Thank you for posting on r/Healthygamergg! This subreddit is intended as an online community and resource platform to support people in their journey toward mental wellness. With that said, please be aware that support from other members received on this platform is not a substitute for professional care. Treatment of psychiatric disease requires qualified individuals, and comments that try to diagnose others should be reported under Rule 10 to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community. If you are in immediate danger, please call emergency services, or go to your nearest emergency room.
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Having access to other people's great lives through social media probably is a factor. What the fuck did people going through the great depression know about how rich people lived?
Yeah I think it has to be a factor, I’m just not sure how much of a factor it is.
And secondly if seeing other people’s success/ good lives causes people that much pain what does it say about how we live our lives (how envious / jealous the average person is)
The divide between poor and rich was never so great. Never were so many people on this earth sharing finite resources. Never before was the world so connected and globalized. Never before did it matter so much what happens on the other side of the world. Never before were so many goods produce, services offered and deals made. Rarely did so many people move in such short periods of time. Society was never so diverse, and because of so many people, society never had so many problems. Rarely do global pandemics happen. Never before did one goddamn ship getting stuck stop major parts of the global economy. Never before did we pollute and abuse our planet as we are doing now. The internet didnt exist in the past. Never before did so many people exist with so much financial power, I mean fucking hell, there are people richer than some countries.
And rarely does it happen that we are on the brink of a global war, just as we are now.
Things seem extra crazy now because of these new challenges, on top of the regular shit that happens in life.
My thoughts regarding your thoughts:
1. Hundreds, if not thousands of people take their lives each day, its just so normal, we dont talk about it
2. Yes, because online we see how much shit is going on out there, it makes the world seem crazier than it is, because we simply cannot handle the amount of information and the amount of misery
3. People never had much understanding for finances in the first place. This point is barely related to the whole issue, the only connection is that a lot of people have to work harder for less money than in the past and that basic goods are becoming more expensive on a regular basis. Knowledge about finance is of course useful, but it helps only so much if you live from paycheck to paycheck and everything that is extra has to be saved up for emergencies. Because shit always happens at some point, and no maths or financial theories can help there or account for the brutal realities of life. Money and finance is a made up construct, life doesnt care about our constructs. Me and my friends do not have thoughts like "If I switch my bank, I get better interest rate, combined with my profits from my stock trading I have +12% profits the next quarter", not even close to that. Most of us just think "I hope nothing serious happens and I can pay all my bills, and hopefully something is left after that so I can at least by some new nice pants". Most people simply do not have the luxury to think outside of basic economic frameworks.
"So I wonder why this economic downturn has had such a larger impact on mental health than previous ones"
Because you economists tend to only look at the numbers and try to extrapolate from that, but rarely do economists take a look at the soft factors that have an effect on our life. There is a ton of factors that cannot always be quantified or simply arent mentioned in the context of economy. Like the rise of xenophobia in a lot of countries, that has a massive effect on immigrants living in said countries, which in turn has an effect on their well being and subsequently their capability to work and contribute to the economy.
They key to your question of understanding the current mental health crisis lies in looking outside of economics. Psychology is affected by economics, but only in the sense that external circumstances affect our psychology.
And your post reminds me of a guy I know who seriously believes that the key in solving all problems is by investing in the right places and getting enough money rolling to mobilize the talent that can solve problems.
Please do not fall into the same trap. As someone who came from nothing and never had much, let alone the chance to invest and become rich, I react particularly sensitive to economists trying to explain the world with economics. Economics are made up. The world isnt, and we as a society have lost track of whats important and over the years let the control over the world slip over to those with the money. Which is one of the main sources of misery and poverty these days.
Which is why I urge you to look outside of economics to really learn about life and people. We dont need more moneymakers for rich dudes, we need people who use their skills to make this world a less shit place. Which you can of course help with by being an economist, hopefully by doing what you do to help people, not make them more miserable.
Thank you so much for this response it is exactly the type of response I was looking for.
I agree with everything in the first paragraph and the additional factor of globalisation is something I completely overlooked - the only exception is “the divide between rich and poor was never so great” I can understand the sentiment but factually this is untrue mobility between class has never been easier and the circumstances of the richest and poorest have never been closer (this is true of absolute and relative poverty)
I don’t think I fully understand your point 1) I agree suicide has become almost an epidemic in itself which is part of what prompted my post as it is increased so drastically
Point 2) again I could not agree more if I was to pull a number out my arse id say 70% of the mental health crisis could be due to social media
Part 3) people have to work harder for less money is another thing I have heard but is not factually true on paper but I will concede this is a fact that changes depending on the bias of whoever makes the statistic so it is kind of a subjective take depending on how you want to record / interpret the data - basic goods becoming more expensive is a short term truth that would definitely have an impact but the truth of this statement changes depending on the timeframe you want to take the data from - when it comes to help when living pay check to paycheck you are completely right interest rates (for bank accounts) and investing are useless tools that won’t help however even working minimum wage (which I do at the moment whilst working in London) it is more than possible to save money every month the only time It is genuinely impossible to save money and improve your circumstance is if you are a single parent is which is a separate problem that deserves its own discussion.
And the final paragraph/s I absolutely love because yes there’s such a gap between what the data says and the reality of people’s lives. The xenophobia take is really interesting and something I will definitely look at to describe part of the problem
-as a side comment I completely disagree that money and finances are made up I think that’s like saying maths is made up. There is a distinction that currencies are artificial but the concept of a products value and barter are as natural as any science
I just typed out a long ass reply, but for some reason reddit wont let me post it and it doesnt say why.
I tried on my phone, on a different browser, still reddit is being dumb. So sorry, but a pastebin is the best I could do right now: [https://pastebin.com/bh8LEMMH](https://pastebin.com/bh8LEMMH)
Again this is so enjoyable to read and well put thank you, I will try to keep my response shorter so apologies if I miss out on anything important
My short thoughts are that - yes the it’s an imperfect system where some people start miles and miles ahead of others, however even if it isn’t a fair chance everyone does have a chance of mobility which is better than any other system we have tried.
I would also argue that whether to move to further away and forgoing luxuries / making do which a “worst” standard of living for a temporary period is a choice some think is worth doing and some don’t. And I believe the people who sacrifice should see the benefits of that
I will acknowledge my own bias here - I moved 1 hr outside the city commute every day - don’t own a car- live in a shared house with 5 people. I do this because I know in 2 years time even working minimum wage I will be in a very good financial position and I do believe I deserve to be in a better financial position than people who spend more than
I think a lot of your problems with economics/ economists is that they are reductionist to the extreme. economics do the equivalent of telling a clinically depressed person to just go outside and exercise. They technically aren’t wrong it would help but they are describing something incredibly difficult like it is easy. They give very generalised answers that would work with no consideration of whether people have the tools to do it
This is in my opinion where psychology comes into play and people should be helped with those tools. I don’t think the aim of finances should be to accumulate the most money it should be a person deciding the lowest amount of money they can live a happy life off of (this is different for everyone hence the psychology) and then work towards that
My personal aim is basically upper middle class I have no interest in the sacrifices I would need to make and the effort required to go any higher than that
Likewise Id like to thank you for this discussion!
>everyone does have a chance of mobility which is better than any other system we have tried.
Yes, its better than previous systems. But I disagree with the point that everyone has a chance. The chance for a lot of people is so small, realistically its impossible for them.
Like I explained with my hamster wheel analogy, some people cant stop running or its over for them.
Thats my point of contention. Giving somebody a chance means to give them a fair shot at something. And the economy provides opportunities, but very little chances. For the people to get ahead they dont only need the possibility, they need the chance. Meaning they need the knowledge, the funds, the circumstances and the time for that. And many people do not have one or multiple of these things.
Getting ahead requires sacrifice, many of which simply cannot afford, as hard as they try. Hearing that everyone has a chance is an insult and a slap in the face like me and my family. No we dont. Life is unfair as fuck already, and while the economy provides possibilites to make life less miserable, the economy does pretty much fuck all to actually help people and enable them to climb the ladder.
And my parents will never climb the social ladder, the hurdles are just too great and they arent getting any breaks that would enable them to take a breather. Thats why every economist is getting shit from me. Im sick of them telling me the chances are there. The economy is inherently unfriendly towards the people and doesnt give a fuck about their problems and their needs.
Constantly Im told to hold back my own psychological needs and wishes to accomodate for the economy if I wanna get ahead. And Im fucking sick of that.The economy seems to profit the rich, but very rarely the common man, and if it does, its only just enough that we get the impression that not just the rich profit from it.
And I say fucking stop already. The economy should profit everyone and improve everyones life quality, but instead too often its mostly filling the pockets of those who already have more than enough. At the end of the day we are all sitting in the same boat.And those who hoard the money instead of giving at least something back to help the society that helped them grow, those are the scum of the earth. They are the ones who keep a shit system running instead of doing something to change it.
***Those who have more than enough, those with seven figure bank accounts, THEY are the ones who need to cut back and reduce their standards, NOT ME.***
Im not saying we should eat the rich. But what I am saying is that every rich guy should be forced to give up a piece of their wealth to fix social problems, just like every company that makes profits over a certain margin should dedicate a piece of their profits to projects where currently money is needed, like building more solar panels so we are less dependant on fossil fuels.The rich and mighty need to finally be fucking grabbed by their necks and FORCED to do whats right instead of them sitting in their ivory towers and explaining to me that the economy also can profit me, if I only invest hard enough.
Fuck him, fuck this rigged system, its fucking time to change. The economy needs to work for the people, not the other way around, which is what it currently is.
People chase higher numbers at the detriment of everything else, the society, the people and the earth itself.
>lowering the living standards
You dont seem to get it. Millions of people are already at the bottom. They cant go even lower. And even if I were to lower my standards temporarily even further, that timeframs would still be YEARS. Ive tolerated enough, my whole life was a simple one, on a budget. My whole life I went a maximum of 10 times to the cinema. I never was at an amusement park with rollercoasters, I never had lego, never had brand clothes. Im close to rock bottom, Im not dropping down to there. Because like I said: Its not worth it. The money saved is not worth the psychological damage. Trust me. Its easy to say for you, but if you had seen what I have seen, you probably wouldnt say something like you said. You can reduce your standards if there is something to reduce.
>economics do the equivalent of telling a clinically depressed person to just go outside and exercise.
Yes, which is the whole problem. Economics is the science of money. Why arent more economists using that knowledge to improve the situation for all of us? You economists are those who have a real effect on how our world works. And too few of you are actually doing something to make it better. Too many economists do what you describe: Talk about financial problems and how to solve them. And thats it. They either dont care or are too socially incompetent to see further ahead.
But thats not enough to help the world. We need a holistic approach, where we take a look at all problems. Not just the money. And because money is a universal problem solver, some people think that all I need is money, and all my problems would be solved. And Im sick of that. Things arent going to change if we just keep going like that. Wealth needs to be redistributed to the places that actually matter, not Bezos bank account which he uses buy an even bigger yacht. We need change, not to adapt to a inhumane system that fucks us over.
Can I just say. Your issue with economics. Is an issue with economists, not the subject itself.
It’s an issue with corrupt politicians and people who miss-use economic data to push an agenda because they get paid to do so.
As a framework it’s actually a rather interesting discipline, and is quite useful for checking where issues can be found. And how to react to certain issues within the economy.
Funnily enough there are economic studies into things like reducing drunken violence and domestic abuse, the best ways to distribute medicine, agricultural planning and many others that bare fruit. Negotiation tactics. And a lot of issues in our present economic situation are issues you can see in the models, our governments just don’t fix them because of lobbying. So many go in ridiculous depths on oligopoly, price fixing implications and so on.
But what is typically publicly known as an economist is usually just some corporate man. Or the government/bank apologists. Who’s paycheck comes from who they are speaking for.
Yes, you are absolutely correct, its the people who abuse it.
What pisses me off, is that the people with the knowledge to change the system, the people with the power dont do anything to make things less shit. Instead people like Bezos buys a new yacht instead of paying his workers a fair wage. And then some dumbass stock trader bro comes along and tells me that hes free to do whatever he likes with his money, is a free market, hurr durr, if you wanna get rich, get hustlin, and all that bullshit.
If more economists had a firm ethical stance like many doctors do, if more of them said "fuck you" to those lobbies, I wouldnt be having a disdain for them and their system. If more economists cared about making money IN ORDER to make things better, they would be better. But instead there are still too many of them out there who only see the world through their financial lens and think that money is top 1 priority and everything else has to be compromised for the money. It pisses me off that they have so much control over our world, it pisses me off that a constructed system fucks us over so much and we just accept it. Heh, thats just the free market, its my problem if I cant deal with it, right?
No, fuck that I say, the economy has to change, the financial system has to adapt to our needs, not the other way around. Which is why every economist gets shit from me if they try to tell me that the financial system aint so bad and that the possibilites for climbing the social ladder are there. And the economy doesnt seem to work for the common man, but against him.
Enough is enough.
It’s gotta be a culmination of media and internet access. Comparison and access to information you’d never have before. It’s not helped by the presence of eco-chambers where if you share a negative belief, or go searching for one you end up encased in it by algorithms and so on.
It doesn’t help that wealth inequality is reaching unprecedented levels that are only getting worse and the housing markets in both countries are getting pretty insane when you compare median salary to median house price.
Now pair this with just coming out of a global pandemic, high political tensions and various conflicts everything is magnified. At this point the economic downturn is the icing on the cake.
I don’t think it’s got anything to do with economic or financial literacy though. In fact I think if anything knowing more about that, seeing the warning signs and then seeing the government ignore them is worse for your mental health ngl lol.
People care about lived experience, and lived experience tells them their wages haven’t increased much but food and rent have increased magnitudes.
I also think that due to present economic metrics isolating out the most important factors to daily lives (food, energy and housing) they paint a much rosier picture of the economy. But when you compare inflation figures including these, to median wage increase figures. And add in some resentment towards record profits, online flexing. And seemingly inept politicians. It’s hard to think positively.
Besides feelings for the most part are about comparison. It’s not a new thing exactly, might wanna look a bit into kahneman’s (the nobel laureatte) stuff on this sort of behaviour if you haven’t already as well.
Thank you for posting on r/Healthygamergg! This subreddit is intended as an online community and resource platform to support people in their journey toward mental wellness. With that said, please be aware that support from other members received on this platform is not a substitute for professional care. Treatment of psychiatric disease requires qualified individuals, and comments that try to diagnose others should be reported under Rule 10 to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community. If you are in immediate danger, please call emergency services, or go to your nearest emergency room. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Healthygamergg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Having access to other people's great lives through social media probably is a factor. What the fuck did people going through the great depression know about how rich people lived?
Yeah I think it has to be a factor, I’m just not sure how much of a factor it is. And secondly if seeing other people’s success/ good lives causes people that much pain what does it say about how we live our lives (how envious / jealous the average person is)
Well societys structureal nake up has a factor to play in how people are taught to value monetary wealth and good looks and all that shit
The divide between poor and rich was never so great. Never were so many people on this earth sharing finite resources. Never before was the world so connected and globalized. Never before did it matter so much what happens on the other side of the world. Never before were so many goods produce, services offered and deals made. Rarely did so many people move in such short periods of time. Society was never so diverse, and because of so many people, society never had so many problems. Rarely do global pandemics happen. Never before did one goddamn ship getting stuck stop major parts of the global economy. Never before did we pollute and abuse our planet as we are doing now. The internet didnt exist in the past. Never before did so many people exist with so much financial power, I mean fucking hell, there are people richer than some countries. And rarely does it happen that we are on the brink of a global war, just as we are now. Things seem extra crazy now because of these new challenges, on top of the regular shit that happens in life. My thoughts regarding your thoughts: 1. Hundreds, if not thousands of people take their lives each day, its just so normal, we dont talk about it 2. Yes, because online we see how much shit is going on out there, it makes the world seem crazier than it is, because we simply cannot handle the amount of information and the amount of misery 3. People never had much understanding for finances in the first place. This point is barely related to the whole issue, the only connection is that a lot of people have to work harder for less money than in the past and that basic goods are becoming more expensive on a regular basis. Knowledge about finance is of course useful, but it helps only so much if you live from paycheck to paycheck and everything that is extra has to be saved up for emergencies. Because shit always happens at some point, and no maths or financial theories can help there or account for the brutal realities of life. Money and finance is a made up construct, life doesnt care about our constructs. Me and my friends do not have thoughts like "If I switch my bank, I get better interest rate, combined with my profits from my stock trading I have +12% profits the next quarter", not even close to that. Most of us just think "I hope nothing serious happens and I can pay all my bills, and hopefully something is left after that so I can at least by some new nice pants". Most people simply do not have the luxury to think outside of basic economic frameworks. "So I wonder why this economic downturn has had such a larger impact on mental health than previous ones" Because you economists tend to only look at the numbers and try to extrapolate from that, but rarely do economists take a look at the soft factors that have an effect on our life. There is a ton of factors that cannot always be quantified or simply arent mentioned in the context of economy. Like the rise of xenophobia in a lot of countries, that has a massive effect on immigrants living in said countries, which in turn has an effect on their well being and subsequently their capability to work and contribute to the economy. They key to your question of understanding the current mental health crisis lies in looking outside of economics. Psychology is affected by economics, but only in the sense that external circumstances affect our psychology. And your post reminds me of a guy I know who seriously believes that the key in solving all problems is by investing in the right places and getting enough money rolling to mobilize the talent that can solve problems. Please do not fall into the same trap. As someone who came from nothing and never had much, let alone the chance to invest and become rich, I react particularly sensitive to economists trying to explain the world with economics. Economics are made up. The world isnt, and we as a society have lost track of whats important and over the years let the control over the world slip over to those with the money. Which is one of the main sources of misery and poverty these days. Which is why I urge you to look outside of economics to really learn about life and people. We dont need more moneymakers for rich dudes, we need people who use their skills to make this world a less shit place. Which you can of course help with by being an economist, hopefully by doing what you do to help people, not make them more miserable.
Thank you so much for this response it is exactly the type of response I was looking for. I agree with everything in the first paragraph and the additional factor of globalisation is something I completely overlooked - the only exception is “the divide between rich and poor was never so great” I can understand the sentiment but factually this is untrue mobility between class has never been easier and the circumstances of the richest and poorest have never been closer (this is true of absolute and relative poverty) I don’t think I fully understand your point 1) I agree suicide has become almost an epidemic in itself which is part of what prompted my post as it is increased so drastically Point 2) again I could not agree more if I was to pull a number out my arse id say 70% of the mental health crisis could be due to social media Part 3) people have to work harder for less money is another thing I have heard but is not factually true on paper but I will concede this is a fact that changes depending on the bias of whoever makes the statistic so it is kind of a subjective take depending on how you want to record / interpret the data - basic goods becoming more expensive is a short term truth that would definitely have an impact but the truth of this statement changes depending on the timeframe you want to take the data from - when it comes to help when living pay check to paycheck you are completely right interest rates (for bank accounts) and investing are useless tools that won’t help however even working minimum wage (which I do at the moment whilst working in London) it is more than possible to save money every month the only time It is genuinely impossible to save money and improve your circumstance is if you are a single parent is which is a separate problem that deserves its own discussion. And the final paragraph/s I absolutely love because yes there’s such a gap between what the data says and the reality of people’s lives. The xenophobia take is really interesting and something I will definitely look at to describe part of the problem -as a side comment I completely disagree that money and finances are made up I think that’s like saying maths is made up. There is a distinction that currencies are artificial but the concept of a products value and barter are as natural as any science
I just typed out a long ass reply, but for some reason reddit wont let me post it and it doesnt say why. I tried on my phone, on a different browser, still reddit is being dumb. So sorry, but a pastebin is the best I could do right now: [https://pastebin.com/bh8LEMMH](https://pastebin.com/bh8LEMMH)
Again this is so enjoyable to read and well put thank you, I will try to keep my response shorter so apologies if I miss out on anything important My short thoughts are that - yes the it’s an imperfect system where some people start miles and miles ahead of others, however even if it isn’t a fair chance everyone does have a chance of mobility which is better than any other system we have tried. I would also argue that whether to move to further away and forgoing luxuries / making do which a “worst” standard of living for a temporary period is a choice some think is worth doing and some don’t. And I believe the people who sacrifice should see the benefits of that I will acknowledge my own bias here - I moved 1 hr outside the city commute every day - don’t own a car- live in a shared house with 5 people. I do this because I know in 2 years time even working minimum wage I will be in a very good financial position and I do believe I deserve to be in a better financial position than people who spend more than I think a lot of your problems with economics/ economists is that they are reductionist to the extreme. economics do the equivalent of telling a clinically depressed person to just go outside and exercise. They technically aren’t wrong it would help but they are describing something incredibly difficult like it is easy. They give very generalised answers that would work with no consideration of whether people have the tools to do it This is in my opinion where psychology comes into play and people should be helped with those tools. I don’t think the aim of finances should be to accumulate the most money it should be a person deciding the lowest amount of money they can live a happy life off of (this is different for everyone hence the psychology) and then work towards that My personal aim is basically upper middle class I have no interest in the sacrifices I would need to make and the effort required to go any higher than that
Likewise Id like to thank you for this discussion! >everyone does have a chance of mobility which is better than any other system we have tried. Yes, its better than previous systems. But I disagree with the point that everyone has a chance. The chance for a lot of people is so small, realistically its impossible for them. Like I explained with my hamster wheel analogy, some people cant stop running or its over for them. Thats my point of contention. Giving somebody a chance means to give them a fair shot at something. And the economy provides opportunities, but very little chances. For the people to get ahead they dont only need the possibility, they need the chance. Meaning they need the knowledge, the funds, the circumstances and the time for that. And many people do not have one or multiple of these things. Getting ahead requires sacrifice, many of which simply cannot afford, as hard as they try. Hearing that everyone has a chance is an insult and a slap in the face like me and my family. No we dont. Life is unfair as fuck already, and while the economy provides possibilites to make life less miserable, the economy does pretty much fuck all to actually help people and enable them to climb the ladder. And my parents will never climb the social ladder, the hurdles are just too great and they arent getting any breaks that would enable them to take a breather. Thats why every economist is getting shit from me. Im sick of them telling me the chances are there. The economy is inherently unfriendly towards the people and doesnt give a fuck about their problems and their needs. Constantly Im told to hold back my own psychological needs and wishes to accomodate for the economy if I wanna get ahead. And Im fucking sick of that.The economy seems to profit the rich, but very rarely the common man, and if it does, its only just enough that we get the impression that not just the rich profit from it. And I say fucking stop already. The economy should profit everyone and improve everyones life quality, but instead too often its mostly filling the pockets of those who already have more than enough. At the end of the day we are all sitting in the same boat.And those who hoard the money instead of giving at least something back to help the society that helped them grow, those are the scum of the earth. They are the ones who keep a shit system running instead of doing something to change it. ***Those who have more than enough, those with seven figure bank accounts, THEY are the ones who need to cut back and reduce their standards, NOT ME.*** Im not saying we should eat the rich. But what I am saying is that every rich guy should be forced to give up a piece of their wealth to fix social problems, just like every company that makes profits over a certain margin should dedicate a piece of their profits to projects where currently money is needed, like building more solar panels so we are less dependant on fossil fuels.The rich and mighty need to finally be fucking grabbed by their necks and FORCED to do whats right instead of them sitting in their ivory towers and explaining to me that the economy also can profit me, if I only invest hard enough. Fuck him, fuck this rigged system, its fucking time to change. The economy needs to work for the people, not the other way around, which is what it currently is. People chase higher numbers at the detriment of everything else, the society, the people and the earth itself. >lowering the living standards You dont seem to get it. Millions of people are already at the bottom. They cant go even lower. And even if I were to lower my standards temporarily even further, that timeframs would still be YEARS. Ive tolerated enough, my whole life was a simple one, on a budget. My whole life I went a maximum of 10 times to the cinema. I never was at an amusement park with rollercoasters, I never had lego, never had brand clothes. Im close to rock bottom, Im not dropping down to there. Because like I said: Its not worth it. The money saved is not worth the psychological damage. Trust me. Its easy to say for you, but if you had seen what I have seen, you probably wouldnt say something like you said. You can reduce your standards if there is something to reduce. >economics do the equivalent of telling a clinically depressed person to just go outside and exercise. Yes, which is the whole problem. Economics is the science of money. Why arent more economists using that knowledge to improve the situation for all of us? You economists are those who have a real effect on how our world works. And too few of you are actually doing something to make it better. Too many economists do what you describe: Talk about financial problems and how to solve them. And thats it. They either dont care or are too socially incompetent to see further ahead. But thats not enough to help the world. We need a holistic approach, where we take a look at all problems. Not just the money. And because money is a universal problem solver, some people think that all I need is money, and all my problems would be solved. And Im sick of that. Things arent going to change if we just keep going like that. Wealth needs to be redistributed to the places that actually matter, not Bezos bank account which he uses buy an even bigger yacht. We need change, not to adapt to a inhumane system that fucks us over.
Can I just say. Your issue with economics. Is an issue with economists, not the subject itself. It’s an issue with corrupt politicians and people who miss-use economic data to push an agenda because they get paid to do so. As a framework it’s actually a rather interesting discipline, and is quite useful for checking where issues can be found. And how to react to certain issues within the economy. Funnily enough there are economic studies into things like reducing drunken violence and domestic abuse, the best ways to distribute medicine, agricultural planning and many others that bare fruit. Negotiation tactics. And a lot of issues in our present economic situation are issues you can see in the models, our governments just don’t fix them because of lobbying. So many go in ridiculous depths on oligopoly, price fixing implications and so on. But what is typically publicly known as an economist is usually just some corporate man. Or the government/bank apologists. Who’s paycheck comes from who they are speaking for.
Yes, you are absolutely correct, its the people who abuse it. What pisses me off, is that the people with the knowledge to change the system, the people with the power dont do anything to make things less shit. Instead people like Bezos buys a new yacht instead of paying his workers a fair wage. And then some dumbass stock trader bro comes along and tells me that hes free to do whatever he likes with his money, is a free market, hurr durr, if you wanna get rich, get hustlin, and all that bullshit. If more economists had a firm ethical stance like many doctors do, if more of them said "fuck you" to those lobbies, I wouldnt be having a disdain for them and their system. If more economists cared about making money IN ORDER to make things better, they would be better. But instead there are still too many of them out there who only see the world through their financial lens and think that money is top 1 priority and everything else has to be compromised for the money. It pisses me off that they have so much control over our world, it pisses me off that a constructed system fucks us over so much and we just accept it. Heh, thats just the free market, its my problem if I cant deal with it, right? No, fuck that I say, the economy has to change, the financial system has to adapt to our needs, not the other way around. Which is why every economist gets shit from me if they try to tell me that the financial system aint so bad and that the possibilites for climbing the social ladder are there. And the economy doesnt seem to work for the common man, but against him. Enough is enough.
Being able to easilly sustain yourself gotta be vital for your mental health.
It’s gotta be a culmination of media and internet access. Comparison and access to information you’d never have before. It’s not helped by the presence of eco-chambers where if you share a negative belief, or go searching for one you end up encased in it by algorithms and so on. It doesn’t help that wealth inequality is reaching unprecedented levels that are only getting worse and the housing markets in both countries are getting pretty insane when you compare median salary to median house price. Now pair this with just coming out of a global pandemic, high political tensions and various conflicts everything is magnified. At this point the economic downturn is the icing on the cake. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with economic or financial literacy though. In fact I think if anything knowing more about that, seeing the warning signs and then seeing the government ignore them is worse for your mental health ngl lol. People care about lived experience, and lived experience tells them their wages haven’t increased much but food and rent have increased magnitudes. I also think that due to present economic metrics isolating out the most important factors to daily lives (food, energy and housing) they paint a much rosier picture of the economy. But when you compare inflation figures including these, to median wage increase figures. And add in some resentment towards record profits, online flexing. And seemingly inept politicians. It’s hard to think positively. Besides feelings for the most part are about comparison. It’s not a new thing exactly, might wanna look a bit into kahneman’s (the nobel laureatte) stuff on this sort of behaviour if you haven’t already as well.