Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

IMHO it's inflation. (And interest rates, but that's also sorta another way of saying inflation.)

Most other metrics, the economy is humming pretty well. GDP, unemployment, wages, etc.

But inflation is something that people see. Every single day. Everywhere around them. And even if they're doing better (i.e. got a raise / new job / etc) it seems like anything good that happens to them personally is just trying to keep pace with inflation, so it has the personal feeling of a pretty hollow victory.

And then you see news stories talking about how inflation is coming down, but what you don't see is news stories about how prices have returned to ~2021 levels. No, they're 20%(ish?) higher now for a bunch of things, and now we're supposed to accept that as the new normal and be excited that they're not continuing to go up at the rate they were.

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As an aside, a great book I recently read was Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely. While not based on inflation, a lot of what he discusses in there are related to inflation. Psychologically, we "anchor" prices based on some level we think they should be. It is REALLY hard to reset those anchors. Which is why everyone is so up in arms with inflation. It's not that 2021 prices were "right" or "cheap", it's that we anchored based on them and now they're higher so we're all a little pissed off about why everything is now so expensive.

Yup all of this.

Yup all of this.

All of this- plus deficit spending.   

Deficit spending doesn't seem to matter much, until it does, and then it's way too late.  For a long time, the dollar has been THE currency to have globally.  

As much as one-half of the value of U.S. currency is estimated to be circulating abroad. The data tables below list the value and volume of U.S. currency in circulation calculated in billions. As of December 31, 2020, there was $2,040.7 billion in circulation, totaling 50.3 billion notes in volume.

they just print more $$$

This of course is not entirely precise in how things are done these days.  But the real system is a bit scarier and more complex.

The Federal Reserve Board has awesome power and authority, and they don't print money themselves.  They do process a ton of it.

The protesters in the encampment at the U of M packed up and left on their own after a negotiated settlement. A vastly superior outcome than riot cops busting in with tear gas and concussion grenades.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/05/02/university-of-minnesota-protests-divestment-agreement

Naturally, some were furious that negotiations took place at all.

Doesn't matter to me if protesters are university students or not.

Now, if they're paid agitators, that's different

How would you know if they're paid agitators or not?  You asking for W2s or something?