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In the past 10 years or so, I have purchased 4 flat screen TVs. I am just now experiencing issues with one of them, and it is on probably 6 hours a day.
I've bought zero TVs in the last 30 years. I must be missing out on this improvement in living standard.
We have more advanced and cheaper electronics, but that is a minor part of CPI because it has always been a minor part of total expenses. Rent, utilities, transportation, education, medical, food, clothing, are the big ones. That's why median real wages have gone nowhere in the last 40 years.
If "competing globally" is so terrible for our living standard, why on earth do we do it?
It's really just an excuse for the mega rich to suck up a larger % of the pie.
The mega rich may or may not be a problem. They are not really the problem when it comes to living standards. Although they are a convenient bogeyman since they are hated by both the right and the left.
Living standards (in the USA) are mostly affected by the middle middle class competing with the upper middle class and newly sorta-rich. Lloyd Blankenfien personally is not driving up the cost of SF real estate. Fifty thousand recently minted Facebook/Google/Twitter 1-millionaires and 8-hundred-thousandaires are.
Likewise, the Sultan of Brunei has not driven up tuition costs. The cost in education has gone up so that baby boomer university administrators can pay themselves 200-400K salaries.
Because the more complex the job, the more a person needs to solve unique and/or novel problems or encounters unique situations, which involves quickly analyzing and incorporating previous experiences to solve a problem or "make sense" of things.
What do you imagine it's like for someone with an IQ of 180 trying to explain complex concepts to people with an IQ of 100?
What do you imagine it's like for someone with an IQ of 180 trying to explain complex concepts to people with an IQ of 100?
I worked for a boss who had an IQ of 180 or thereabouts. He was actually very good at explaining concepts to others. He knew how to learn and he learned how to teach.
He did have major issues with interpersonal relationships both at work and in his personal life. He had lots of insecurities in dealing with others and tried to cope by using his intellect.
After I worked for him, he went back to school. He already had an M.D. and a Ph.D. It took him almost no time to get his law degree. Then he died of a brain tumor. I have always wondered if there was a connection between the very high IQ and the ultimate brain tumor.
Living standards (in the USA) are mostly affected by the middle middle class competing with the upper middle class and newly sorta-rich.
Not so. Productivity and per capita GDP have risen ~80% since 1980, while median wages have risen <10%. You need to go to the top 1% before you see a demographic that has matched aggregate productivity growth. It is the mega rich who are taking the bulk of our gains:
Not so. Productivity and per capita GDP have risen ~80% since 1980, while median wages have risen <10%. You need to go to the top 1% before you see a demographic that has matched aggregate productivity growth. It is the mega rich who are taking the bulk of our gains:
I don't disagree with that but the mega rich aren't driving up tuition costs nor are they really driving up housing costs, the two things that are hitting millennials the hardest.
I worked for a boss who had an IQ of 180 or thereabouts. He was actually very good at explaining concepts to others. He knew how to learn and he learned how to teach.
How do you know what his IQ was? And what if he was not in a position of authority, but someone you were simply debating concepts with?
I think most with a high IQ are not good at explaining concepts to people with a low IQ because they can't relate to their lack of ability. What seems obvious to them isn't obvious to anyone else.
How do you know what his IQ was? And what if he was not in a position of authority, but someone you were simply debating concepts with?
He did not brag about it, but I heard rumors that he had tested at over 180. There were no doubts. He was a master at chess. He had highly developed analytical reasoning skills which is one reason he was hired. As you might expect for someone with an MD, PhD and later a JD, he had a very remarkable memory. He was a prolific writer and in keeping with his teaching abilities he wrote the major textbook in his area of specialization.
I don't think he had any special mathematical abilities. He did well at public speaking. Few realized that his talks were highly rehearsed. I saw him all but panic when there was a problem with a projector and he had to speak off the cuff for a couple of minutes.
There was no debating of concepts. He was hired to codirect a start up business of about 600 employees.
It is really interesting to be around someone with an extremely high IQ. You cannot possibly keep up or even imagine what is going on in their head.
I've bought zero TVs in the last 30 years. I must be missing out on this improvement in living standard.
We have more advanced and cheaper electronics, but that is a minor part of CPI because it has always been a minor part of total expenses. Rent, utilities, transportation, education, medical, food, clothing, are the big ones. That's why median real wages have gone nowhere in the last 40 years.
Well then, you are missing the major benefit of the 21st century economy!
That pretty much is the benefit - pocket computing and LCDs/LEDs that can produce pictures on screens from pocket to wall-sized the likes of which we could never have imagined just 20 years ago. I watched Star Trek IV (1986) the other day and got a good hearty laugh out of all the CRT TV screens that people would use in the "future" lol.
We are TV-rich nowadays. We're like Scrooge McDuck with TVs, even poor people. Given the capability of LED TVs, they are dirt cheap compared to even 10-12 years ago. The last CRT tv I bought was in 2003, one of the "flat" fronted ones - supposedly Best Buy's highest quality CRT TV at the time. I think I paid $400 for it, a 20 or 25 inch unit, can't recall exactly. LCDs & plasmas were around then but ran well into the 4 figures. Now I can literally buy twice the screen size at 1/5th of the weight with exponentially better picture quality for half the price.
All of them produced by Asian worker-slaves where nets are put outside their factory windows to catch them when they finally decide to end it all in despair. Or robots - like in LG's massive Georgia plant which employs something like 6 people to take care of the robots. Or Mexican workers who got their hands cut off & get paid $14,000 for their trouble. http://business-humanrights.org/en/w...mpany-responds I guess $14K is better than nothing but geez.
Yesiree, we have a great economy going on.
Last edited by redguard57; 05-03-2016 at 11:48 AM..
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