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Comment by konschubert | Hacker News Reader

Three reasons:

In most western countries, salaries of low-skilled workers have grown faster than inflation, but salaries of high-skilled workers have grown only as fast or slower than inflation.

We (HN) live in a high-skilled bubble, and our food delivery is becoming less affordable because our door dasher is making more money.

Journalism is going through a structural crisis because ppl are addicted to TikTok and co.

So jounalists struggle a lot. From their point of view, the economy looks bad. That's what sets the tone in the news.

If you want to get a different president elected, a good economy is not what you want. So Republicans, Russia and China all want Americans to think that the country is going to shit, because then, they will vote in their guy.

Incidentally, the TikTok algorithm is controlled by a company that is controlled by the Chinese party.

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Regarding your first point: I think you are correct. What we are seeing is something akin to a US elephant curve[1] but the chasm is widening to upper middle class professionals, while the trunk is pointing up more sharply.

When the US deindustrialized, the global poor got richer (manufacturing earns more than subsistence farming) and the rich got richer (it's cheaper to make things overseas), but the lower middle class got poorer. In aggregate it looks like the world got richer, so the Steven Pinkers of the world scold the complainers for not getting that we are living in the best time in human history.

I think the economy is turning against the kind of worker who gets a four year degree and might have a job title like, "data scientist", and everyone is going to tell them they should have known better.

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Curve

Your attempt to point low-skilled labor as doing great ignores that a lot of low skilled workers are just leaving the workforce, and that a low-skilled job is not a path to house ownership, in part because house inflation is heavily localized and not equally distributed. If you are a low-skilled worker in an urban environment that wage inflation maybe helps you keep up with rent and go out to dinner one more time a month.

Low-skilled labor in America is basically a temporary way to make money and offers no long term future. That was not the case 40 years ago. You have to use whatever opportunity a low-skilled job provides as a springboard to high skilled labor, otherwise you will tread water at best. In part cause you cannot use it to acquire financial assets (a house, 401k, etc) and the American economy is now built around ensuring financial assets appreciate (inflate in value).

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