Astounding blindness
This article by two academic "economists", both with good tribal credentials, goes beyond the usual leftist bigotry and blindness. The authors not only miss the entire picture of what's happening in USA, they ignore the actual words of actual politicians!

Income inequality in particular has animated voters on both sides of the partisan divide, but the solutions advocated by candidates from each party are markedly different. Democrats claim higher taxes on the rich and more benefits for the poor are the best ways to reduce inequality. Republicans argue what we really need is more growth, accomplished by lowering taxes to spur work and investment with, it seems, benefit cuts to make up lost revenue.

This was true in several previous elections, and partly true a year ago. It's emphatically untrue in the current election. The 'standard' Rs and the one 'standard' D are still stuck in that universe where Zero Tax is the only issue; but those 'standard' politicians aren't even talking about economics this year. They're only talking about BENGHAZI and UNIFIER NOT DIVIDER and XENOPHOBIC BUFFOONS and OUR FREEDOMS and NOT MY AMERICA.

Trump and Sanders have departed from that hyperloony universe and discussed the REAL problems. Free trade, immigration, offshoring, transfer of economic power from business to abstract finance, ZIRP/NIRP/QE, profit replaced by share value. Those are the ACTUAL PROBLEMS, and Trump and Sanders are having an ACTUAL DISCUSSION of most if not all.

I read this entire article to be sure the quoted paragraph wasn't just an oversight, and to be sure they weren't discussing past elections. Nope, they claim to be analyzing this year, and the real problems are not mentioned even once. Instead, the authors cobble up a complicated set of statistics that measure nothing, and then use their useless numbers to analyze a discussion that isn't happening.

Their numbers are pointless because wealth is not measured as a single static number. Humans don't measure anything that way. We sense everything, INCLUDING WEALTH, as a temporal and spatial delta. Am I richer now than last year? Am I richer than my neighbors, or richer than As Seen On TV? Those are the measures that count.

Again both Trump and Sanders are dealing with real human measures. Except for the Tribe and its Economists, most normal Americans are notably poorer now than last year and last decade. We work harder and get less REAL STUFF in exchange for our work. Less food, less housing, less education, less health care. Most of us understand the reason for this delta. We know it's not ZERO TAX or BENGHAZI. It's feral capitalism.

Labels: Blinded by Stats, Grand Blueprint

  ¶ 11:29 AM