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We know the rich are getting richer & receiving more of the national income thus making income inequality worse.

https://www.mheducation.com/highered/blog/2025/05/...

Yet

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/early-us-earnings-p...

Those profits must be coming from somewhere as the working class & middle class struggle.

https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2024/may...

<img src="https://www.stlouisfed.org/-/media/project/frbstl/..." alt="A column chart breaks down U.S. households by income decile. The shares of households with credit card debt in each decile are as follows: 1st, 28%; 2nd, 40%; 3rd, 50%; 4th, 42%; 5th, 58%; 6th, 57%; 7th, 61%; 8th, 49%; 9th, 46%; 10th, 26%."/>


And where are the corporate profits going? Stock buybacks driving the market valuation higher.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinan...

The plebes were never needed. Now is the middle class in that category?
Has the the US morphed into a capitalist pre WW 2 British class style society which was reminiscent of feudalism?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/economy-looks-bette...
“The only groups that feel good about the economy now are making over $200,000 in the surveys and have large stock portfolios,” Swonk said.

Inflation may be increasing at a slower pace than expected, the markets might be cheering, and the Fed will likely soon be cutting, but Diane Swonk isn’t popping Champagne.

The veteran economist says the economy “looks better than it feels” because the very data used to measure it is eroding, and the illusion of resilience could shatter heading into the fourth quarter.

Swonk pointed out that many of the categories holding inflation steady are either insulated from tariffs or benefiting from temporary waivers: computers, smartphones, and some vehicle imports. Once those fade, “goods prices are still moving up,” she said, with few signs of broad-based disinflation. Core services less shelter—a metric the Fed watches closely—rose about 0.4% in September, Swonk estimated, and remains more than 3% higher than a year ago, “well above anything we saw pre-pandemic.”

That stickiness, she warns, is amplified by a bifurcated consumer base, what some economists have called the “K shaped economy.” Affluent households continue to spend freely on travel, entertainment, and premium goods, keeping service-sector inflation stubborn. Lower- and middle-income consumers, by contrast, are pushing back, trading down, stretching budgets, or delaying purchases altogether.

“Retailers are feeling that divide,” Swonk said, describing a landscape where discount chains are seeing higher-income shoppers while subprime delinquencies creep up among those with thinner financial cushions.

The result is a headline inflation rate that understates the pain for the median household.

Honestly, reading that stuff is leaving me thinking, why would these guys get out of bed in the morning? Useless people.

This is where it is at. Our economy is on the verge of grinding to a halt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/world/asia/chin...

Still, the economic muscle-flexing could backfire for Beijing, which has spent years condemning the American export controls that it now says it is copying. By showing its willingness to weaponize rare earths — limiting access to only those countries that it favors — China risks looking like the irresponsible hegemon that it often accuses the United States of being.

“China’s walking a fine line here between strengthening its position in U.S.-China trade negotiations and scaring the rest of the world about its export control intentions,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

China risks looking like the irresponsible hegemon that it often accuses the United States of being.
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China has a negotiating problem. Their opponent, President Trump, is a bully who loves to negotiate with the subtleness of a wrecking ball. He acts as if he is the only big guy in the room. China considers itself (at least) the equal to the US and PM Xi is every bit as powerful as Trump. Therefore, they will act in a way to reenforce those facts and (using Trumps analogy) show that they hold card which are just as potent as any Trump may be willing to play. Recent history shows that, like a schoolyard bully, when confronted by a "strongman" (as what has repeatedly been the case with President Putin of Russia) Trump will quickly reverse direction.

Trump has always attributed to others, the actions he was about to take, but China has beaten him to the punch. While Trump will repeatedly enjoy bombing tiny South American boats, I'm guessing he will stay far away from China's.

Jeff

Jeff,

This is going to be very alien for a moment. Put yourself in Xi's shoes.

He thinks he is stopping a war-crazed Trump. He is cutting off the RRE to stop our wars.

He sees this as moral.

The shut-off of RRE is partial. The more Trump argues, the worse the shut-off can get. Our brilliant press says nothing to us.

Who do you trust?

AI result on the topic.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on October 26, 2025, that China will likely delay its expanded export rules on rare earth elements (RRE) for one year and re-examine them later. This was part of a broader trade framework negotiated with Chinese officials in Malaysia.

If we get into wars with VZ and Iran, China can abandon us. China can then pick up Taiwan easily with no resistance from us.

A question for those following this thread.
Are at least 50% of Americans living in a second class nation very separate from the professional class & elites?

First let's stipulate that income mobility has declined in the USA.
https://news.yale.edu/2025/02/20/tracking-decline-...
Chetty used a series of maps and charts to reveal the dramatic decline in upward mobility in the U.S. (especially for kids in low-income families)

while more than 90% of children born in 1940 went on to earn more than their parents did — a cornerstone assumption of the American dream — children born in the middle of the 1980s only have a 50-50 chance of doing better than their parents.

that this is no longer a country where it’s easy to get ahead, even through hard work,” Chetty said.

Things are just fine for those in the upper strata. 2009 was more than a blip but easily recoverable. Likely many Americans did not fully recover from 2009.
The upper strata controls business, government, & the media. And they report that the economy & unemployment & existing wages &housing are fine and dandy.
Yep for them.
Education, healthcare, housing and now new vehicles are incredibly expensive!
Very hard if not impossible for some to attain. And for those that did manage to get that sheepskin housing & vehicle costs plus college debt decimates their income. They may attain the living standard their parents had/have but likely at least a decade later.
For the unwashed, this is not a nation to live or the life they wish to lead.
2016 & 2024 presidential elections were a call of dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.
Many are appalled that such an individual be elected let alone re-elected. That once he is gone-business as usual can continue. Fine for them. And I don't see any establishment politicians calling for any change except for the removal of the person in the Oval Office.
But I don't believe the status quo will cut it with the masses. And if change cannot be had at the ballot box; the streets will call to them.

A question for those following this thread.
Are at least 50% of Americans living in a second class nation very separate from the professional class & elites?

Pre-pandemic, the bottom 50% being poor was the norm. The news cycle makes it into something to romantically read about. It is a hardship for millions of Americans as usual.

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