basic understanding of economics, and that Biden campaign really has no solution for stupidity.  All of that leaves me somewhat fatalistic about the election, but I have no particular solution for any of it (other than suggest people pick up a newspaper every once in a while)

 

I am also fatalistic about this election, but the thing that gets me isn't the basic misunderstanding of economics, it's that people thing Trump can fix things.  That Trump can fix anything.  And that people that are upset that Biden and Biden supporters point to actual objective metrics about the economy doing well, when Trump, before he was elected the economy was a "disaster", 2 months after taking office it was "the best economy in history" and then immediately after leaving office it was back to being a "disaster" and too may people seem to believe that nonsense. 

[Renegade7]

22 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

 

Exactly.  The article aligns with a lot of what you all are saying.  So complaining that you are being told you are "wrong" (you) or that "this was about the disconnect in how well the economy is doing and that folks are still kinda bummed out about cost of living going up" (Renegade) is sort of silly when the whole point of the article is explaining why the disconnect exists, not that the disconnect is wrong or stupid (if you read the whole article). 

 

I did read the article, and it comes across like Brookings gets it, but I did not see where the Biden administration does. 

 

Is there something in that article I overlooked that clarifies that? 

 

What I'm going to look for in coming months as Biden is actually campaigning is how he plans to address there's damn near gravity wells on our resources and that our lives practically have to orbit around (like childcare, healthcare, cost of college tuition).

 

People saying folks are too stupid (not you in particular) to get how good the economy is doing solves nothing, speak to what they do understand. People don't like their realities or themselves minimized.

[PeterMP]

Not to derail, but are basic childcare costs really still that expensive?

 

My kids are old enough that they started day care before "there's an ap for that", and we do pretty well so we're willing to pay for good day care (My kids' day care very much taught them how to read, their address, how to write letters, etc.).

 

But when they were a little older, we got stuck in a situation where my wife and I both had to work late one night a week for a semester and neither could be home until 7:00 one night a week.  We were okay with them coming home from school and being home alone for an hour or 2, but not comfortable with leaving them home alone until 7:00.  We looked at sending them back to where they had been in day care when they were younger.  And they were going to charge us a bunch of money, and we were still going to have somebody take them from 6-7 because the day care closed at 6.  (And my oldest daughter really didn't want to go back.  I think there was one boy that was still going there that was her age, but all of her other friends were out of day care.)

 

We were able to use some ap where people were rated to find somebody to come to our home, get them off the bus, and stay with them until one of us got home.  She wasn't very good, never did much with them, and most days spent most of her time on her cell phone.  Nominally, she made sure they did their homework (she didn't check it or anything), and sometimes she'd take them to the library, a park, or something.  But there was an adult in the house, and it cost us much less than it would have to send them back to where they had gone to day care (and really, she probably made more money then most of the workers there so it seemed to benefit everybody at that level).

 

But that ability to look at an ap, see somebody's experiences, and the ratings they got from previous people, then interview them, and really then negotiate what you'd pay them, really seemed like it had the potential to bring down basic child care costs.  The person we'd brought on had been on the ap for like 3 years, had worked for several people, had reasonably good ratings, so you felt pretty comfortable that you weren't bringing in drug addict or a psycho.  When my kids first stated in day care, doing something like that wasn't so feasible.  I can see where it would still be hard to get somebody in regularly that would do the things the day care we used did (e.g. teach them how to read), but it seems like aps like that to do basic childcare should have brought the costs down pretty significantly.

Edited March 27 by PeterMP

[tshile]

19 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

it's that people thing Trump can fix things

It’s baffling. Totally baffling. Voters have short memories and don’t pay enough attention. I have no other explanation. But I’m right there with you (and others) on this. 

[Ball Security]

2 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

 

That's not where this conversation started, this was about the disconnect in how well the economy is doing and that folks are still kinda bummed out about cost of living going up.

 

Bringing down childcare cost was supposed to be in build back better, I remember that, I will have a visceral reaction to "things have always been like that" and insinuating that at some point last year having two toddlers in daycare, my Wife on unemployment, and both my parents living in my basement because they lost their place is jus a bunch of feels I need to get over.

 

And I still had it better then many I know that got it worse.  There's a reason I voted for Bernie in the primaries, and still voted for Biden in the general.  I'm going to vote for Biden again soon as early voting opens up.

 

Two things I don't want to hear as a voter, right or wrong, for better or worse:

 

1. That's the way it's always been.

2. You're too emotionally attached to this issue to realize how good you got it.

I read this, and I have to be missing something. Day care is crazy expensive, nobody is denying that.

 

But you say your wife is on unemployment and your parents live with you. With that combination of three people, wouldn’t one be at home and you could pull the little ones from daycare?

 

Not trying to preach, just trying to better understand. I’ve been there with daycare, unemployment, and in-laws moving in. Fortunately the duration of each was limited, but yeah, pretty stressful.

[tshile]

1 minute ago, PeterMP said:

Not to derail, but are basic childcare costs really still that expensive?

two children in daycare out the outskirts of NOVA ran us almost 30k a year. not a fancy daycare. And we looked at places inside NOVA so they’d be closer to my wife’s job and those prices were even more outrageous. in-home nanny options start at 30k/year (we looked…)
 

cost of food also plays into this, when you’re shopping for a family of 4+. 
 

all our extra circular stuff is more expensive. And of course you have the cost of college always in the background. 
 

if you’re making 60k a year, and you see what you have after taxes and then realize daycare costs 25-30k. Yeah, that drives critical decisions like “am I going to keep working, or should I be a stay at home <whatever>”

 

The median household income here is 110k but that’s dragged up by all the big earners working in nova that move here. You’re talking roughly 1/4 of household income going to daycare. Plus taxes and healthcare, and your mortgage. There’s not a lot left after it all. 15-20% of your income goes to taxes, 25% goes to childcare, and suddenly you have people making what should be decent money - deciding working isn’t worth it cause your paying a lot to have other people spend more time with your kids than you do. 

 

[Renegade7]

1 minute ago, Ball Security said:

I read this, and I have to be missing something. Day care is crazy expensive, nobody is denying that.

 

But you say your wife is on unemployment and your parents live with you. With that combination of three people, wouldn’t one be at home and you could pull the little ones from daycare?

 

Not trying to preach, just trying to better understand. I’ve been there with daycare, unemployment, and in-laws moving in. Fortunately the duration of each was limited, but yeah, pretty stressful.

 

Parents are disabled (jus moved out to something within range of them both being on SSDI). Things I've seen them go through I had to be reasilitic with my expectations versus seeing free babysitters, they never rolled like that so I didnt.

 

My Wife is not a stay at home mom, she did what she could to either build yp her resume or make money other means and kids that little I made the judgment call to get them attention they needed and frankly wouldn't get if I kept them home. 

 

In my opinion it got her back into the workforce faster, but again a judgment call.

[PleaseBlitz]

Before my oldest started public school last year, the cost of daycare for my 2 kids was significantly more than my mortgage.  And I would consider it a "slightly-above-average" daycare that was 20% less than the daycare located in my neighborhood.   

Here is a real day care tuition schedule for a real day care in Alexandria that I would consider nothing special.

 

[LadySkinsFan]

Corporate greed is fueling the cost of living expenses for us. The supply chain problems are over, the corporations are still using it as an excuse to charge higher prices than ever. I've noticed that egg prices came down some, replacing millions of chickens that died comes slowly and egg prices haven't recovered back down completely. We know that increased profits allows for higher executive pay, stock buy backs, bonuses, and other perks for corporate grifters. At our expense, literally. 

 

Yet people want to blame Biden, when what he did is prove that trickle down is a grifting hoax when he had programs that gave money to actual people to help them out at the beginning of his administration. And giving money to individuals means the economy grows because people are spending while trickle down means that money gets squirreled away instead of fueling the economy as promised. 

 

Fascism is the marriage of corporatacracy and government for the benefit of the few. The Republicans have been running this scam for decades now. It's time to stop.

 

I'm going to talk about childcare and eldercare for a bit. Our society currently doesn't values these professions because the persons performing these tasks make the lowest pay. Years ago when my daughter was a toddler, I wanted to start a non-profit daycare, and started looking into it. Teachers were required to have a BA in childcare at the least and their salaries were peanuts. The people who got paid were the administration, like in public school too. I wanted to pay the teachers a decent salary, but my research revealed that grant givers had in mind certain salary figures and wouldn't give grants to daycares that went over those figures in their grant proposals. I talked to many non-profit centers and they all told me the same thing. 

 

Present day daycare centers may now be profit centers, which is why the costs have increased. The teachers are still not making the pay they should for the education requirements, the administration is making much more, and the owners of the centers are making profits. 

 

It's the same as healthcare, profits are what is driving increasing costs: I see what the providers are charging, what Medicare will approve, what Medicare actually pays (80%), and what my supplement pays (20%), and what I owe (0%) because I pay for a great supplement policy. What Medicare approves and pays is basically a non-profit amount. It's eye-opening I must say. 

 

Nurses work hard and deserve more pay. And nurses and assistants that work in eldercare in care homes really deserve more money and more staff instead of parking people in wheelchairs or in beds because there isn't enough staff to look after all of the people. I won't go into one and am already planning my exit from this Earth if I am becoming disabled. A friend's mother just went into a home a month ago and she tells me what's going on there with the residents. It's horrid. And it's one of the better ones because the mother has money, right now. When she runs out and is totally dependent upon Medicare, humane care gets worse. So make sure you're a millionaire times over when you're old to get humane care.

 

Edited March 27 by LadySkinsFan

[Fergasun]

It's the pandemic, stupid.  

 

But it's also the underlying costs of housing, education, medicine/healthcare -- add insurance (average auto premiums up 20%).   I think Americans are reaching the, "we're sick of this" point.  Having the President jawbone doesn't help either.  I don't think Trump is the solution... I have never been so sick of a "main character" politician in my life than him...but we 

 

I know my personal economy has moved forward from 10 years ago.  But it doesn't feel any easier, or better.  It doesn't feel like I have a better economics than my parents.  

 

Also, interest rates doubled, did they not?  

[The Evil Genius]

Interest rates are generally low when the economy sucks right?

Edited March 27 by The Evil Genius

[LadySkinsFan]

Try living this: my Social Security COLA for last year was $190/mo. My rent in July increased $200/mo. plus all of the other increases in food healthcare etc. This year, my Part D prescription premium went from $11.10/mo to 50¢/mo and the one prescription that I had to co-pay went to 0. It's the only thing that went down, everything else went up and over my COLA. This year's COLA is $64/mo and my rent is going to increase $75/mo plus everything else except my meds. So once again I'm going to be in the hole. 

 

I've cut my expenses to the bone. I don't eat out, go to movies, no other outside entertainment. I dread the end of the month every month that I at least have a few dollars to go to the store fore staples.

 

 

3 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

Interest rates are generally low when the economy sucks right?

 

They always go up.

 

 

Edited March 27 by LadySkinsFan