Trump is GOP Nominee

Do what I do when it comes to economics:

Raise you hands over your head, wiggle your fingers and go "ABRACADABRA!"

It all looks like that to me, anyway.

 

We had an imaginary PFM button that we'd tell people to push in the Navy, when they just couldn't get how something worked, or why.

PFM = Pure ****ing Magic

I should have kept one for myself, it seems.

 

Y axis reads "single women." So that makes sense, as well.

 

One is running for president (Who thrives on media attention) and the other is an obscure representative from Georgia. Have no fear, were Hillary to make a statement about Israelis as "termites", a shit storm would follow. Knocking Israel is only slightly less horrible politically than admitting you don't attend church every Sunday.

 

There's a reason I try and avoid the economics discussions. I know my limits.

 

I like this, am going to steal it, and will use it as if it were my own.

I've given the world "pissmonkey." I'm taking this in return.

 

the truth isn't always easy to swallow.

how do we raise their value?

 

good catch, but we know that educated women are far less likely to have a ton of children than women without college degrees.

 

You're welcome, Fair Winds and Following Seas!

Or, to appease BPV, the Army equivalent: "Toodles!"

 

As earlier, perhaps in another thread, I laughed way too hard at this.

 

Also prices those on the fringe out of the labor pool too.

 

As usual we went off on a tangent there, which I admittedly played a part in. Here's what I wanted to convey and perhaps did a poor job:

A-Smith said we're richer than we once were and supported that conclusion with a chart showing real GDP per capita growth over a long period of time. The problem with that conclusion is that there hasn't been any real correlation between median income growth and GDP per capita growth for 40+ years now. I get BPV's argument about the quintiles and perhaps I didn't choose the best way to make the point. And as BPV pointed out, yes, our labor force became less competitive and the factors that allowed for wages to increase with productivity post WW2 through 1973 were a one-off anomaly.

My point is that your average American is struggling economically. We are not richer. Sure, we live longer and technology has made life easier but that's another conversation. That first graph Droski posted showed median income growth over time and if I remember correctly it's like 15 or 20% over the past 40 years. Problem is, a lot of things outpaced that growth. College tuition is up 3.5x and if I remember correctly, healthcare is up 1.5-2x. Household debt has skyrocketed and personal savings have fallen off a cliff.

Now don't read this and give me the "sounds like Bernie" crap. I'm not advocating minimum wage hikes or the rebirth of strong unions or some leftist policy intervention. I'm not saying the fact that essentially all the rewards of productivity gains having gone to the top 20% is the result of the ruling class rigging the game.

 

We are richer and it isn't close. Incomes don't speak to assets and don't be confused by political rhetoric.

Two car or more families are the standard now. Home ownership is up. Everyone has cable and Internet and so on.

 

Of course the average American is richer.

How is the ruling class rigging the game. Specific examples please

 

I'm not confused by rhetoric. And get out of here with two cars as some sort of useful measure.

 

I assume you're kidding. I'm talking about wealth and you're throwing out worthless graphs to tell us we're not wealthier. We are clearly wealthier. Social security isn't the fallback it was because people save now. Mutual funds have jillions because we now have average joes as investors in the larger market. Home ownership is way up since the start date of that graph. Look at what people had as assets 40 years ago compared to today.

 

Look at the debt.

 

Having a lot of stuff is a good example of having more money to spend

 

Credit is a huge, huge factor. And then the debt cycle takes hold.

 

I should have said having a lot of stuff that you own in the free and clear