Once again, I read too much news lately. It's pretty much bleak out there especially the economy and the political situation. On top of everything there are natural disasters everywhere. What truly intrigued me is the reports and news on consumer spending behavior. All across the news they reported similar approach that YOLO economy has come to the end and people don't really spend on luxury anymore. They are prioritizing their basic needs and tightening their belt to stop spending. A lot of premium cafe and chains are struggling as people don't really spend that much anymore or even stagnate in their spending.
Welcome to my brain dump, it’s morning and when I am able to sit down, sipping a cup of coffee while contemplating about life and emptying it out a little
Where I am from, there is also a report that the middle class has become the poor class. A lot of them are struggling meeting ends meet as well as paying their obligation. All these reports intrigued me and that was also something my friend and I discussed a while back that there will be no more middle class, only the poor and the rich. The gap between the two are too wide that it's barely difficult to survive day by day around here. Indonesia’s inflation hits record 20-year low in August amid declining purchasing powerThis is just like all over the news lately and when I was discussing this with my mom, she was quite apathetic about this. Sometimes I also wonder if this is what most people are like, as long as the news don't affect them, they won't care about it.
Just a while back, I haven't consumed any news at all. It was some of the most peaceful time of my life. Maybe it's a lesson not to indulge in it too much. I was just too focused on my 90 days challenge and this is going to be my 3rd week soon. I guess reaching the 3rd week, my current challenge is to keep it interesting and keeping the consistency I have built. When I was indulging too much news, I wondered if anything truly mattered but after sometime off the screen, I got back into focus again. The journey is still long, I shouldn't be giving up now.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I try to stay away from MSM news myself, although I read some things here and there upon following some people's links or articles being sent to me.. But definitely not waking up to read the papers every day because then I know my day starts depressed for sure, lol.
Personally, I can imagine that there will be the rich and poor only because since we moved here, salary has gone up a lot more than the regular annual salary increase but yet I notice that I pay so much more for the same few items in every supermarket that in total, I have to spend a lot more on groceries.
Meanwhile, health insurance goes up every year, all medication is expensive even paracetamol which used to be cheap as can be back in the days, tax has increased a lot now that the starter discounts belong to the past and I often feel like we should eat more budget stuff a few days a week to compensate so that I can add more to savings again.
So here's my Sunday afternoon brain dump to your brain dump, lol.
Have a good day ahead!
I remembered the days when papers aren't bleak and it was pretty much a mix of being hopeful but also the world has gone to shit kinda thing. I loved the papers then but these days, anything written is mostly too fast and quite reactionary. Maybe that's what gets the click? I definitely prefer the papers back in the day with more thorough journalism.
Omg same here! when you're self-employed, it can create a lil burden too. I just hope ours don't go that high since health insurance saved my family 😂 otherwise we'd be living on the streets without them. I can't really sacrifice the food I mean, we have to eat quality stuff especially these days just to avoid being more sick. Anyhow no worries about dumping your brain here, it's a safe playground for brain dumping 😁
I agree, I used to enjoy reading the papers.. I never had a membership but usually I had a job where they had the daily papers or my in-laws had them.. It was enjoyable to read during the breaks rather than being glued to the phone like many of us are nowadays.
The health insurance is sadly not just the private one but also the social security which is mandatory when you're self employed, soon I will work in my boyfriend's company and now I don't pay this but then he will have to start paying it for me. His social security was just 60 euros the first year, it's already above 300 now, later mine is added which probably has discount the first period, but still. It's all on top of the 200 euros private insurance we also have.
I never paid this much but in these days, after so many bad experiences in public health in several countries, I'm very grateful that we can afford the private one, even though my daughter never goes to a doctor so it's wasted money. I'm pretty sure that when I decide to stop it, I will regret it because something happens.
Paying for peace of mind, knowing that you don't have to sit in a waiting room for 6 hours to see the first doctor is nice too. We've all done it, years and years in a row, lol.
The only upside of the social security is that it's not just having access to public healthcare but also means you pay for pension for later.. Although I wonder if these last decades for us will even mean something in those years. My plan is to make sure we got this sorted ourselves at some point. But, step by step, lol.
One of those rare moments when I do self promotion for my post which contains the argument about the shrinking middle class with the materials used were based from Indonesia's data. I highly recommend reading about wealth inequality in wealtheconomics.org by Gary Stevenson as this is the current working theory I subscribe in. The entire site can be speed read in under 30 mins including the other blogs within it because it has already all the gist you would find in his youtube videos explaining the phenomenon.
Thank you for the extra links & I am reading that right now. I also checked your post this morning and answering this question could be the answer as to why our middle class is shrinking.
Among other things, we also recently deals with gambling problems. Basically, the money goes to gambling den overseas and spent on BNPL systems .It's quite staggering that a significant portion of our Gen Z population is defaulting on their financial obligations for a whole lot of reasons including online gambling.
There's also increase in our income tax, property tax and general taxes 😂 for middle class over here, we don't even receive any incentives and subsidies. There are some programs for us but mostly luck-based. With the property tax, it's wild to me that the bigger your house is the lower is your taxes. I recently paid for two properties and their differences is weird 🤣 that it's almost nicer over here just to be the upper class with bigger house and EV cars as they are subsidized.
Our president is changing and we'll see if anything will change for the better or worse.
These are set up overseas to take advantage of some legislative loopholes, taxes and legal repercussions much like how Philippines has problems with offshore gaming institutions. Gen Z's are specifically the best prospects, they are abled young bodies that can work, want the get rich quick route, have a consumerist lifestyle thanks to influencers and tech savy enough that they don't get restricted by older folks that know better.
That's a horrible tax system, paying more for a bigger house is like an middle class move when it's the rich that can actually afford to buy larger houses and they pay less? Those gambling institutions are still ran by the rich, everything is ran by them in a network. Hope your government does a wealth tax. It's the same wish some groups here in the PH want but can't have because the lobbyists incentivize them not to try.
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