Better off? Probably so
Nov. 2nd, 2008 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonAnd here's a reason we need economists.
The headline says Better off [than you were 8 years ago]? Probably not. But, really? I bet you as an individual probably are, because that's 8 years you've had in which to make your life better. Whatever you do -- save money, pay off loans, fix up a home, get a degree, work on a relationship, raise kids -- it's probably paid off over the last 8 years.
So yeah. I'm better off than I was when I was 23 in late 2000, in pretty much every respect, but mostly just because of time passing. I need the analysis of the economists to tell me whether 23-year-olds now are better off than I was then, and that's why that headline is so misleading. It is totally possible for people to spend their lives becoming better off, even if the trends are negative.
Irony: I'd probably like being an economist, but it seems economically silly to think about becoming one. *whistles*
The headline says Better off [than you were 8 years ago]? Probably not. But, really? I bet you as an individual probably are, because that's 8 years you've had in which to make your life better. Whatever you do -- save money, pay off loans, fix up a home, get a degree, work on a relationship, raise kids -- it's probably paid off over the last 8 years.
So yeah. I'm better off than I was when I was 23 in late 2000, in pretty much every respect, but mostly just because of time passing. I need the analysis of the economists to tell me whether 23-year-olds now are better off than I was then, and that's why that headline is so misleading. It is totally possible for people to spend their lives becoming better off, even if the trends are negative.
Irony: I'd probably like being an economist, but it seems economically silly to think about becoming one. *whistles*
