{"id":176870,"date":"2020-03-02T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T01:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/03\/02\/how-our-system-screws-the-ordinary-people\/"},"modified":"2020-03-02T20:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T01:01:00","slug":"how-our-system-screws-the-ordinary-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/03\/02\/how-our-system-screws-the-ordinary-people\/","title":{"rendered":"How Our System Screws the Ordinary People"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Cost of Thriving Index<\/i><\/div>\n

A right wing economist has come up with a concept called the, “Cost of Thriving” which describes how well being of the average American has been declining<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The argument is that core expenses have increased more rapidly than the CPI, and additionally that “Hedonic Adjustments” which subtracts a deflator because the quality of the products consumed increase, makes the government supplied cost of living data inaccurate.<\/p>\n

At its core, a TV shows you shows you shows, no matter how flat it is, a car moves you no matter how many options have become standard features:<\/p>\n

Economists and financial experts have been telling us for years how great things are for U.S. workers and consumers. The stuff we buy is dirt cheap<\/a>, and living standards are higher than ever<\/a>. Wages are keeping pace with inflation<\/a>. Inequality probably isn\u2019t as bad as you\u2019ve been led to believe<\/a>. The stock market is booming<\/a>!<\/p>\n

So why, then, do so many of us feel like we can barely make ends meet<\/a>?<\/p>\n

A new report published by the Manhattan Institute<\/a>, a conservative think tank, offers a clear explanation for the disconnect between the economy described by economists and the one experienced by regular people. It all boils down to the startling shift illustrated in the chart below. (Above and to the right here)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lead author Oren Cass distills it as follows: \u201cIn 1985, the typical male worker could cover a family of four\u2019s major expenditures (housing, health care, transportation, education) on 30 weeks of salary,\u201d he wrote on Twitter last week. \u201cBy 2018 it took 53 weeks. Which is a problem, there being 52 weeks in a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cass calls this calculation the Cost-of-Thriving Index. It measures the median male annual salary against four major household expenditures:<\/span><\/p>\n