Andrew Torba ✝️ (@a)

Here's my question about unemployment being at a "record low" across various minority groups and in general: sure people have jobs, but are they able to feed their families with these jobs? Are they happy in these jobs? Fulfilled? What is their quality of life like? Are they underemployed? Are they working multiple jobs to get by? Same question with the GDP. With suicide rates skyrocketing, the massive drug problem in this country, rates of depression and anxiety increasing, etc I don't think too many Americans care about "muh GDP." I'd argue that most wouldn't be able to describe what it even is. This is one thing that Andrew Yang talks about that I agree with. He argues that the GDP has no real relationship to the average American's wellbeing and quality of life anymore, but is rather just a measure of economic productivity. He's obviously correct in this assumption given that people are hooked on drugs, killing themselves, and not creating families because they can't afford to. You don't need to look much further than your own local community to come to this conclusion. Just this past week someone I grew up with OD'd after a lifelong battle with addiction. He was only 30 and left behind a daughter. The same goes for the stonk market. Americans with modest incomes are significantly less invested in the stonk market than wealthy Americans. The bottom 80% of Americans only own 8% of stonks. So stonk market number go up, great. Wonderful for the top 20%. Not so much for the other 80%, at least not at first. :stonkup: So are we really winning? What are we really celebrating? I don't have an answer, but these are things I think about a lot. It all feels like a big ruse to me and I can't seem to shake it. Maybe it just takes time, but I don't know if we have it.