oh well, some more reflections on this Federal Reserve "Survey of Consumer Finances" report (#1595851)
"A crucial takeaway: while the US remains a very unequal place, it has not been getting much more unequal. On most metrics, inequality has hardly increased since the pandemic, and on some it has fallen."
there is not much timely data on the distribution of income and wealth, so K-explanations (or the rejection of them) have been more a reflection of the preconceptions of the explainer than a meaningful contribution to our understanding.
the very richest are still accumulating many more dollars of income and wealth than everyone else, because they are growing from a much larger base. But in terms of the growth rate, the middle range is approaching or surpassing the top. In that sense, the recovery is shaped more like an E that’s leaning back a bit.
Yea, this I supposed was behind my knee-jerk reaction to Undisc's comment today #1595851
...and my other objection bears fruit, too!
Most importantly, the bottom 25 per cent of the wealth spectrum has had an average net worth of roughly zero since the survey began
Some of this is down to young households that have not yet accumulated savings, but a lot of the country lives on a razor’s edge, particularly the less-educated and minorities
Survey data is imperfect, but the SCF is a high-quality study and the trend is clear: while inequality remains very high, American families across much of the wealth and income spectrum have enjoyed real gains in the past decade.
Typical example of "I like this article because the author says what I already believe!"
Saying that the K is more like an E because the bottom has nowhere further to drop doesn't seem to be saying much.
That's also a silly claim.
The American bottom could fall pretty far and still be above the European middle, and I've been told there are even places poorer than Europe (implausible as that may sound).
I think we should begin to use more complicated characters for our economy metaphors...perhaps Persian or Korean or even kanji. English is clearly not up to the task.
Will be delightful to have the intelligentsia try to pronounce them live on air
The distinction between wealth levels and growth rates is important here. Even if the gap isn't widening much, having an average net worth near zero means a lot of households still have very little room for unexpected expenses. The averages can look better while many people are still struggling.