More interesting economy news

[weaktwos]

It strikes me that more than ever economic news has been rather confusing. Maybe that's why they call it the "dismal science", because as far as being a science goes, it might as well be astrology.

"If a Cancer or Libra is in office, the economy shall sucketh grandly. If a fire sign be in office, hoo-ah. Now there's some growth!"

Or something like that.

Yesterday I posted some information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today, The Census bureau chimed in.

Here's the horses mouth, for those who caught glimpses of the article in various news sources around the country: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty03.html.

What I'm referring to, is that the population of those below the poverty line is growing, and it's been growing for three straight years. What will the counter argument be to this? That we're able to get so much more for our dollar below the poverty line, now? Certainly that doesn't include rent.

Comments

[canyoncat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard that on the national news tonight... rather discouraging news it is.

counter argument

[eyow.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think I heard something about this earlier. I think it was that the data's a year old, so next year we'll have a more accurate picture of how things are now. And THAT data will show that things have improved, higher incomes, less unemployment, blah blah blah. Really! Trust us!

Oh yeah, and also that it takes a while to come out of a recession, you have to recover slowly because if you grow too fast you can't sustain it (I will concede that point, slow and steady wins the race and all that), and that since there is improvement right now (really! we promise!), re-elect us and we'll continue on that upward trend.

voodoo economics...?

[brittadotcom.livejournal.com]

Yes, here are the main messages I took away from my economics degree:

1) Compounding interest is a powerful thing.
2) Debt makes the economy go 'round.
3) Your economic model is only as good as your base assumptions so very well may not be reflected in reality...see "stagflation" for an example...

I was disappointed in how it was just a collection of logic games, and you could make the graphs show whatever you wanted them to show. By that point I just wanted to leave college with any degree, so I finished & haven't really used the degree since. No offense to any real economists out there, but I take all economic studies with a large grain (boulder?) of salt... *shrug*

Re: voodoo economics...?

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

I think Economics was screwed ever since the day of the "hedonometer". It's the cult of the dollar.