| Hard disagree here. One way to think of an economy is GDP/stock market/etc. Another way to think of it is: "What is the maximum level of poverty before there's a revolution?" Moving people from the poverty class to the middle class should be a basic goal for any economy -- because it's likely to affect the most citizens. > That's not an argument. So if you're in small town Nebraska in 1910/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90's, it was super hard to learn calculus (one example) unless you enrolled in college and traveled to the university/college, etc. Why? No one else knew it, nor could they teach it. Back before 2000's era, people were held back, mostly based upon where they were born. In the internet era, you can be a millionaire/billionaire without having to travel to the shit hole that is silicon valley. Amazing! Edit: I saw your edit, and yes, you would expect poverty to go up in a down turn economy. But you would also expect it to go down if economic gains are truly affecting everyone, and not just the rich or upper middle class. |