Re: Not always joking, it seems

David Friedman <ddfr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> ... the U.S. Statistical Abstract shows per capita money income in
> constant (i.e. inflation adjusted) dollars roughly doubling from
> 1967 to 2005.

I'm really baffled by that claim.  In 1967, the average one-income
family could afford to buy a house.  By 2005, the average two-income
family could not, even though 20-year mortgages had been replaced by
30-year mortgages.  In 1967, nearly everyone could afford medical
insurance.  By 2005, tens of millions of Americans could not.

Perhaps they're looking at average income instead of median income?
The former can go up while the latter goes down if the rich become
richer, which they have.

I'll grant that the average person could afford enormously more
computer power in 2005 than in 1967.

> Using 2005 dollars, the 1980 figure is 17,473, the 2006 figure
> is 25,036, so by that measure the Federation is understating
> the growth.

A 43% increase is not "almost doubling."
-- 
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
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