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I wonder what you chicken littles would sound like if you actually lived in a poor or failing country and not in a global superpower with the most powerful economic system in world history, currently holding 20% of world gdp with less than 4% of world population. Could it actually be even more insufferable?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107
You got that right.. I can’t rep you anymore though it says
That "global superpower, powerful economic system with the huge GDP" is not like something most Americans can just tap into whenever they want. If we live better is mostly because we live closest to those that have all the wealth. We basically are the live-in servants so we get more crumbs than those living outside the palace.
Last edited by NJ Brazen_3133; 08-09-2020 at 07:07 PM..
It's pretty obvious that the US standard of living has been in steady decline for years, both in absolute terms and in comparison to other developed economies. Stocks are indeed flying high, but that is not related to the economy and does nothing for the general citizenry. Productivity of the American worker has tripled in the last 40 years, while wages have remained flat. Any apparent growth in the US economy is an artifact of creative bookkeeping, not actual improvement.
It's pretty obvious that the US standard of living has been in steady decline for years, both in absolute terms and in comparison to other developed economies. Stocks are indeed flying high, but that is not related to the economy and does nothing for the general citizenry. Productivity of the American worker has tripled in the last 40 years, while wages have remained flat. Any apparent growth in the US economy is an artifact of creative bookkeeping, not actual improvement.
It's not obvious at all. How has US standards of living been in steady decline? By what measure?
It's pretty obvious that the US standard of living has been in steady decline for years, both in absolute terms and in comparison to other developed economies. Stocks are indeed flying high, but that is not related to the economy and does nothing for the general citizenry. Productivity of the American worker has tripled in the last 40 years, while wages have remained flat. Any apparent growth in the US economy is an artifact of creative bookkeeping, not actual improvement.
I would argue that wages have actually crashed, not remained flat.
I've said this before on this forum, but I will repeat it. To obtain the exact same standard of living that I grew up with when I was a kid, you would need to earn approximately twice the inflation adjusted wage. But even that doesn't tell the whole story. Because back then, there were 3 huge companies within 15 minutes of where I lived that were always hiring at middle class wages. And they would take anyone that wanted a job- with or without a college degree. And they had pensions. And they gave raises like clockwork, so someone that started young was not only guaranteed a middle class living to start, they were guaranteed to be doing very well within 20-25 years- what would today certainly be considered rich or close to it. Now here is the best part- few people in my town wanted to work at these companies, because there were better opportunities out there!
Consider: someone in today's world would need to go into significant debt to obtain the same wage. And even then they would need to compete in order to get that wage. And even if they got it, they would be starting at least 4 years later than my parents generation PLUS they would need to jump from company to company to come anywhere near the wage inflation that my parents generation enjoyed.
Now the worst part- someone in today's world needs to do all that, and STILL has to contend with runaway inflation on big ticket items like health insurance and college education.
The standard of living is not all dollar based. You have to consider advances that come along and change and iimprove on the very nature of our lives. Like the PC, cellphone and Internet. Huge advances in our lives without great cost.
The standard of living is not all dollar based. You have to consider advances that come along and change and iimprove on the very nature of our lives. Like the PC, cellphone and Internet. Huge advances in our lives without great cost.
That's quite a blanket you have there. How many people do you think have internet?
The standard of living is not all dollar based. You have to consider advances that come along and change and iimprove on the very nature of our lives. Like the PC, cellphone and Internet. Huge advances in our lives without great cost.
Actually in economics it’s all “dollar based”. The advancements you describe are included as hedonic adjustments to the numbers for inflation, productivity, etc. that are used to generate the indices we compare.
Because of? Or maybe it’s the reserve currency because of xyz.
The United States was the largest economy in the world for half a century before it even became the worlds reserve currency.
a) True
2) So what?
C] The US had a higher standard of living than the rest of the world since the 1880s: long before we went off the gold standard and started manipulating money supply. ..Electric lights, central heating, automobiles, indoor plumbing etc etc etc were all available here for the mid class for decades before even the wealthy in Europe had them.
We still makes jokes about the lack of central heating in much of the UK. Europeans use bikes & pub trans extensively because they can't afford gasoline...I dated an Italian immigrant who grew up in the 50s-- washing clothes by beating them on rocks at the riverside.
C] The US had a higher standard of living than the rest of the world since the 1880s: long before we went off the gold standard and started manipulating money supply. ..Electric lights, central heating, automobiles, indoor plumbing etc etc etc were all available here for the mid class for decades before even the wealthy in Europe had them.
We still makes jokes about the lack of central heating in much of the UK. Europeans use bikes & pub trans extensively because they can't afford gasoline...I dated an Italian immigrant who grew up in the 50s-- washing clothes by beating them on rocks at the riverside.
My point is, the United States had the best economy in the world before it ever became the worlds reserve currency. Yes, it leans on it extra ordinarily in the last 2 crisis, but it has that right. This is still a world power that stands out from world powers.
If we were to lose the status as the absolutely dominant world reserve currency, we would still most likely play a role a new weighting system. The United States is going no where as a dominant power, much like the UK never did either.
Being free from being the central reserve currency could also help the u.s in some ways because it’s global role often is in direct conflict with our domestic mandate. By being the global engine to drive foreign exports, it hollows out our industry and in some ways has created a us economy that on net can no longer produce the things it needs.
The doomers act like this is Venezuela or something. The u.s will have the final say in this system of any other. I would argue we’ve already moved to a new system post 2007 from the one that replaced bretton woods in 1971 with “bretton woods 2”. I guess we can call this new game Bretton woods 3.
Its how much you really own. If I take out enough debt I can have a millionaires lifestyle which can all come crashing down if I miss a few payments.
It's really a combination of the two.
I never get how people make this hard stand where it's only assets not income to determine wealth. If someone is making a million dollars a year and spending a million dollars a year, accumulating absolutely nothing, they are wealthy and living a rich life.
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