4 ms·

Improving standard of living by what metrics? Because home ownership, savings, social mobility, and medical outcomes are all in the toilet.

lapcat 3y ago
Also: "The United States ranks 1st in the world for incarcerated population and 5th for incarceration rate. The nation in 2nd place for population holds the 129th position for rate, imprisoning 1/5th as many people per capita. Which is this freedom-loving nation with, both absolutely and relatively, fewer prisoners than the US? China. The “land of the free” is more likely to imprison you than a regime so brutal that it has concentration camps." https://obviatethestate.substack.com/p/the-us-over-reliance-on-incarceration https://obviatethestate.substack.com/p/the-us-over-reliance-...
- wil421 3y ago
  You or I could go buy an organ, sorry I meant find an organ donor match in China very quickly compared to the US/EU. How do you thinks it’s possible?
  - randerson 3y ago
    Not to take away from your point - but in France, Spain and Austria (and maybe others), everyone is an organ donor by default unless they opt out. So the EU may be an easier place to find an organ than the US (and not due to any nefarious reasons).
  - zardo 3y ago
    The organ trade is barely regulated in the US, as long as you say it's for science and not medical use.
- forgetfreeman 3y ago
  Nice. Next someone should mention how asset forfeiture allows local and state police to cart off more wealth annually than the actual thieves they're intended to police.
timmg 3y ago
> Improving standard of living by what metrics? Because home ownership, savings, social mobility, and medical outcomes are all in the toilet. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA I suspect that we won't be able to agree on anything, but that chart says something very important -- however you might want to interpret it.
- forgetfreeman 3y ago
  It certainly does. That graph charted along side wages over time vividly demonstrates the reasons why home ownership, savings, and social mobility are in the toilet. Medical outcomes too maybe, but there's too much hoop jumping involved for me to want to plant a flag on that hill.
  - timmg 3y ago
    Feel free to produce something other than empty rhetoric. At least I gave some data.
    - forgetfreeman 3y ago
      K. https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ You'll note that all that GDP growth seems to be going somewhere other than to folks who work for a living. And for desert: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-09-11/a-global-anomaly-the-us-declines-in-annual-quality-of-life-report https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-09-...

lapcat 3y ago

Also: "The United States ranks 1st in the world for incarcerated population and 5th for incarceration rate. The nation in 2nd place for population holds the 129th position for rate, imprisoning 1/5th as many people per capita. Which is this freedom-loving nation with, both absolutely and relatively, fewer prisoners than the US? China. The “land of the free” is more likely to imprison you than a regime so brutal that it has concentration camps." https://obviatethestate.substack.com/p/the-us-over-reliance-on-incarceration https://obviatethestate.substack.com/p/the-us-over-reliance-...

wil421 3y ago
You or I could go buy an organ, sorry I meant find an organ donor match in China very quickly compared to the US/EU. How do you thinks it’s possible?
- randerson 3y ago
  Not to take away from your point - but in France, Spain and Austria (and maybe others), everyone is an organ donor by default unless they opt out. So the EU may be an easier place to find an organ than the US (and not due to any nefarious reasons).
- zardo 3y ago
  The organ trade is barely regulated in the US, as long as you say it's for science and not medical use.
forgetfreeman 3y ago
Nice. Next someone should mention how asset forfeiture allows local and state police to cart off more wealth annually than the actual thieves they're intended to police.

timmg 3y ago

> Improving standard of living by what metrics? Because home ownership, savings, social mobility, and medical outcomes are all in the toilet. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA I suspect that we won't be able to agree on anything, but that chart says something very important -- however you might want to interpret it.

forgetfreeman 3y ago
It certainly does. That graph charted along side wages over time vividly demonstrates the reasons why home ownership, savings, and social mobility are in the toilet. Medical outcomes too maybe, but there's too much hoop jumping involved for me to want to plant a flag on that hill.
- timmg 3y ago
  Feel free to produce something other than empty rhetoric. At least I gave some data.
  - forgetfreeman 3y ago
    K. https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ You'll note that all that GDP growth seems to be going somewhere other than to folks who work for a living. And for desert: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-09-11/a-global-anomaly-the-us-declines-in-annual-quality-of-life-report https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2020-09-...