Any smart writing out there on how to make sense of peak homelessness and falling life expectancy and rising child hunger etc. on one hand and low unemployment and steady GDP growth on the other? Feels like trad stats have detached from most folks' lived experience, and I'm wondering how/why. - ThreadSky

jayulfelder.bsky.social • 53 days ago

Any smart writing out there on how to make sense of peak homelessness and falling life expectancy and rising child hunger etc. on one hand and low unemployment and steady GDP growth on the other? Feels like trad stats have detached from most folks' lived experience, and I'm wondering how/why.

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johnhenry531.bsky.social•53 days ago

On the one hand, you have reality. On the other hand, you have disguised propaganda....?

suzanne137.bsky.social•53 days ago

Minimum wage is 7.25.

robotpirateninja.bsky.social•53 days ago

In Red states. In Blue ones it's about double that. Same with home prices/value. About $200k higher *on average* in blue states.

These kind of stats need to start being broken down by ideology/state.

You'll see some very strong correlations.

suzanne137.bsky.social•53 days ago

This is what red state MAGAs need to know. Again, thanks for this.

robotpirateninja.bsky.social•53 days ago

suzanne137.bsky.social•53 days ago

Thanks for this.

lilladymisfortune.bsky.social•53 days ago

Reddit has some useful forums on related topics

necromaunzer.bsky.social•53 days ago

"Rich people like it when the money goes from everyone else to rich people."

socialistea.bsky.social•53 days ago

Marx might have something

jayulfelder.bsky.social•53 days ago

Not looking for folks' musings on this. I have plenty of those of my own. Really just looking for sharp expert takes on what feels like the age of the funhouse economy.

jazzrat2000.bsky.social•53 days ago

I'm not smart but here's what I think.. unemployment is low some places because people no longer report. As the money Winds its way upward and away from the lower class the middle class feels the pinch too

jakobgamertsfelder.bsky.social•53 days ago

In Australia, 10,000 new homeless per month. House prices to die for, 30% of income to rent or mortgage is low. You are lucky then. That means; fewer children. The real economic unit is a woman who wants to have children. If they don't it's because they see a bleak future. Ask them.

barnes-joe.bsky.social•53 days ago

Fully agree here. Population growth is dependent on the a population that feels secure in their ability to support themselves and babies...this current economic environment ain't it! And those on top who benefit from the pop. growth ain't willing to go with less to make it olmore secure for all!

sonoviian.com•53 days ago

"Evicted" by Matthew Desmond (sociologist) covers personal eviction stories from Milwaukee, WI during the financial crisis. It's focused on the landlord-tenant dynamic, and is a very emotionally challenging read.

ladydebhart.bsky.social•53 days ago

Yes…the Bible

violetvila.bsky.social•53 days ago

No expert but working in a homeless shelter made me realize we have a mental health crisis that leads to addiction that leads to homelessness. Most were addicts, small percentage were elderly who are given $800-1,000.00 a month to live off and can’t afford housing and a few that fell on hard times.

lagard.bsky.social•53 days ago

I recommend talking to an MBA to understand margins and profitability in corporations. It’ll explain everything.

leftrightbrainer.bsky.social•53 days ago

The values we once held (under which trad GDP was created) have changed. The current dissonance is due to that cultural(/ethical/moral) shift, not to anything in the stats themselves. We're seeing problems becuz now we're measuring the wrong things.

letusevolve.bsky.social•53 days ago

From 1981-2021, $50 Trillion of wealth in US has gone from bottom 92% to top 2%-A 4000x increase in wealth the middle/ lower class will never see. $ is not reinvested in people-means poor resource mgmt, poor env. stewardship, poor med care for majority. N. Korea/ Hungary in latent stages of this.

bpress54.bsky.social•53 days ago

I would stop worrying about shit like that. There's not a fucking thing you can do about it unless you have Space Karen money and it's just going to drive you crazy.

megansqueen.bsky.social•53 days ago

I’d recommend Carl Jung’s short book “The Undiscovered Self”. He writes about the relationship between individual lived experience and societal health. He talks about the danger in looking to statistics or societal units of measurement for your own wellbeing and direction.

schesser.bsky.social•53 days ago

No one counts them because they don’t vote

bozone23.bsky.social•53 days ago

The plutocrats are writing the narrative.

notesfromadeadman.bsky.social•53 days ago

Don’t think this totally fits your request, but part of it.
Poverty, By America author is Matthew Desmond

twatts.bsky.social•53 days ago

Robert Reich does a lot of excellent explaining of the current economic picture. Full employment with wages that don’t come anywhere near the minimum required to live are part of the explanation. Working poor and homeless.

rosaderosa.bsky.social•53 days ago

To better understand economic success, they recommend alternative indicators like the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), which considers factors beyond GDP, such as income distribution and environmental degradation.

rosaderosa.bsky.social•53 days ago

Not an expert: The gap between positive economic stats and harsh realities like homelessness and child hunger is alarming. traditional metrics like GDP and unemployment rates overlook rising income inequality, stagnant wages, and dwindling social safety nets.

irmaleggs.bsky.social•53 days ago

almacruz.bsky.social•53 days ago

I read this in 2018 and it was great but everything has changed so much since this book was written that I’m not sure the content is as accurate anymore. Especially since the pandemic and the inflation that followed

irmaleggs.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes it’s a wee bit outdated but sadly the author passed away in 2017

almacruz.bsky.social•47 days ago

I had no idea 😟

smilingrain.bsky.social•53 days ago

Greedflation and sucking workers dry? Low unemployment is BS if people aren't getting paid enough to outpace costs...

crownvic63.bsky.social•53 days ago

Major costs being childcare, food and housing.

nholling.bsky.social•53 days ago

In Canada at least, unemployment does not count those not looking for a job. So it really throws cold water on unemployment numbers if there are many not even thinking looking for a job is worth it.

klepel.bsky.social•53 days ago

The definition of employment almost every where also doesn't account for underemployment. And especially in the US employed even over full time doesn't equate to being out of poverty

victorerikray.bsky.social•53 days ago

I would also read something on this.

elle-onward.bsky.social•53 days ago

People are less likely to respond to surveys if they're hungry or homeless. Sad isn't it?

crownvic63.bsky.social•53 days ago

The exception being social determinant/drivers of health questionnaires that should be part of every clinic or hospital visit.

brennan.computer•53 days ago

visibility of statistics is really tricky

even as it's increasing to current peak, the absolute homelessness rate is still 0.23% of total US population, which means 99.77% are definitionally housed.

and that is still a crisis unto itself, but twice an order of magnitude away from employment stats

k2amama.bsky.social•53 days ago

Search the decline of America: the pitfalls of capitalism

sheavalentine.bsky.social•53 days ago

Progress and Poverty by Henry George was written when HG went to San Francisco which was booming and saw the worst poverty ever. He asked, "Why does increased poverty come with increased prosperity?"
The answer is that all surprlus value becomes rent and inscreased land value (home prices).
#LVT

klepel.bsky.social•53 days ago

And also the very basic tenet. If there are those that are rich there are poor... If the rich get richer.. the poor get...

sheavalentine.bsky.social•53 days ago

In a just economy it wouldn't be a zero sum game. This isn't a just economy. The economy is entirely theft and extractive rents.
Stealing from the robber barons is usually the most ethical form of consumption.

klepel.bsky.social•53 days ago

In a just society both poverty and richness wouldn't be about material needs...

dflash.bsky.social•53 days ago

Rich get richer...it's the broligarchy!

mollygrub.bsky.social•53 days ago

About 20 percent of Americans have rising wages, good Healthcare, own stocks, are set for retirement, have equity in homes. The other approximately 80 percent do not. The economic stats reflect how well the 20 percent are doing. The rest are not really benefiting.

mollygrub.bsky.social•53 days ago

Worth noting that before WWII the situation was similar in America. It's very likely that the last half of the twentieth century was a fluke. The result of being the only country left standing at the end of the war. Also only white men and their families benefited from "the American dream".

mollygrub.bsky.social•53 days ago

The American dream was not the birthright everyone thought it was. It was temporary. Our society is still organized the same way, so we have reverted to a situation of wealth and income disparity. It hits white men the hardest because they were a priveledged class before. They're angry.

davemck.bsky.social•53 days ago

What's hans rosling's data have to say about this? They've spent years going over data and are fairly reliable and accurate.

makeitstop.bsky.social•53 days ago

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a person is not statistically counted as unemployed if they have not actively looked for work within the past four weeks. So stats aren’t accurate.

Cost of everything has risen to compensate for corporate pandemic losses. Wages haven’t risen to keep up.

mwm11235.bsky.social•53 days ago

Look for stuff on "long-term unemployment", which if you look at it: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UEMP27OV is growing steadily. It gives you people who are basically not participating in the economy, and thus not gaining its benefits.

invinaveritas.bsky.social•53 days ago

Because stats only survey a small sample of people, or just troll ADP's data (they're big, not omniscient), or fail to account for jobs not paying a living wage, or how many workers have multiple jobs. Just like the unemployment rate doesn't count those who have given up the torture of job seeking.

ucframirez17.bsky.social•53 days ago

Didn't RFK JR say something about sending drug addicts and the homeless to "farms" to "grow organic foods"

criswbarnes.bsky.social•53 days ago

I might recommend “Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century” by J. Bradford DeLong.

dsm1132.bsky.social•53 days ago

Increasing homelessness while unemployment falls can only be due to rising housing costs relative to income. In the Seattle area housing costs are insane. There are many high income jobs but they require high skills. Those with lower skills simply can't compete. Seattle has MANY homeless.

cavalrysword.bsky.social•53 days ago

Try this experiment: google how many homeless are in Seattle. Now google how many churches. Divide the homeless by the churches. How many homeless would each church have to care for to end homelessness in Seattle? And isn't caring for the poor and downtrodden what churches are supposed to be about?

dsm1132.bsky.social•53 days ago

Good example but I would go further. We have about 4% unemployment nationwide. That's considered a "good" number. It means that ~4% of able bodied citizens cannot expect to find gainful employment given current market conditions. There are only 2 other options for survival: begging and crime. /1

dsm1132.bsky.social•53 days ago

If you think that's just too bad, that society doesn't owe you the opportunity to earn a decent living, then in my view you are highly immoral. See Matthew 25 for Jesus's opinion about those who fail to provide food and clothing to those in need. /2

anxioustortoise.bsky.social•53 days ago

Not a book, I know, but I found this insightful all the same.
https://youtu.be/MYcI21gZQFw?si=8U-yZH1urBu6SVb2

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