OUR Economy vs. THE Economy

"Publicly published" economic updates abound, telling an unrealistically positive story that mostly seems to be completely disconnected from the reality of how ordinary people live, day to day.

In a sense, it feels like a total contradiction because we live in the world where the economy seems to be doing really well, and the stock market is regularly hitting new all-time highs, and companies are passing valuations above a trillion dollars... while more people than ever are struggling to make ends meet.

There's something about that logic that just doesn't quite work.

And I don't think this is really a global economic thing, I think it's more of a US thing. At the opposite end of the scale, for example, Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund is worth about 2.1 trillion dollars US. Stated a little differently, that means that the country of Norway's economy has investing $390,000 per man woman and child in that country. That's net cash not borrowed money; no debt.

I'm writing these words against the backdrop of learning that my health insurance premiums for the coming year will be about 15% higher than they were the year before, in part because the US government has reducing benefits... allegedly so they can buy more bombs.

Maybe that's a somewhat cynical point of view, but it's also a reflection of the fact that with my insurance premiums going up 15%, my income is certainly not going up 15%. Maybe if I were part of that elite 1/10th of 1% — whose primary source of income is investment income from the stock market — my income would be up 15%.

I suppose what makes the whole thing feel a bit like a bitter pill to swallow is the fact that I'm not some "lazy and entitled sluggard who thinks I should have things handed to me on a plate by a nanny state," instead I'm someone who works damn hard and yet I'm going backwards.

People assuring me that "everyone is experiencing that" pretty much amounts to cold comfort, from where I am sitting. I don't care that I am not alone in my predicament, I care that the predicament even exists, in this allegedly wealthy nation.

I know I harp on this particular subject quite a lot... but the system is deeply broken. I keep bumping into YouTube clips about homelessness, and that bothers me less than the fact that the homeless increasingly include professions like doctors and nurses and software developers. People in high income industries who live in cars and vans because they can't afford life, otherwise.

That's just wrong.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!

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2026.06.24 00:36 PDT
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