Americans' confidence in economy lowest since 2014

[Hawkeye21]

2 minutes ago, thegeneral said:

This seems impossible to go back to on any type of scale. 

I know.  Hard for someone young to get into farming when land is over $12k an acre.  I wish large corporations were not allowed to buy up farm land.

[thegeneral]

1 minute ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I know.  Hard for someone young to get into farming when land is over $12k an acre.  I wish large corporations were not allowed to buy up farm land.

Yep. I’d think even if you bought the land you aren’t competing with these giant corporation farms outside of maybe some type of boutique or organic type thing. 

[thegeneral]

5 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I know.  Hard for someone young to get into farming when land is over $12k an acre.  I wish large corporations were not allowed to buy up farm land.

What’s up with the fertilizer prices and how that is going. Seeing this being talked about quite a bit with the war impacting it.

[Hawkeye21]

5 minutes ago, thegeneral said:

What’s up with the fertilizer prices and how that is going. Seeing this being talked about quite a bit with the war impacting it.

I haven't heard my customers talk about fertilizer prices.  All I know about it is what I read online.  All the fields are getting planted still.

[thegeneral]

5 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I haven't heard my customers talk about fertilizer prices.  All I know about it is what I read online.  All the fields are getting planted still.

I mean you have to plant right? But is the price actually going up though and the farms just eating that cost.

[Hawkeye21]

9 minutes ago, thegeneral said:

I mean you have to plant right? But is the price actually going up though and the farms just eating that cost.

I believe that's what's happening.  I'm sure I'll hear a lot more about how everything is after harvest season.

[thegeneral]

Just now, Hawkeye21 said:

I believe that's what's happening.  I'm sure I'll hear a lot more about how everything is after harvest season.

Hopefully a good one. Both parents born in western Iowa, used to go to a lake up there as a kid in summer. Was in Des Moines last summer for almost a week…a tad bit warm for my tastes these days

[Hawkeye21]

1 minute ago, thegeneral said:

Hopefully a good one. Both parents born in western Iowa, used to go to a lake up there as a kid in summer. Was in Des Moines last summer for almost a week…a tad bit warm for my tastes these days

Iowa has everything when it comes to weather.  Crazy hot and humid some days and bitter cold other days.  What lake did you go to?

[thegeneral]

3 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

Iowa has everything when it comes to weather.  Crazy hot and humid some days and bitter cold other days.  What lake did you go to?

I’d have to double check, was really little, but think it was Twin Lake. Grandparents lived in Rockwell City. 

[Caine Mutiny]

35 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I haven't heard my customers talk about fertilizer prices.  All I know about it is what I read online.  All the fields are getting planted still.

It’s very bad and about to get much worse. 
https://www.fb.org/market-intel/farm-bureau-survey-reveals-real-impact-of-fertilizer-availability-and-price

Those people who don’t think we’re in a crisis already are just deluding ourselves. We’re going to be suffering for years due to Trump’s utter incompetence. 

[JuneJuly]

53 minutes ago, thegeneral said:

I wouldn’t say this is lying. It is an attention grabbing headline, click bait headline that you will remember as you scroll for sure though.

Your stats you are using to draw this conclusion are also quite a bit off. There are 160k farmers in Iowa, but 86k farms. Of those most are too small, wouldn’t qualify for Chapter 12 bankruptcy.

Yes the number is still small but bankruptcy is a lagging indicator, especially in this industry. Hopefully just a small blip.

Scale it any way you want, it's still 3100 to 18.  It's ridiculous.   

[JuneJuly]

Guy with actual boots on the ground - it's not that bad, crops are getting planted, don't know anyone going out of business. 

Tim from his world of make believe - CRISIS! Trump!

[Hawkeye21]

8 minutes ago, Caine Mutiny said:

It’s very bad and about to get much worse. 
https://www.fb.org/market-intel/farm-bureau-survey-reveals-real-impact-of-fertilizer-availability-and-price

Those people who don’t think we’re in a crisis already are just deluding ourselves. We’re going to be suffering for years due to Trump’s utter incompetence. 

That article showed that prices are still lower than they were in 2022.  How were you feeling back then?  Did you say anything about Biden's utter incompetence as well?

[thegeneral]

2 minutes ago, JuneJuly said:

Scale it any way you want, it's still 3100 to 18.  It's ridiculous.   

Fair enough. Got to think price of fertilizer and fuel going way up isn’t good. Farms going bankrupt has always been an attention getter for sure.

To the topic in thread headline. Bankruptcy trending up, personal credit and debt going up, costs going up, gas spiking. It’s not a shock people in whole feel the economy isn’t going in right direction.

[Caine Mutiny]

3 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

That article showed that prices are still lower than they were in 2022.  How were you feeling back then?  Did you say anything about Biden's utter incompetence as well?

No because back then those prices were a result of the invasion of Ukraine and the after effects of Covid, which Biden had no control over. And they were temporary. 
 

On the other hand these prices are a DIRECT result of Trump’s decision to bomb Iran. And they are not temporary, they will last for several years. And they will get much worse. 
 

So I don’t think this is a fair comparison at all. 

[Caine Mutiny]

15 minutes ago, JuneJuly said:

Guy with actual boots on the ground - it's not that bad, crops are getting planted, don't know anyone going out of business. 

Tim from his world of make believe - CRISIS! Trump!

Farmers are going to vote Democrat this fall like everybody else. They vote with their pocketbook.

Not that it will help them much. It’s too late; damage has been done. 

[JuneJuly]

1 hour ago, Caine Mutiny said:

No because back then those prices were a result of the invasion of Ukraine and the after effects of Covid, which Biden had no control over. And they were temporary. 
 

On the other hand these prices are a DIRECT result of Trump’s decision to bomb Iran. And they are not temporary, they will last for several years. And they will get much worse. 
 

So I don’t think this is a fair comparison at all. 

The second 100% partisan stimulus poured gas on a smoldering fire. 100% Biden and democrats fault.  

Your revisionist history is hilarious. Just like the rest of your world of make believe.  

[Caine Mutiny]

6 minutes ago, JuneJuly said:

The second 100% partisan stimulus poured gas on a smoldering fire. 100% Biden and democrats fault.  

Your revisionist history is hilarious. Just like the rest of your world of make believe.  

Yeah yeah the same old argument. It’s demonstrably false. How do I know? Because the world’s inflation at the same time as ours in 2021-2022 was never better than ours, mostly worse. If the stimulus package had made our inflation worse then that wouldn’t be. 
 

You should stick to bragging about your fake millions, your fake wife, your indifference to poor people, and rooting for fires. Leave the serious discussion to people who know what they’re talking about. 

[seafoam1]

1 hour ago, Caine Mutiny said:

Yeah yeah the same old argument. It’s demonstrably false. How do I know? Because the world’s inflation at the same time as ours in 2021-2022 was never better than ours, mostly worse. If the stimulus package had made our inflation worse then that wouldn’t be. 
 

You should stick to bragging about your fake millions, your fake wife, your indifference to poor people, and rooting for fires. Leave the serious discussion to people who know what they’re talking about. 

This is the exact perfect example of an angry  liberal loser on the internet. 

This guy is angry, and very unintelligent. He is jealous of decent, prosperous individuals in this country. And he fights against them. How pathetic. 

I am 100% correct about this. 

[JuneJuly]

2 hours ago, Caine Mutiny said:

Yeah yeah the same old argument. It’s demonstrably false. How do I know? Because the world’s inflation at the same time as ours in 2021-2022 was never better than ours, mostly worse. If the stimulus package had made our inflation worse then that wouldn’t be. 
 

You should stick to bragging about your fake millions, your fake wife, your indifference to poor people, and rooting for fires. Leave the serious discussion to people who know what they’re talking about. 

Yeah other countries didn't spend money like drunken sailors on covid, just we did.  Awesome logic Aristotle.  

[JuneJuly]

1 hour ago, seafoam1 said:

This is the exact perfect example of an angry  liberal loser on the internet. 

This guy is angry, and very unintelligent. He is jealous of decent, prosperous individuals in this country. And he fights against them. How pathetic. 

I am 100% correct about this. 

Most guys like talking about money and beautiful women. And success.  I don't understand these miserable losers at all.  

[seafoam1]

16 minutes ago, JuneJuly said:

Most guys like talking about money and beautiful women. And success.  I don't understand these miserable losers at all.  

It doesn't take much to figure out the people who are happy in life vs. those who are miserable useless members of society. 

[TimHauck]

25 minutes ago, JuneJuly said:

Most guys like talking about money and beautiful women. And success.  I don't understand these miserable losers at all.  

Most people don’t offer up that they share their wife with their friends 

[SUXBNME]

20 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Most people don’t offer up that they share their wife with their friends 

Most people prolly have ugly wives and uglier freinds

[dogcows]

1 hour ago, TimHauck said:

Most people don’t offer up that they share their wife with their friends 

Most people who claim online to be independently wealthy are actually posting from their mom’s basement.

[seafoam1]

On 1/27/2026 at 3:23 PM, FrancieFootball said:

https://apnews.com/article/consumer-confidence-economy-spending-inflation-conference-board-f36b997dc46ac9c3577d05db52166846

Not a good sign.

Must suck being you princess rusty. 

You all are broke because you are lazy and feeble minded. 

It must suck to be a liberal. 

[seafoam1]

9 minutes ago, dogcows said:

Most people who claim online to be independently wealthy are actually posting from their mom’s basement.

Beats me. I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion.  Maybe you can share your knowledge of it.

But it's you liberals who are crying all the time.

Not me, not conservatives. So what does that tell us about you and your kind? 

I'm happy as can be. And you aren't. Because you are broke it seems. 

[TimHauck]

2 hours ago, SUXBNME said:

Most people prolly have ugly wives and uglier freinds

Including @Horseman / @JuneJuly / @rogerdodger (banned) / @jose m (banned)

[seafoam1]

6 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Including @Horseman / @JuneJuly / @rogerdodger (banned) / @jose m (banned)

I've made over 300k in my 401k over the past two years.

And you cry about about a couple random posters. 

This is AWESOME..

[TimHauck]

14 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

Including @Horseman / @JuneJuly / @rogerdodger (banned) / @jose m (banned)

Those 4 posters are all one poster that’s been permabanned twice 

[WhiteWonder]

On 5/11/2026 at 10:38 AM, JuneJuly said:

The dow is the worst index there is. It's just 30 companies. It's not indicative of much. 

Per the googles AI:

I could have picked the Nasdaq or the Russell, but by far and large a S&P 500 index is what most people use to build their portfolios, even over a total market that I'd recommend.   But you wouldn't know any of that.  You're clueless.  

It's easy to use the stock market as an indicator for a good economy.  That's all that matters to me.  Need an example?   

 

On 5/11/2026 at 11:01 AM, TimHauck said:

WW was the first to use the Dow as his comparison in this thread.  You’re calling him clueless lol.

 

 

On 5/11/2026 at 11:05 AM, JuneJuly said:

Want to know why the dow is a poor index?  Why it's not setting new records ever other day like the other indexes are?  

Because in February, when it set an all time high, several of the just 30 companies did huge stock buybacks that artificially pushed their stock prices higher. The highest month for stock repurchases on record.    

@Sean Mooney thinks everything was better in February when every normal person looks at their 401k balance and knows its waaaay better today.  These past two weeks setting new highs more than every other day.  

 

For starters, I used the Dow simply because it came up first in my quick research on how the markets fared from 2022-2024. 

Second, I would argue that the way the Dow and S&P are calculated are fundamentally different and useful in different scenarios (Dow being price weighted vs. S&P being market cap weighted, for example). The Dow is less likely to set new records everyday, which actually makes it better in terms of highlighting how bad 2022 was in the grand scheme of the last 20 years. 

The S&P, using 500 stocks and market cap and the board changing it's component stocks frequently, while the Dow (even only using 30 blue chips) rarely changing them makes it a better indicator of long term stability, imho. 

[Fnord]

On 5/11/2026 at 11:40 AM, thegeneral said:

I’d have to double check, was really little, but think it was Twin Lake. Grandparents lived in Rockwell City. 

My money was on Okoboji/ Spirit Lake. Would've been maybe a 2 hour drive from Rockwell City.

[thegeneral]

5 minutes ago, Fnord said:

My money was on Okoboji/ Spirit Lake. Would've been maybe a 2 hour drive from Rockwell City.

Pretty sure it was Twin Lakes. They had a little cabin right on it with a dock. One of my parents is from there, the big city! The other one from Moville. 

[Hawkeye21]

7 minutes ago, Fnord said:

My money was on Okoboji/ Spirit Lake. Would've been maybe a 2 hour drive from Rockwell City.

That's where I'm heading tomorrow.  I have a bass tourney there on Saturday.

[Fnord]

Just now, Hawkeye21 said:

That's where I'm heading tomorrow.  I have a bass tourney there on Saturday.

Nice! Always loved that area, but haven't been back there since the late 90s.

[Hawkeye21]

2 minutes ago, Fnord said:

Nice! Always loved that area, but haven't been back there since the late 90s.

I usually fish there about once a year.  One of the best fisheries in the Midwest.

[TBayXXXVII]

On 5/2/2026 at 12:18 PM, dogcows said:

The latest casualty of the Trump economy is Spirit Airlines, RIP.

Interesting fact: in their 34-year history, they never had a fatal crash. Officially the safest airline in the US. Even Rainman would have felt safe on a flight.

Exxon is leaving NJ (moving to Texas), because of liberal costs (Gov's Murphy & Sherrill), put on corporations.

JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and TD Bank are moving jobs out of Jersey City to go to Miami.

Interesting fact:  Increase of costs to business are more impacted by the local government than the federal government.

[Caine Mutiny]

In the article I posted earlier in the Iran thread, the writer mentioned that typically stock market crashes as a result of energy concerns happens much after the fact- during the actual crisis the market tends to be hopeful of a quick resolve. That’s how the 1973 crisis went down- only about a month after OPEC opened up the oil supply did Wall Street finally suffer a major dip followed by recession- the inflation part occurred right away during the crisis. 
 

If this lesson holds true then once the Strait of Hormuz is open (and I suspect this may be some time away or open on a limited, restricted basis) then we will see a significant correction. 

[TBayXXXVII]

39 minutes ago, Caine Mutiny said:

In the article I posted earlier in the Iran thread, the writer mentioned that typically stock market crashes as a result of energy concerns happens much after the fact- during the actual crisis the market tends to be hopeful of a quick resolve. That’s how the 1973 crisis went down- only about a month after OPEC opened up the oil supply did Wall Street finally suffer a major dip followed by recession- the inflation part occurred right away during the crisis. 
 

If this lesson holds true then once the Strait of Hormuz is open (and I suspect this may be some time away or open on a limited, restricted basis) then we will see a significant correction. 

Too bad the left have been gaslighting the "Crisis" of Climate Change in pursuit of "Green Energy" and fighting Repbulican's on nuclear energy for the last, I don't know, 40 years, huh?  Well, "Climate Change"/"Global Warming" for 40+ years, that is.  Nuclear energy is about what, 20 years in the making, that the left have been fighting against... slowly starting to come around.

[WhiteWonder]

51 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

Exxon is leaving NJ (moving to Texas), because of liberal costs (Gov's Murphy & Sherrill), put on corporations.

JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and TD Bank are moving jobs out of Jersey City to go to Miami.

Interesting fact:  Increase of costs to business are more impacted by the local government than the federal government.

Sherrill campaigned big time on freezing utility rates her "first day in office" ... sound familiar? 

What she has actually done is sign an EO requesting the Board of Public Utilities to simply consider pausing rate hikes, not actually block or freeze them. the BPU can still approve rate hikes if utilities justify them.