The real measure of a real economy ...

Someone did not read the Quartz article very well. This is the title of the article:

The US’s record low poverty in 2019 is too good to be true

Someone needs to actually read the article and not quote out of context. Everything I read about Quartz is good. Wiki has a good article about them.

If you see this, Max, they have a great section on their market thrust - conservative, successful thirty-somethings. But its a great source if unlike someone else you read the articles you cite.

Whether Quartz is respected of not... the statement "too good to be true" is an opinion. That article is an opinion piece.

Objectively speaking, the economic data in 2019, almost any measure, was amazingly good. Unemployment was down. Real wages were up. Productivity was up. Trade was good. These are objective facts... where "objective" means they are measured the same way no matter which administration is in the White House so you can compare them.

When numbers that good happened during the Clinton administration, the political left hailed them as vindication.

My opinion is that presidents in general get too much credit for a good economy, and take too much blame for a bad one. But that is just right.

Ignoring objective economic data just because someone you don't like is in the White House is silly.

Someone is ******* with the thumbs. For the record, I have nothing to do with it (although I do find it amusing especially since it is in the right direction).

My opinion is we're wasting time'. Thanks for sharing your opinion.

And its not me.

And its not me. I wonder how they look into a mirror in the morning?

Economic data has the ability to give us hard numbers that are objective. You can argue about what the numbers mean, but the numbers are the numbers no matter which political narrative they support.

There is no question in my mind that the economic numbers were fantastic in 2019. Business was booming, wages were going up, prices were stable, people were working. I was certainly happy with the way the economy was going before the pandemic.

This has nothing to do with my feelings for Trump. And, that is my point. Objective measures are just that.... and measures that aren't objective aren't very useful. You don't need numbers to tell you your own political narrative.

The game is that each political side starts with a narrative and then cherry picks the numbers to support it. I have never found this to be very useful.

The evidence suggests you wish to twist other peoples words into something you can fight (ie. you won't want to address thoughtful responses that disagree with you) - after all what Punkey actually said, way back on the first page, was Why is the man sleeping on a bench? Is he homeless? Drunk? Waiting for the bus to take him to work and decided to take a nap? Is he mentally ill? We don’t know.

Here in Australia, there are strong links between mental health and long term homelessness. But we also have a much more robust welfare system than the U.S. and probably a more robust public housing system.

But there isn't in that any true measure of our economy - just the fact that we have enough money to fund such things (and the politic desire to do so).

Sit down. This may shock you.

It was a cartoon. There were no two sides to it.

Please google "political cartoon".

But pretending the cartoon was open to discussion, Punkey has my blessing to use it in an OP illustrating the disgusting way we treat the mentally ill and the addicted.

The cartoon illustrated my point: we have a growing number of economically driven homeless at time that the rich have been richer than ever the rich have ever been before here in what is arguable the richest nation on the planet. That he way we measure the total wealth of this country ignores the growing number of people in poverty.

So how are the things going on down in Fair Dinkum?

Homelessness in the US is on a long term downward trend. It rose less than 1% in the past two years.

I don't believe there is a correlation in the US between income inequality and homelessness.

How can it be on a downward trend if it rose?

Do you understand the phrase "long term downward trend"? It means that looking over a long period of time, the rate of homelessness is going down. The past two years it went up a very small amount, This doesn't negate the trend over the past 20 years.

You said it rose by 1% over the last two years that’s half Trump’s tenure.

See how the line falls from left to right? That is a downward trend. If you look at the dates you will see that it is over a period of time.

Sure.

This is simply an attempted diversion from your behaviour, which is very well evidenced in my previous post...and you continue to provide further evidence (of your intent to misrepresent) when you say whereupon you should take your own advice, quoted directly above regarding googling political cartoons - because cartoons are open to discussion.

Alternate math. He's making one of his information free "informed opinions".

I’m not concerned with Micky mouse graphs from sock puppets either.

But in the long term, say since 1739, its been going down. All those new people being put in the streets are statistical bumps. His 1% is BS too. But it is his data free "informed opinion".

You guys are arguing with the actual data. If you wanted to... you could look up the numbers for yourselves.

If you put your political narrative over actual facts... there isn't much point to this discussion.