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all quintiles have improved in real terms. Please, help me understand. What are the real terms?

• InclinedPlane 16y ago
  The real terms are quality of living, effective purchasing power, etc. This graph encourages a fixed-pie-size mode of thought, in reality the pie is growing larger exponentially, that changes the nature of the discussion substantially.
  • jbooth 16y ago
    I'd recommend informing the residents of, say, Flint MI or Nowhere PA that they're actually doing great in the average case. They may not know this.
  • sabat 16y ago
    The real terms are quality of living We have more people either out of work or closer to poverty than ever in the history of the US. Vote me down if you don't appreciate me pointing out reality. The point of the chart is that the pie may have gotten bigger but the top percentile has swallowed up that growth. Yes, everyone has a TV now. But that doesn't make up for the fact that the average person these days has to constantly worry about losing everything he has.
    • nandemo 16y ago
      I pine for the days of the Great Depression. Our grandparents were dirt poor but at least they collectively had a bigger pie of the GDP. Those were the good times.