Posted on 02/18/2026 7:04:21 AM PST by yesthatjallen
-The U.S. economy could be in a “boomcession.”
- A portmanteau of the words “boom” and “recession,” the term can help explain why many Americans don’t feel the economic growth appearing on paper.
Welcome to the “boomcession.”
The term is a portmanteau of the words “boom” and “recession.” It highlights how the average American doesn’t feel like they’re reaping the benefits of an economy that is — on paper — humming along, according to creator Matt Stoller.
Economic output and the stock market are surging, consumers are spending big and the post-pandemic recession that many expected never materialized. But many feel terrible about their finances, with debt at all-time highs, and the majority of Americans incorrectly believe the country is in an economic slowdown.
“Traditionally, the economy is doing really well,” said Stoller, an antimonopoly advocate and research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonpartisan thinktank. “But ordinary people are saying they’re not.”
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
“Because they make incredibly stupid choices in how they spend their money?”
Enshittification and late-stage capitalism are the main factors here. $10 toothpaste. 80k vehicles that can’t go 80k miles without a new angine and/or transmission. You can’t buy a good US sourced vehicle anymore. Streaming that actually costs more than cable. Cloud based products with feartures deliberarely behind subscriptions go inert when companies go out of business, or just decide to stop supporting them.
If I had a dime for every clip I have seen that claimed that in 1970 you earned $30,000 a year as a bank clerk or some such nonsense I would be able to take a real nice vacation.
Not to mention the stuff about how things are in other countries. Did you know that in every other country in the world people go out to eat EVERY DAY?
The stuff they believe is down right stupid.
But they were trained to be stupid so what can you expect?
“Some say”
The mysterious “Some” has spoken to urinalists.
You nailed it. Even though our house is paid off our homeowner's policy has effectively doubled over the past 3 years. Health insurance premiums are out of control.
And there really should be someone at the White House who just goes grocery shopping and reports back on how expensive food is.
Bottom line, too many people just have less and less disposable income and don't see their kids enjoying the same opportunities they had coming up.
None of this is Trump's fault, but he campaigned on a promise to address it and raised expectations that things would get better quickly. And most people just aren't feeling it.
When I’m king “journalists” who coin these cutesy phrases are not going to like the reckoning coming to them one little bit
Just an illustrative example ...
In the U.S. fiscal year ending on September 30th of last year, the U.S. GDP grew by approximately $1.6 trillion. This was reported as an unexpected boom of around 5% growth for the year, but behind the numbers is a sobering reality. For the same fiscal year, the U.S. national debt grew by about $1.8 trillion -- which means we effectively borrowed $1.8 trillion to "buy" $1.6 trillion of growth.
And let's keep in mind that this was actually a stellar performance for the U.S. economy compared to the previous years. During the depths of the Biden clown show, the U.S. government was borrowing about $1 trillion every three months while the U.S. economy was only growing by $400 billion per quarter.
So there's a whole lot of truth to the idea that ordinary Americans are moving backwards on the treadmill of life.
Silver pops 150% in a week and then pulls back (not all the way, still way up) and it's Trump's fault you bought at the peak? It was kind of inevitable a pullback would happen, that sort of skyrocket increase was abnormal. though to be sure, the way it happened really stinks of collusion between banks and the markets.
Anyway, hold on to it. All you've lost is fiat money numbers on a chart, you'll do well in the long run I think, unless you buy on the peak and sell on the dip, then yeah, that's an issue.
I am in the market for a small pickup truck for work. Base model 4x4 are over 50,000 bucks. Even ten year old Tacomas are pushing 30k.
Most of the silver casting grain in my inventory was purchased at $4 per ounce
“Because they make incredibly stupid choices in how they spend their money?”
Mass media is allowed (freedom of speech) to say wild, totally illogical things in selling merchandise. But the same freedom of speech is not allowed in selling stocks, bonds and other investments.
Our society is structured steer consumers to consume transitory products, but not investment products.
“Our society is structured steer consumers to consume transitory products, but not investment products.”
Right, and if people fall for that it’s their fault.
I doubt that working people watch CNBC, much less take cues from it.
Everything I read is that middle class sentiment is pretty sour right now.
...and minimum wage was, what? Average weekly salary was?
I think gas was maybe 88 cents a gallon.
My parents did not have it easy then. Everything has to be compared, not just prices.
A roaring economy used to add 300,000 jobs a month. Now, if they get 50,000 they crow about it.
“Average auto price is approaching $40 large”
It is much worse than that! The average new car price is $50,326!!
https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights-hub/dec-2025-atp-report/
A lot of mid America is sour, what I am unsure of is where they see the problem or if they are crumbling because they know it takes time.
People I talk to at work, church etc seem to have a sense things are going in the right direction, just takes to long and most seem to still see liberals as having no solution for it.
A lot of employers haven't got that message. The price of labor (i.e. wages) in many sectors is still at pre-pandemic levels or only modestly higher, and has not risen in correlation with the costs of consumer goods and services.
“If they feel “left behind” it is because of rat propagandists like the ones at CNBC.”
That’s crazy denial of reality. The problem isn’t so much the economy of 2025, but that we are all still suffering the consequences of the high inflation Biden years. People are literally poorer because of that (inflation much higher than wage growth for those years). It will take more time and growth to get back to where we were. Until then, we are worse off.
We, and Trump, need to acknowledge that. To deny it is suicidal, because people know they are worse off, but they may not understand why.
RealClear Polling has “Direction of the Country” at a net negative 19.1%
Even the very GOP-friendly Rasmussen rates it a negative -10%.
It’ll be impossible to hold the House if those numbers persist.
Gas at the time I am talking about - early to mid 1960s - was 29 cents a gallon. That price is also never coming back.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.