Will there be a recession in the future? Yes, but not like any recession in the past and here is why.
In my hometown of about 2000 or so there remains one building that was constructed with what is known as WPA
funds....or Work Progress Administration....during the Great Depression
when millions where out of work the federal government set up the WPA
to pay to employ those millions out of work to construct needed assets
in towns across the country....such as in my small hometown a water
tank, a agriculture building, and the still standing Community
Building. Note I said PAY people to work, not give them money just for
existing.
Since that time
and in the last 2 decades Americans how become more and more hooked on
government bailing them out of recessions and of late now weather
disasters no matter how small and unlike people in the Great Depression
who were ashamed to take money for nothing... now people demand such and
have no shame. All this is to point out how far we have come in this
country wealth wise. The fact government provides so much as demanded
by the voters allows for enormous discretionary spending since no one is
concerned about having food, having medical care, and most of whatever
have become everyday needs and now even wants.
Today
one in about 8 households depending on your source is a millionaire
household. We told others some years ago that by 2030 close to half all
American households would be millionaire households and we are well
onto that happening. Wealth among the Gen X generation is much due to
the fact these people came of age in a hard tough time and many were
latch key kids since most mothers for the first time in American history
were employed. These Gen X folks grew up to understand depending on
themselves was the only route to go and began using 401k/IRA's early in
life and the buildup over 20 plus years has resulted in lots of
retirement funds millionaires. Boomers many of who did not have
pensions similarly had some decades to build up assets and their
retirees are the largest source of mass affluent households. The
Millennial Generation started saving early have rode the wave of a stock
market boom in the early 2020's and of course inflation many register
as mass affluent as well or having several hundred thousand dollars in
retirement funds. For reference here the next step up from millionaire
is known as Penta-millionaire or having $5 million in household assets....about 1 in 70 households register that class....so lets say Penta has replaced millionaire in this country for a economic status symbol.
So
going forward what we have is lots of households with assets and
government backing that up with making sure anyone...not just the less
well off....have basic needs covered during economic downturns.
Now
I have been in the working class since the early 1970's and will say
since that time only one recession has not been caused by government
screwing up the market economy. The 2000 recession was caused by a huge
bubble in dot com stocks and when we discovered that every stock would
not be a winner the downturn became a recession. Every other recession
was a government caused one, savings and loan crisis, too many homes
being built, Covid foolishness, high interest rates from the Fed, etc.
Most recessions are due to voters wanting government to do something to
protect them and of course the then every action meets a reaction that
is not good.
Thus now we
got tens of millions of households that can spend and spend without
regard to how it effects their household and even retirement future.
What you get from that is places like Walmart, Target, and restaurant
spending without stop. When I was growing up we were poor enough going
out to eat at a restaurant was a special occasion, now it is done every
day everywhere. Consider where I live now a new restaurant opened this
week where one meal would easily run up a $20 plus charge and the place
was packed for days. Women the target customer posted about the
excitement of going there soon for days on social media. Money is no
object now for not only needs but also wants with most people.
We
point out all this to note as we have said for some time now we see no
real recession on the horizon. Does not matter which president is in
office or who controls the legislature in your state just huge amounts
of money floating around out there not only can be spend but will be
spent and that keeps recessions at bay. All be it much of that cash is
free money from federal government deficits, but lots of build up
wealth, lots of government support for the working and retired class,
and the huge change in attitude from the 1930's to today.
Every
generation in America is living better than the just past generation
and at a quickened pace too. The so called poor here are rich compared
to even Europe, Japan, and China. Politicians can prey on your empathy
to spend more and sometimes tax more since many women are easy empathy
targets and the continued increase in beta males are no less empathy
targets. Much of that spending is on transfer money and not capital
spending money meaning it goes away quickly into already wealthy hands
making the wealthy wealthier.
Yes
at some point this government largess will have to stop or at least
slow down but so far not a single Congress or President is willing to do
the dirty work of getting it done. So as long as there are buyers of
government debt the government spending will continue, until at some
point the Fed will have to step in as it did in 2020 and buy the debt
and create inflation. Imagine the inflation when the Fed buying becomes
trillions annually by printing new money. Inflation yes, recessions do
not count in it.
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