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What did your response have to do with your quote? We can have the most growth ever as a civilization and still have the common person lose out. The Industria
by lovich 8mo ago
What did your response have to do with your quote?
We can have the most growth ever as a civilization and still have the common person lose out.
The Industrial Revolution also famously had a lot of people pushed into impoverished situations while robber barons or the highland clearing lords won out, despite the GDP of those respective countries increasing.
- s1artibartfast 8mo agoThe connection is that GDP/Recession has never been about mainstreet or average joe. Recession is usually bad for Joe and mainstreat, but the opposite is not implied. It is ignorant to think it is or was defined by the average experience.
- conductr 8mo agoI feel it’s also ignorant to think it shouldn’t be defined by that experience. Our metrics have been misleading or we just need better ones and/or possibly a new word for how average joe talks about “recession”. A purely academic definition that has no basis in reality seems pointless to me.
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> it’s also ignorant to think it shouldn’t be defined by that experience If defined rigorously, sure. But the literature is replete with measureas of downturns. What more commonly comes up in online discussions is some dude with a vibe, which isn't particularly useful for talking about anything larger in scale than that one dude.
- s1artibartfast 8mo agopurely academic definistions have a tremendous number of purposes. Just as it would be silly to define a countries military equipment production capacity by public sentiment, the same is true for purely financial GDP. There are tons of metrics that can used to articulate how the economy feels for average joe. We have low consumer sentiment, lagging median income, GINI, opinion surveys, ect. Using the word "recession" adds gravitas by claiming something that isnt true.
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> What did your response have to do with your quote? The notion that growth can be unequal is not something that has changed. The anomaly was the post-WWII eventide regime. That doesn't mean there is anything natural about unequal growth. But if we want to return to that previous mode, we have to first understand what it was. And what it was was anomalous.
- lovich 8mo agoSo what was your point? Someone called out that the common joe was doing worse off, you responded that gdp is higher than ever. Are you making the claim that this is an acceptable state? Or are you making another claim?
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> What specifically has changed? >> Realizing that GDP growth can be achieved while average joe on Main Street is struggling Me: that’s not new. That didn’t change. > that this is an acceptable state? If we’re in a Cat 3 hurricane and someone complains about it being Cat 5, pointing out that’s wrong isn’t pro-hurricane.
- lovich 8mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303072 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303072 can you please look at this comment that you replied to at the beginning of this thread, and understand why I might be irate at your response. I had multiple paragraphs typed out that I have deleted so I could have a real conversation. Why do you think I responded to you the way I did?
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> Why do you think I responded to you the way I did? How is the rhethorical-question style working out? I'm pointing out an ahistorical claim in the top post. You want to broaden the discussion without acknowledging that, and without actually saying anything, which isn't particularly interesting to engage on.