this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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A Boring Dystopia

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices hover near record levels.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains. The measure hasn’t fallen as much this year as other gauges of consumer attitudes, but it has been stuck at a low level since the pandemic. Before COVID-19, it regularly reached 130.

A separate gauge of consumer sentiment released last week by the University of Michigan fell to a record low this month. Soaring gas and food costs have worsened inflation that is outpacing the average growth in paychecks, reducing most Americans’ purchasing power. Americans have soured on President Trump’s economic policies, polls show, potentially creating problems for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.

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[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 14 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Makes you wonder where all that stock market money is ultimately coming from...

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 3 points 50 minutes ago

AI speculation.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 8 points 2 hours ago

Likely devaluing of the dollar.

[–] Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Let’s sabotage and burn everything

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 7 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Last time I was at the grocery store, I casually unscrewed their credit card reader display from the register while nobody was paying attention.

It's the little things that really warm my heart.

[–] optimisticturtle@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If one were to do this in Minecraft, one should be aware that there may be ALPRs in the parking lot often capable of facial recognition, overt and covert in store cameras capable of facial recognition and bluetooth trackers to pinpoint peoples' exact location as they move through the store.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Ain't nobody going through any of that trouble for a loose screw. They will barely do it for tens of thousands of dollars in theft.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 1 points 16 minutes ago

Ain’t nobody going through any of that trouble for a loose screw.

Yep. They'll assume it came loose on its own, maybe through vibrations over time or something.

And, hopefully, they'll bring in a highly paid repairman to come fix the problem.

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I'm genuinely down, let's organize.

[–] Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 hours ago

Burning is still risky without more people on the cause but I suppose sabotage is still very viable even with smaller groups of people. I’ve been mulling over things like getting a job at places that are actively helping this administration to fuck things up and slow shit down for them under the guise of being an idiot who can’t do anything right or preferably totally incognito

[–] jaykrown@lemmy.world 30 points 18 hours ago

The stock market is genuinely meaningless and has been detached from the real economy for well over a decade. It's indicative of nothing other than greed and the fact that the federal government keeps printing money and handing it directly to the wealthy.

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 36 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

We don't buy groceries to feed our families with the fucking stock market. All it is is a way to tell how the epstein class is raking in the dough like the parasites they are.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

I actually do that. And I'm no Epstein. Shit pays the bills and requires very Lil effort.

[–] you_are_dust@lemmy.world 55 points 20 hours ago (7 children)

How is the stock market increasing if people aren't buying the things that those companies produce? I know the answer is because the stock market is based entirely on feelings and doesn't have any basis in reality. But I still want to ask the question.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

All the money that's accumulating in the hands of the ultra rich has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is investment assets and investment assets are chosen based on going up in price and said going up in price needs not be for any reason other than that money is going into those assets in the expectation that the prices will go up (i.e. it's just a feedback loop of price increases attracting more buyers which in turn makes prices go up).

It's one big Ponzi Scheme and it will keep on going until there is no more money entering the scheme.

As it so happens we're living a long period of the wealth that was accumulated across society for decades being sucked out from the hands of the many into the hands of the few, and said few then keep putting more money into investment assets (what would be the point of buying yet another yacht) which is what keeps the whole price goes up because people buy -> people buy because price goes up loop going in so many asset categories, from housing and stocks to ultra speculative stuff like crypto.

This shit will only stop when it crashes and the longer it keeps going the harder it will crash.

[–] vane@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

advertising bot networks

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

For tech, it goes up because expectations on higher profits. Datacenters and the dystopia is driving right now. Memory sticks are through the roof because datacenters buys it all. Same with drives and gpus.

It takes years to build the dystopia so lots of profits on that. And then profits on watching people in real time and selling their data.

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 10 points 13 hours ago

The stock market isn't really dependant on companies actually producing stuff. The expectation of them producing stuff is enough. Which is why this whole AI-circlejerk exists for example.

It is all insider trading and companines funding each other with the same non-existant money.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 52 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

The stock market looks like gambling but it's actually fraud.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago

I feel like it's a spectrum that's entirely dependent on how much wealth and connections you start with.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 26 points 19 hours ago

I know the answer is because the stock market is based entirely on feelings and doesn't have any basis in reality.

I mean, that's phrased really about as well as anyone could phrase it. You could also say that there are two Americas: the 1% and everyone else. The stock market is a measure of how the 1% are doing. When Bondi said "the Dow is over 50000!" in that senate hearing, she was basically just saying, "the rich people think this administration is great, so you should too."

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 20 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

2 factors:

Every salary person has 15% of their income go to the stock market for their 401k.

Most things are staples that people have to buy. Companies increase their prices and consumers don't have a choice. The increased price means increased earnings.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Currently the rest of the stock market is essentially held up by 7 companies.

https://oriongemini.substack.com/p/the-number-is-going-up

Tier 1 — Magnificent Seven / Mega-Cap: Up 75–100%+ over five years. Cash-rich near-monopolies trading on AI futures. Effectively function as quasi-sovereign entities. Collectively hold over $420 billion in cash.
Tier 2 — Rest of S&P 500: Up 50–60%. Piggybacking on the giants through index weighting. Solid balance sheets but increasingly dependent on AI-adjacent demand.
Tier 3 — Russell 2000: Up roughly 17%. The “one percent of the losers.” Struggling but kept alive by access to public capital markets. 40–44% unprofitable. Facing a $709 billion refinancing wall in 2026–2027.
Tier 4 — Private Middle Market: Flat to declining. Consolidating from roughly 200,000 to 125,000 firms over two decades (RSM). Margin-squeezed by tariffs and input costs. RSM MMBI showing fragility.
Tier 5 — Main Street / Small Private Business: Fighting to exist. No access to Wall Street capital. Absorbing inflation that large firms pass through to customers. NFIB Optimism Index showing persistent fragility.

[–] neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works 7 points 19 hours ago

And the 401k contributions are the significant factor here. Until people start pulling their 401ks out, this wont stop.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 37 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (8 children)

This, more than anything, is why I hate both parties. Harris tried to gaslight us into thinking the economy was okay. Now, Donald's doing it.

But these limpdick, rich motherfuckers don't understand that the poor do their own grocery shopping, their own child care, actually open their own medical bills, and actually notice how much worse their schools have gotten and how many fewer opportunities there are to build a better life. The economy doing great for the rich has zero meaningful connection to the circumstances of the poor and middle class now.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 61 points 22 hours ago (7 children)

Yeah but only one side has active concentration camps

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[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 42 points 22 hours ago (9 children)

Electing Harris would have meant Lina Khan would have stayed at the FTC and we wouldn’t have the jackass Trump just appointed to the Fed. Both parties are not the same.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 2 points 2 hours ago

I miss her.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 20 hours ago

Trump also appointed the Fed guy who has kept shit from completely hitting the fan, too. The new guy is just one vote on the board, he's outvoted by default.

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[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 23 points 20 hours ago

The difference is the Dems actually have a track record of making the economy at least less worse than Republicans BY FAR.

Not to mention the Build Back Better bill was originally going to be the single most progressive infrastructure upgrade bill in US history, but it was gutted because of the GOP.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 17 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I’ve just replaced “the economy” and “stock market” with “rich people’s yacht money.”

[–] regedit@lemmy.zip 7 points 19 hours ago

Neat cause that's basically what they did, too!

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 11 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Whether or not the economy can be called "OK" is extremely dependent on who says it and when. At the time of the election campaign, it was fair to say that the economy was OK. It wasn't great, but inflation was getting under control, employment numbers were rising, it was generally trending in the right direction and could be called "OK".

Then trump comes in and from his (more specifically his ownership group's) perspective, this is currently beyond OK. Profits for the ultra-rich are skyrocketing. They clamp down on immigration to get rid of the sources of cheapest labour, then make sure the cost of living keeps rising to push people into taking whatever job they can get, for wages they previously would never have accepted. All while cashing in on planned market swings.

But yeah, tell me again how both parties are the same.

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[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I mean stock market going up makes the rich richer, poor people don't have significant stocks

[–] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

They would if there were more employee owned companies to work for.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 11 points 18 hours ago

I'm scratching my head wondering how we haven't had an official recession™ yet, but maybe it's because the rich haven't quite put everything in place to leave everyone else holding the stinky bag. Maybe that'll come with the AI company IPOs and private equity inclusions into pension and retirement investment accounts.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 7 points 17 hours ago

Wonder if i should cash out all my stocks... I know its gonna crash haaard soon

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 13 points 20 hours ago

Don't worry, trickle down economics will start working and sort this out any day now.

[–] Hayduke@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

It’s great, if you are in that big club that you ain’t in.

[–] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 20 hours ago

Further illustrating that the stock market is just gambling for the wealthy and not a barometer of livability.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 8 points 21 hours ago

the "spending" isn't changing, it's the getting less and less for it.

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