[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae...

[The Avantguardian]

--- Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:

> A piece on this in today's NYT:
> 
> 
> You Are What You Spend
> 
>     * <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/opinion/10cox.html>
> By W. MICHAEL COX and RICHARD ALM
> Published: February 10, 2008

> To understand why consumption is a better 
> guideline of economic prosperity than income, it 
> helps to consider how our lives have changed. 
> Nearly all American families now have 
> refrigerators, stoves, color TVs, telephones and 
> radios. Air-conditioners, cars, VCRs or DVD 
> players, microwave ovens, washing machines, 
> clothes dryers and cellphones have reached more than 80 percent of
> households.

Cox and Alm seem to ignore the fact that many people tend to finance
their consumption with debt. That a poor person can easily borrow money
to buy "stuff" doesn't change the fact that person is poor. Here is a
troubling set of statistics:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

I know too many people who are in debt. I too am in debt although for
what it is worth, my debt consists of educational loans and medical
bills. Doesn't change the fact that my net worth is less than zero.


Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"Life is the sum of all your choices."  
Albert Camus


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