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> Stock of accumulated capital is growing healthily How are you defining "accumulated capital"? Because in wealth and income terms, inequality has only been gr
by jmyeet 2y ago
> Stock of accumulated capital is growing healthily
How are you defining "accumulated capital"? Because in wealth and income terms, inequality has only been growing [1]. Specifically, does accumulated capital include paper gains in housing values of your primary residence? If so, that's misleading.
Housing is a basic need. If you buy a house for $200k and it has gone up in value to $500k, you might say you've accumulated $300k in unrealized capital gains. Thing is, what would you do if you sold it? You'd still have to buy a house somewhere. And if every other house also costs $500k, what have you really gained? You might be paying higher property taxes, higher insurance costs and possibly higher mortgage costs.
> Consumption of almost everything is growing in real terms too in almost all countries.
I addressed this. People aren't saving for their future.
> GDP keeps growing just about everywhere
And who benefits from that? Let's say your wages have gone up 25% in real terms, where is that money going? If it's just more rent to your landlord, then you'e gained nothing and someone else is simply exploiting more of the value you've created.
> Even inequality is falling for the first time in decades
No, it's not. See the link.
> We are probably living through best times in our lifetime
By pretty much any objective measure, we peaked in about 1972. Since then real wages have largely stagnated and the quality of life has gone down.
[1]: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-...
- anovikov 2y agoThat's the thing. Inequality quickly dropped in the last 4 years. Over 40% of inequality growth accumulated since 1979 has been cancelled out in just 4 years. And, sure enough, by every possible metric, in 50 years, quality of life has improved everywhere, for every income bracket. It's utter lunacy to suggest otherwise. With the U.S. real GDP per capita growing 2.5x since, there is simply no way for any place or any social group to feel worse, by any possible metric, even if cherrypicking. And, it's not worse than world average. Even since 1991 when situation has probably been strategically the best for America, it did not fall behind the world economically (China made a quantum leap, but Latin America and ex-Soviet sphere, has fallen way behind) As for housing, well, housing never grew in price above average inflation and it does not grow that way now, either. Inflation-adjusted square foot price in US and almost all Western countries have remained stagnant for ~50 years. In UK, yes, it is different. Australia too. If people are unhappy with economic situation today, nothing will ever be enough for them.
- BriggyDwiggs42 2y agoQuality of life has not dramatically changed in already first-world countries over the last fifty years. We already had plucked a lot of the low hanging fruit for human comfort by 1974, so developing countries are seeing bigger changes because those things are being introduced. > If people are unhappy with economic situation today, nothing will ever be enough for them. Utter nonsense man. Things are not going well economically for normal people on the street, and wages have been stagnant for decades.