Conn101

Comment Threads

• Jay commented on Two Thoughts
  If you lived in Greece or Detroit you'd have a hard time arguing that things are getting better. Those are extreme cases, but quite a few places are seeing a general economic decline (at least for the 99%)....
• J Thomas commented on Two Thoughts
  If you lived in Greece or Detroit you'd have a hard time arguing that things are getting better. Yes, but consider the averages. Say you live in Detroit and you made $30/hour until you got laid off. And say that now three people in a third world country are doing your job, and they each make the PPP equivalent of $5/hour. They are very happy! They can afford shiny new bicycles and eat meat 2 or 3 times a week, which they could not afford before. So here's one person who's worse off, and 3 people who're better off. On...
• Damian the surprised commented on Two Thoughts
  So here's one person who's worse off, and 3 people who're better off. On average it's improving. That's the argument. Actually if the argument is for increasing overall utility, then it suggests that the increased utility of those 3 people, who are lifted from subsistence to an industrial material standard of living, is greater at $5/hour than the Detroit worker's diminished utility at $30/hour. It suggests that if you're unemployed in Detroit you still enjoy a higher material standard of living than people employed at $5/hour elsewhere. This may not be the case on an individual basis of course (though...
• J Thomas commented on Two Thoughts
  I think the world is bad and getting worse, this does not logically preclude the possibility that life is getting better for many, many people. Sure, and to the extent they get to choose, they will choose for it to keep getting better for them. Keep doing the things that work for them. Keep investing in those Ponzi schemes. not sustainable They would be on a reasonable scale. But we keep trying to biggify them. Things can't keep getting better unless we do.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V06ZOQuo0k The interesting turnaround in the technology is that it is now more about increasing vertical integration...
• J Thomas commented on Two Thoughts
  It suggests that if you're unemployed in Detroit you still enjoy a higher material standard of living than people employed at $5/hour elsewhere. That isn't quite right. But when I tried to say it better, I got tangled up in peculiar complexities. That tells me that it is not really a simple concept. Basicly I think human lives are not comparable. But to do any kind of utilitarian judgement we have to try to compare them anyway. When I said earlier, perhaps prompting this subthread, that I think the world is bad and getting worse, this does not logically preclude...