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Macro: Debt substitutes exports in the balance of trade. Funding government with debt instead of taxes has the effect of pumping assets and dumping exports. Ass

Macro: Debt substitutes exports in the balance of trade. Funding government with debt instead of taxes has the effect of pumping assets and dumping exports. Assets = rich people and the finance industry, Exports = people that make shit for a living. "We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now all we do is put our hand in the next guy's pocket." - The Wire Micro: Cantillon Wealth Pump Mandatory disclaimer: No, I'm not shilling bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn't address the root of the problem which is that if you put rich people in charge of everything they immediately start implementing self-serving policy.

tptacek 3y ago
I'm not sure what that has to do with whether the charts on this page are in nominal or constant dollars, or compare 1950s shoeboxes to 2000s McMansions, or capture the introduction of women into the workforce, or measure total compensation vs. wages, or properly indicate the actual time inequality started growing, or are premised on the idea that the absolute value of the S&P is meaningful across the whole economy. The AskEconomics thread there is a litany of issues with these charts. Ironically, this seems like a pretty good illustration of what the article author is saying.
- jjoonathan 3y ago
  The trend divergence is interesting. The normalization, choice of inflator, and precise localization of inflection point are less so. > women into workforce Great, when can we start working 1/2 time? 3 day workweeks allow 2-working-spouse families to raise their own kids, you know. Might help with those pesky fertility rates. > total compensation vs. wages Yeah, if you count medical inflation as additional compensation then only 80% of Americans are worse off instead of 90%. Simplicity is a blunt instrument, but devils dance in the details and simplicity can bop them. Contrast to "just think harder," which grants victory to whoever can afford to spend more time thinking on it.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    This is a site that supports a goldbug argument that virtually everything that has gone with every economy in the world traces back to the end of the gold exchangeability standard. Thats a simple narrative that is almost certainly not true. Whether it is or isn't, for many of the reasons in that thread (and probably many others), this particular site is not a good argument for that narrative, since many of the charts are simply broken.
andrewjl 3y ago
Who would buy these net additional exports and where would they get the funds to pay for them?

tptacek 3y ago

I'm not sure what that has to do with whether the charts on this page are in nominal or constant dollars, or compare 1950s shoeboxes to 2000s McMansions, or capture the introduction of women into the workforce, or measure total compensation vs. wages, or properly indicate the actual time inequality started growing, or are premised on the idea that the absolute value of the S&P is meaningful across the whole economy. The AskEconomics thread there is a litany of issues with these charts. Ironically, this seems like a pretty good illustration of what the article author is saying.

jjoonathan 3y ago
The trend divergence is interesting. The normalization, choice of inflator, and precise localization of inflection point are less so. > women into workforce Great, when can we start working 1/2 time? 3 day workweeks allow 2-working-spouse families to raise their own kids, you know. Might help with those pesky fertility rates. > total compensation vs. wages Yeah, if you count medical inflation as additional compensation then only 80% of Americans are worse off instead of 90%. Simplicity is a blunt instrument, but devils dance in the details and simplicity can bop them. Contrast to "just think harder," which grants victory to whoever can afford to spend more time thinking on it.
- tptacek 3y ago
  This is a site that supports a goldbug argument that virtually everything that has gone with every economy in the world traces back to the end of the gold exchangeability standard. Thats a simple narrative that is almost certainly not true. Whether it is or isn't, for many of the reasons in that thread (and probably many others), this particular site is not a good argument for that narrative, since many of the charts are simply broken.

andrewjl 3y ago

Who would buy these net additional exports and where would they get the funds to pay for them?