|
|
|
|
|
|
by BurningFrog
509 days ago
|
|
|
In theory, you could be right. In practice, it's hard to make the math come out that way. Basic facts: GDP is how much value a country produces. It is also close to how much it consumes, aside from some marginal adjustments, which I doubt have changed much over this decade. If income distribution had changed drastically, it could still be true that average people didn't see any of that 50% increase, but I don't see any signs of change on such dramatic scale. So yes, I do think the typical individual has experienced a 50% improvement in their income. For "well being", the change is probably much smaller. Happiness doesn't come from money... |
|
|
It turns out it hasn't, it's only gone up by 25%. Which is clearly better than zero, but definitely not the expected amount.
But I'd add one more item, housing costs have skyrocketed during that time. And while overall inflation has gone up notably, I believe housing costs have gone up more - and I wouldn't be surprised if most of those gains in income have been eaten up by having to pay higher housing costs. So all in all possibly no net gain.
[1] - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N