Comments on: MarketWatch Reporter: We Got ‘Poorer’ Last Year http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/03/08/marketwatch-reporter-we-got-poorer-last-year/ The Business End of the Blogosphere Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:16:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: TBlumer http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/03/08/marketwatch-reporter-we-got-poorer-last-year/#comment-120930 TBlumer Sun, 09 Mar 2008 07:07:09 +0000 http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/03/08/marketwatch-reporter-we-got-poorer-last-year/#comment-120930 Sorry, Paul, as I said, "you can’t get 'poorer' unless you were 'poor' already." We as a nation weren't poor in 2006, so we can't be poorer now. We're the richest country in the world, for cryin' out loud. The headline is deliberately provocative and gloom-inducing. "Less well-off" would be more like it. I full recognize the shortcomings of using the average vs. the median, but it does make the point that there's a lot of wealth out there, and a 0.91% hiccup is hardly a cause for wailing and gnashing of teeth. Sorry, Paul, as I said, “you can’t get ‘poorer’ unless you were ‘poor’ already.” We as a nation weren’t poor in 2006, so we can’t be poorer now. We’re the richest country in the world, for cryin’ out loud. The headline is deliberately provocative and gloom-inducing. “Less well-off” would be more like it.

I full recognize the shortcomings of using the average vs. the median, but it does make the point that there’s a lot of wealth out there, and a 0.91% hiccup is hardly a cause for wailing and gnashing of teeth.

]]> By: Paul http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/03/08/marketwatch-reporter-we-got-poorer-last-year/#comment-120929 Paul Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:42:38 +0000 http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/03/08/marketwatch-reporter-we-got-poorer-last-year/#comment-120929 You might want to scale back your first criticism. 'Poorer' is a comparative, nothing more. I am taller than my son, but I'm only 5'7" - does that mean that it's preposterous for me to use the word tall, and I should call myself less short? Wealth is the more normal term, I think, but that's just as loaded a term as poor. And this idea of the 'average' person being worth $190,000 says more about the problem of averages than it does about personal wealth - I can't find figures for wealth, but in 2006 mean (i.e. average) household income was around $48,200, while median income was $60,500, and it's likely that wealth follows a similar pattern. You might want to scale back your first criticism. ‘Poorer’ is a comparative, nothing more. I am taller than my son, but I’m only 5′7″ - does that mean that it’s preposterous for me to use the word tall, and I should call myself less short? Wealth is the more normal term, I think, but that’s just as loaded a term as poor.

And this idea of the ‘average’ person being worth $190,000 says more about the problem of averages than it does about personal wealth - I can’t find figures for wealth, but in 2006 mean (i.e. average) household income was around $48,200, while median income was $60,500, and it’s likely that wealth follows a similar pattern.

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