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January 02, 2008
More sunshine
Russell Roberts
More cheer, this time from the Gallup Poll (HT: Drudge):
Yes, I know everyone says the middle class is dying out. Yes, everyone seems to think that job security is at an all time low. Yes, the sky is always falling. But evidently, much of the alarm about the state of America comes from a presumption that others are doing badly. Maybe things aren't so bad after all.
Posted by Russell Roberts in Standard of Living | Permalink
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How do they define "personal Life"?
Posted by: Jon | Jan 2, 2008 4:01:17 PM
The problem with this poll, Russ, is that it leaves little room for the New York Times to tell you how really f*cked up your world is. Geez.
Posted by: M. Hodak | Jan 2, 2008 5:26:13 PM
...much of the alarm about the state of America comes from a presumption that others are doing badly.
Rush Limbaugh has been saying this very thing for years.
Posted by: Flash Gordon | Jan 2, 2008 11:25:53 PM
What explanations have been proposed for the noise between 1989 and 1992?
Posted by: Josh Knox | Jan 3, 2008 2:46:55 AM
Noam Chomsky and I agree on one thing and that is the thesis of his book "Manufactured Consent". Our difference, however, is that he blames the right, and I blame the leftwing.
The above poll results are not surprising and easily explained by simply understanding that when the average Joe is bombarded day after day via all of his normal media input sources with doom and gloom about how bad it is economically in this country, it sinks in. Only an educated thinking mind can repel that negativity.
But our average Joe knows he personally is doing okay so it must be those other guys that are hurting. That is the only answer his limited education and thinking skills can come up with.
It never occurs to him that he is being deliberately lied to.
For five months out of the year he can go every weekend to a football stadium and be surrounded by 70 to 80 thousand people, who like him have paid an exhorbitant fee to be there, yet that knowledge never suggests to him he is being lied to.
He can go three or four time a week to eat out and he generally has to wait for a table if he doesn't get to his restuarant before 0600PM, yet he doesn't take that knowledge as an indication that maybe he is being lied to. As he drives to that restaurant he sees countless other restaurants that he passes up and their parking lots are full of cars and people are waiting there as well.
As he drives down the street every vehicle he passes or sees is no more than 4 years old on the average and at the worst. The few that may not qualify are driven by either immigrants or people who aren't going to work no matter what the economy. And, it never occurs to him that knowledge he is gaining by observation is an indicator that he is being lied to.
Etc. etc. etc.
Posted by: vidyohs | Jan 3, 2008 9:56:32 AM
Excellent, vidyohs.
Posted by: cpurick | Jan 3, 2008 10:03:47 AM
"But our average Joe knows he personally is doing okay so it must be those other guys that are hurting."
Or our average Muirgeo.
Posted by: The Dirty Mac | Jan 3, 2008 12:30:26 PM
Josh Knox,
I'm not certain about the noise in that era, but the Gallup poll is known for taking polls at sporadic intervals. They may have taken 4 or 5 polls in that short span, and it looks like between 1996 and 2000 they may have only taken 1 or 2.
Posted by: Python | Jan 3, 2008 1:12:23 PM
Church-going, married, republicans are the most satisfied.
Maybe I should stop trusting the media for all of my stereotypes. :-)
Posted by: Python | Jan 3, 2008 1:29:31 PM
89-92?
Had to be Bush Sr.'s big ears. Those will make anybody feel better about themselves...
Posted by: Jon | Jan 3, 2008 1:30:02 PM
Nobody tell Krugman.
Not to toot my own horn, but I mentioned this earlier: remember “Worst economy in the past 50 years…”? -Bill Clinton, 1992 (also shamelessly false, as the 1991 recession was incredibly mild: 1990 IV -3.0, 1991 I -2.0% GDP growth) See the uptick in dissatisfaction around 1992?
Gee, you think the two might be related?
Also note the smoothness of both lines during the Clinton presidency, during which the economy was miraculously gangbusters/unstoppable/impervious to bullets and asteroids/immaculately just and equitable. Then the turbulence (including the Clinton recession, 9/11, and Iraq, granted) of Bush II, and the rise once again of fake economic disgruntlement.
Think those might be related, too?
If enough dumb people in the press (including and especially Krugman) keep yelling about how awful the economy is, eventually other people dumb enough to read them start believing them...
Posted by: Mesa Econoguy | Jan 3, 2008 4:11:29 PM
Postscript/aside:
Vidyohs, you’re an odd fellow, but I believe I like your style, sir.
Excellent reverse-Chomsky (that’s like a triple Lindy) above!
Happy New Year to you & yours!
Posted by: Mesa Econoguy | Jan 3, 2008 10:27:01 PM
M.Eg,
I'll take this as a compliment, thank you.
"Vidyohs, you’re an odd fellow, but I believe I like your style, sir."
As time goes by you'll probably observe that I'll do nothing to alter that opinion, and much to reinforce it.
I don't have the formal education in economics as many here seem to. I am just a country boy who learned life/natures lessons well and can apply them to urban life as well as rural life.
By keeping my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut over the years I've been lucky enough to learn some things that many do not and that many have allowed themselves to disbelieve. For instance there is no gray area in nature, nature is black or white, on or off. It is humans who can't deal with those conditions and who create the gray in their minds.
I learned to recognize weeds, and to be objective about it. I feel no remorse at pulling weeds.
I learned that one doesn't pull a weed halfway out of the ground and think the weeding is done. Doing something half way is as useless as not doing it at all. Why would one weed every other row in a garden? I also learned that the weeding process never ends.
Now people may dismiss this all as rambling about gardening, but I apply it to my relationships to people as well as to gardens. Recognize who or what is a problem, if a problem remove them completely. If the person is worthwhile, nourish them and cherish them completely.
A situation may be like a weed. If it is, change the situation or remove yourself from it.
Why torture and bleed yourself over half way measures. Nature won't.
Do I have the right to make these judgement calls? Absolutely. Nature provided me with a brain and life gave me lessons in judgement.
Finally, consider all of what I just said and think of that when you see my communications with such as muirduck and his ilk.
Have a happy, safe, sane, and profitable New Year, sir.
Posted by: vidyohs | Jan 4, 2008 8:13:10 AM
