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"Bringing down Apple may benefit nobody, but there is no longer any reason for Americans to care about the success of American businesses since they don’t share

"Bringing down Apple may benefit nobody, but there is no longer any reason for Americans to care about the success of American businesses since they don’t share in the prosperity." Precisely. Many Fortune 100 US companies took the vast majority of their tax windfall/oversea cash and bought back the stock. Before you say most Americans own 401K's and have benefited from this - the relative increase in 401K's is dwarfed by the increase in housing prices and general inflation. Most Americans have experience single digit wage growth since the early 1980s, while the cost of pretty much everything has increased by double digits. Most Americans are worse off today (from an earnings standpoint once you normalize it for inflation and purchasing power) than they were 30 years ago.

epicureanideal 8y ago
I think we're worse off from the standpoint of financial independence and ability to grow wealth, yes. Ability to pay for things like education and health care, yes. I think the reason this isn't more obvious is that technology has improved so rapidly that for just a few thousand dollars... maybe 5% of the average household's income, we can buy really fantastic technology products compared to previous generations. So these gadgets are helping to partially compensate for the loss of so much real wealth. Even top-10% software engineers making $300k total compensation are really just achieving what I'd consider "normal slightly-upper middle class financial comfort". Ability to buy a modest home near their work, afford to have children and send them to college, etc.
- zepto 8y ago
  How exactly do these gadgets ‘compensate’ for loss of education health-care, financial independence, and ability to grow wealth?
  - epicureanideal 8y ago
    I'm just saying it helps people feel happy despite other losses.
    - zepto 8y ago
      Does it? Indicators of happiness seem to be going down not up. Is there anything to suggest that gadgets help people feel happy?

epicureanideal 8y ago

I think we're worse off from the standpoint of financial independence and ability to grow wealth, yes. Ability to pay for things like education and health care, yes. I think the reason this isn't more obvious is that technology has improved so rapidly that for just a few thousand dollars... maybe 5% of the average household's income, we can buy really fantastic technology products compared to previous generations. So these gadgets are helping to partially compensate for the loss of so much real wealth. Even top-10% software engineers making $300k total compensation are really just achieving what I'd consider "normal slightly-upper middle class financial comfort". Ability to buy a modest home near their work, afford to have children and send them to college, etc.

zepto 8y ago
How exactly do these gadgets ‘compensate’ for loss of education health-care, financial independence, and ability to grow wealth?
- epicureanideal 8y ago
  I'm just saying it helps people feel happy despite other losses.
  - zepto 8y ago
    Does it? Indicators of happiness seem to be going down not up. Is there anything to suggest that gadgets help people feel happy?