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I can't speak for others, but I started buying a lot more stuff when the pandemic hit. Stuck at home, not much else to do. Some of that is seen in the chart and was directly responsible for the higher inflation rate in goods. Currently trying to wean myself off of this new temporary behavior.
There's something else going on too though, as seen in the upward slope of the red trend line channel. Here's one theory.
January 22, 2024
Study shows how social media fuels unhappiness and materialism
Clothes, cars, travel, followers: People with a materialistic mindset always want more and, above all, more than others. Social media provides them with ideal opportunities to compare themselves with others, which makes them susceptible to passive and addictive user behavior. This stresses them out and, ultimately, leads to low life satisfaction. This downward spiral, which turns materialists into less happy people, was identified by researchers from Bochum in an online survey of over 1,200 participants. They published their findings in the journal Telematics and Informatics Reports from January, 8, 2024.
4 comments:
The pandemic led a lot of people to review their life situations and make drastic changes. Remote work meant moves to more suburban locations, and remodels for home offices. Many changed career fields, so some services (auto repair, for example) are hard to get. Not surprised to see the ratio so badly out of whack.
If my neighbors are any indication, landscaping services are doing okay. What was once a quiet suburban neighborhood, now has very loud heavy industrial gas-powered mowers and leaf blowers throughout the week, even in the winter when snow is on the ground. Progress, I guess. Sigh.
Out of college, money spent
See no future, pay no rent
All the money's gone
Nowhere to go
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1skg6
employment growth vs. population
it's my thesis that the +14M boomers flooding into the workforce in the late 70s was a large driver of the stagflation era that Volcker tried to fight.
Once they put Greenspan in they just decided to live with inflation + growth.
The only systemic risk I can see at this point, other than the 1% having all the money now, is US fiscal picture blowing up somehow, since we're entirely addicted to eye-watering %/GDP deficits now and it's only going to get worse as the boomers start drawing down the SSTF $2T+.
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