5 ms·

Who, do you think, wants this to be true. I am so curious about the information logistics between media and governments and social control.

unreal37 6y ago
Clearly we're living in a difficult time, and the media is looking out for stories that "humanize" the difficulty. Inequality is a one of the challenges of our time. But the problem is, the actual data is a bit mixed. One study says, "bankruptcies are down 27% in the past 12 months"[1]. Another report said that savings was at a modern "all time high".[2] I remember reading stories about how personal debt had fallen the most in 2020, "a record" amount.[3] Today I read that more money has been put into the stock market in the last 5 months as has in the last 12 years.[4] Governments (in Canada) have been sending billions of dollars in direct payments to people who's income has been affected by the pandemic. The cost of direct pandemic support payments per capita in Canada works out to $10,000+. Others have said that this article was written/sponsored by a bankruptcy firm. This same firm has published this same figure ("50% within $200 of bankruptcy") for years and years. And so in 2021, this makes a good story. And people think it feels true. There is inequality. We see it. We feel it. But you can't measure it the way this study did (asking people) and I question the source of the data. [1] https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/covid-was-supposed-to-increase-bankruptcies-instead-theyve-gone-down https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/covid-was-supposed-to-increase-ba... [2] https://time.com/nextadvisor/banking/savings/us-saving-rate-soaring/ https://time.com/nextadvisor/banking/savings/us-saving-rate-... [3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/americans-paid-off-a-record-83-billion-in-credit-card-debt-in-2020.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/americans-paid-off-a-record-... [4] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/investors-have-put-more-money-into-stocks-in-the-last-5-months-than-the-previous-12-years-combined.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/investors-have-put-more-mone...

unreal37 6y ago

Clearly we're living in a difficult time, and the media is looking out for stories that "humanize" the difficulty. Inequality is a one of the challenges of our time. But the problem is, the actual data is a bit mixed. One study says, "bankruptcies are down 27% in the past 12 months"[1]. Another report said that savings was at a modern "all time high".[2] I remember reading stories about how personal debt had fallen the most in 2020, "a record" amount.[3] Today I read that more money has been put into the stock market in the last 5 months as has in the last 12 years.[4] Governments (in Canada) have been sending billions of dollars in direct payments to people who's income has been affected by the pandemic. The cost of direct pandemic support payments per capita in Canada works out to $10,000+. Others have said that this article was written/sponsored by a bankruptcy firm. This same firm has published this same figure ("50% within $200 of bankruptcy") for years and years. And so in 2021, this makes a good story. And people think it feels true. There is inequality. We see it. We feel it. But you can't measure it the way this study did (asking people) and I question the source of the data. [1] https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/covid-was-supposed-to-increase-bankruptcies-instead-theyve-gone-down https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/covid-was-supposed-to-increase-ba... [2] https://time.com/nextadvisor/banking/savings/us-saving-rate-soaring/ https://time.com/nextadvisor/banking/savings/us-saving-rate-... [3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/americans-paid-off-a-record-83-billion-in-credit-card-debt-in-2020.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/americans-paid-off-a-record-... [4] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/investors-have-put-more-money-into-stocks-in-the-last-5-months-than-the-previous-12-years-combined.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/investors-have-put-more-mone...