3 ms·

People aren't denying progress, they're denying the idea that inflation should treat that progress as a decrease in prices.

whimsicalism 5y ago
> most Americans are significantly worse off since the 1970s This statement seems obviously false to me and is what I was disagreeing with. This entire conversation was spawned because many people felt the need to defend this statement.
- nobody9999 5y ago
  >This statement seems obviously false to me and is what I was disagreeing with. This entire conversation was spawned because many people felt the need to defend this statement. I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't disagree with your point at all. Materially we've got more stuff, sure. The issue I pointed up (and perhaps that others were alluding) is that social mobility has been negatively affected over the past 50 years. And the prospect that one won't be able to "succeed" (whatever definition of success you want to use) because the deck has been systematically stacked against you in favor of those who are already wealthy is definitely a factor in why folks feel they're not as well off as they'd like to be. What's more, it's been getting harder for the poorest Americans to make ends meet for quite some time. And that situation has been making its way up the economic ladder too. That result is no accident either. As such, it's no wonder many folks wonder why they can't get ahead even if they do what they're told is necessary to make that happen. That's a cultural and economic problem that has been growing for a long time. And one that cheap gadgets and technology can't fix. What could help is sharing the economic benefits of the increased productivity enabled by technology. But we're not doing that, are we?
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    > social mobility has been negatively affected over the past 50 years. I'm really not at all confident this is even true, unless you are restricting your sample to white people & men. Seems like social mobility for women, who comprise half the population, is markedly better than it was 50 years ago. I don't think it is true that it has been getting "harder" for people to make ends meet for quite some time. Again, in the time period we're comparing to, people were quite literally starving to death/dying from malnutrition at times. Nowadays, people have their ends met well enough that this does not happen in America. This is in spite of rampant inequality, but still - measurable improvements on pretty much all measures. Really, many of the bigger causes of early death now are due to self-destructive things people can do with more material abundance.

whimsicalism 5y ago

> most Americans are significantly worse off since the 1970s This statement seems obviously false to me and is what I was disagreeing with. This entire conversation was spawned because many people felt the need to defend this statement.

nobody9999 5y ago
>This statement seems obviously false to me and is what I was disagreeing with. This entire conversation was spawned because many people felt the need to defend this statement. I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't disagree with your point at all. Materially we've got more stuff, sure. The issue I pointed up (and perhaps that others were alluding) is that social mobility has been negatively affected over the past 50 years. And the prospect that one won't be able to "succeed" (whatever definition of success you want to use) because the deck has been systematically stacked against you in favor of those who are already wealthy is definitely a factor in why folks feel they're not as well off as they'd like to be. What's more, it's been getting harder for the poorest Americans to make ends meet for quite some time. And that situation has been making its way up the economic ladder too. That result is no accident either. As such, it's no wonder many folks wonder why they can't get ahead even if they do what they're told is necessary to make that happen. That's a cultural and economic problem that has been growing for a long time. And one that cheap gadgets and technology can't fix. What could help is sharing the economic benefits of the increased productivity enabled by technology. But we're not doing that, are we?
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  > social mobility has been negatively affected over the past 50 years. I'm really not at all confident this is even true, unless you are restricting your sample to white people & men. Seems like social mobility for women, who comprise half the population, is markedly better than it was 50 years ago. I don't think it is true that it has been getting "harder" for people to make ends meet for quite some time. Again, in the time period we're comparing to, people were quite literally starving to death/dying from malnutrition at times. Nowadays, people have their ends met well enough that this does not happen in America. This is in spite of rampant inequality, but still - measurable improvements on pretty much all measures. Really, many of the bigger causes of early death now are due to self-destructive things people can do with more material abundance.