Posted on 11/25/2011 9:27:02 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Forget what you read on the signs at the local Occupy Whatever City rally. The so-called 99 percent have never had it so good.
Living standards for poor and middle-class Americans have improved steadily since 1980. Much of this improvement can be credited to the economic growth and tax reforms that provide incentives to invest and work. In a study for the American Enterprise Institute last month, Bruce Meyer of the University of Chicago and James X. Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame examined survey-level data to determine changes in what they call the material well-being of the poor and middle class - that is, the Americans in the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution and those in the middle 20 percent.
Much of the literature looks at the income these groups receive - before tax and transfers - to conclude incorrectly that they are worse off today. Mr. Meyer and Mr. Sullivan argue, quite correctly, that pre-tax income doesnt tell the whole story. For example, a retired couple with substantial assets could have almost no income. Even though they enjoy a very comfortable living, they would be tossed in the poor category because they lack income. Thats why Mr. Meyer and Mr. Sullivan concluded that consumption levels are a better measure of how well people are doing.
By this yardstick, even the bottom 10 percent of the population can boast a 54 percent improvement in material well-being between 1980 and 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I’m glad I’m better off than 3 years ago; it must have been my imagination.
When they try to convince us we’re not being reduced to serfs, one can only conclude they’re doing that because we’re being reduced to serfs.
What this article is saying is this -— In spite of the fact that we have a great number of people behind on their mortgages, in foreclosure and unemployed, all of these people should be thankful that they have these problems in the America of today.
They are still VERY COMFORTABLE compared to Americans who lived in past generations ( and relative to most people in the world for that matter).
In a free society, with a rational culture, and a just government, the economic progress produced by capitalism, and not socialism, is the best cure for poverty.
What this article is saying is this - In spite of the fact that we have a great number of people behind on their mortgages, in foreclosure and unemployed, all of these people should be thankful that they have these problems in the America of today.Im glad Im better off than 3 years ago; it must have been my imagination.The statistics being referenced deal with the long term progress over a generation rather than the effects of the depredations of the current administration.When they try to convince us were not being reduced to serfs, one can only conclude theyre doing that because were being reduced to serfs.
They are still VERY COMFORTABLE compared to Americans who lived in past generations ( and relative to most people in the world for that matter).
. . . and even that underestimates the progress being discussed. Because, as Thomas Sowell points out, people tend to start out making low salaries and progress to higher salaries with maturity and experience - so the person who started out in the bottom quintile back in 1980 is almost certain to be in a higher quintile today. At any given time the bottom quintile is loaded with young people (and, perhaps, recent immigrants) just starting out. Two decades after an individual was in the bottom quintile, he's statistically more likely to be in the top quintile than he is to still be in the bottom one.So, statistically and in the long run, people have been doing better and better. It's just the short run since the Fannie/Freddie collapse that has been a problem. And will I fear continue to be such for the duration of the current administration, and at least somewhat beyond.
Thanks; you omitted the public school teachers from those who’ve seen a large imrpovement in standard of living.
Here in NJ they are our upper middle class.
Technology will migrate. America stole Britain's textile making secrets, and one way or another that sort of thing will always happen if the incentive is powerful enough. The issue is whether the country with the technology stagnates or whether it develops additional technology and so keep its lead.America's biggest "technology" is actually its Constitution and equality before the law, and it is an open secret. Others have different traditions, and the result has been an inability to assure "the progress of science and the useful arts" as well as America has.
That difference between the US and Mexico in particular is why Texas, California, and much of the rest of the US which used to be part of Mexico became part of the US in the first place. Mexico was dysfunctional 200 years ago, and isn't so much better now.As to the export of capital, that is what produces a positive balance of payments surplus - people who worry about the "balance of payments deficit" are actually demanding the export of capital.
I doubt that the 19% of workers and their families who are permanently unemployed or underemployed are better off than they were 3 or 10 years ago.
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