Spoiler
It’s not an article. It’s a podcast episode. If it was ~15m - I might listen to it or I might read the transcript. But there’s no way I’m listening to Ezra Klein interviewing his wife for 90 minutes.
Opinion | The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad - The New York Times
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i’m reading the transcript, seems to be “but if the economy is actually great then why are americans big mad about it?” in the form of ezra klein interviewing his wife for 90 minutes, with notable insights like “actually things are pretty expensive, like healthcare and housing, so maybe people don’t like that”
yeah turns out extrapolating weighted multivariable economic regressions isn’t much more reliable than haruspicy
but it’s funny, throughout the interview ezra klein keeps referring to “my theory”
like the whole “theory” seems to be that people are simply noticing higher prices in a way that they (meaning himself, really) weren’t before even though actually they’re better off like the data shows
there’s some fun quotes in here, though:
People think that what I do is evil, but the reality is I’m simply doing what crypt ghouls do naturally: developing the optimal hunting strategies to balance the local child population with the supply of succulent organ meat.
Ezra must think that the lesson of The Scorpion and the Frog is that you must simply accept that you’re going to get stung every time you cross the river.
Fuck that’s good. Like yeah I knew that liberals respect for other people was tenuous at the best of times, but it shocks me how little respect The Adults In The Room have for themselves.
woke leftists like to ignore the incentives crypt ghouls actually have to maintain a robust, healthy local child population, not to mention the large financial donations they make to the children’s hospital and organages. oops! i mean orphanages!
Sure everything has doubled in price, but your stock portfolio has also doubled in value, so you should be happy
What, you don’t own any stocks? Well that’s just bad fiscal management! What have you spending all your money on?!?
I think that explains so much. They assume everyone is a shareholder first, a homeowner second, a side hustle owner third, and a worker last.
I think they just take 25% of income going to savings for granted. Everyone has a 401k, an IRA, an emergency fund, and if they’re really doing well, an investment account. "Savings* to these people are their fun money. It’s what they dip into because the new phone just dropped and they want it now, not later. Or it’s what they plan to spend on large purchases, and don’t even begin to think about having to compromise their lifestyle to afford a new fridge or washing machine or bi-annual vacation. They have no concept of people whom have exclusively a couple thousand or tens of thousand–and some amount of equity in their home if they’re lucky-- and nothing else to their name. For the bottom 3 quintiles of wealth in this country, any rise in the stock market is literally immaterial to their well-being.
Avocado toast.
if everything has doubled in price, then my stock portfolio doubling in value means it hasn’t actually gained any value in real terms