Live data from Hacker News

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

census.gov

31–40 of 97 posts

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#31
post #12

My bank account says, "That was a lie."

Your bank account says “find a better job”. In today’s job market there’s really no excuse for anyone who can understand at least half the news posted on this site to make less than six figures.

What about all the people that have no interest or ability to code? What happens when everyone does code? Wages collapse.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the explanation! For a layperson like myself in this field, this was not immediately obvious from the qualifier "real".

I'm also a layperson, so if a real economist posts something contradictory you'll probably want to listen to them. Of course economists are always contradicting each other so YMMV.

I majored in econ in undergrad, and you’re correct.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#33

What happens when the US needs to start paying off the trillions in debt? I remember the last time things were good. It stopped being good quite rapidly. I don't know much about monetary and economic policy but I'm optimistically cautious. I can't imagine the US borrowing several trillion dollars to keep credit from freezing again.

My understanding is that most US debt is held by US citizens or US organizations.

Yes, as opposed to intra-governmental debt. Also of the public debt, the breakdown is:

As of September 2014, foreigners owned $6.06 trillion of U.S. debt, or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public of $12.8 trillion and 34% of the total debt of $17.8 trillion.[42] The largest holders were China, Japan, Belgium, the Caribbean banking centers, and oil exporters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_St...

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#34
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that most US debt is held by US citizens or US organizations.

And the Chinese government which is building a massive army for totally unknown reasons /s

The wonderful thing about owing so much debt is it really makes the financial incentive for war against you that much lower for your lenders.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#35

How is "all time high" income surprising, given that inflation essentially guarantees perpetually increasing dollar amounts of everything?

The increase is measured in "real terms" which means things like CPI are taken in to account. Further this number does decrease, for example during the last recession, so household median income is not directly correlated with inflation -- especially in this era of low inflation (compared to the mid-to-late 20th century inflation) that we've been in for a while.

" which means things like CPI are taken in to account."

Yes - but we should all be weary of this.

CPI is measured in funky ways, and it's tough one.

Problems with measures:

+ Both housing and Oil prices are usually left out of the numbers they use (included in others).

There are reasons for doing this, but it's bazonkers crazy to think of 'consumer prices' as not including their #1 item (housing) and a huge variable cost that consumers pay for directly (gas) but also that goes into everything (airline tickets, transport of stuff, taxi, etc. etc..)

And of course the hardest thing to measure is the real value increase of a product ... i.e. a tomato that is bigger, redder, juicier, healthier - is worth more than one that is not. So - if prices for tomatoes stay flat - but - their value has actually increased, well, that's deflation. That intangible is super hard to measure and quantify.

It's the later issue that is at the heart of so many economic arguments: some say we are 'poorer than ever' - and yet, every single bit of material consumable is way better than it ever was. The crappiest Peugot today drives better than the #1 Mercedes from 1985 ...

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#36

I'm curious: is anyone at a point where they're pulling out of equities at all? I feel like things are getting a bit too good to be true in the markets. The Shiller P/E ratio is at a 2nd-time high - the only other higher time being the dot-com boom and bust: multpl.com/shiller-pe/

Trying to time the market is a well known suboptimal strategy. Just leave your money and try not to worry about it.

My issue with this line of thought, is that while completely true, it also doesn't mean a whole lot. It is completely dependent on it being the US stock market. And during a period for that stock market that had a number of incredibly important items go it's way. Its not backfitting because it happened, but we only find it meaningful because we happened to have been here during it. For any number of reasons, including just how the universe works, that doesn't mean anything going forward.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#37
post #12

My bank account says, "That was a lie."

Your bank account says “find a better job”. In today’s job market there’s really no excuse for anyone who can understand at least half the news posted on this site to make less than six figures.

Tell that to the people on the wrong side of 40.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#38

I'm curious: is anyone at a point where they're pulling out of equities at all? I feel like things are getting a bit too good to be true in the markets. The Shiller P/E ratio is at a 2nd-time high - the only other higher time being the dot-com boom and bust: multpl.com/shiller-pe/

I'm not, but then again, the vast majority of my wealth at retirement is in paychecks I haven't earned yet. Even at 100% equity, I'd be happy to see a market correction. Like, people who started investing in stocks in 2009 are doing really well.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#39
post #14

For context, the survey covers 2015-16. The gains are from the last administration.

The first year of someone's term is very rarely affected by their policies. My particular pet hate is when politicians start bragging about how their policies are responsible for good economic news when they're still in the first three months. Truth is that economies change slowly, and politicians have much less control over it than we all like to believe.

> Truth is that economies change slowly, and politicians have much less control over it than we all like to believe.

I dont know why you are being downvoted, this is a very sensible comment. Changes in society are slow and progressive, except in very specific circumstances.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#40

I'm curious: is anyone at a point where they're pulling out of equities at all? I feel like things are getting a bit too good to be true in the markets. The Shiller P/E ratio is at a 2nd-time high - the only other higher time being the dot-com boom and bust: multpl.com/shiller-pe/

I've been very nervous for the last several years and missed out on some big gains. Oh well. If I'd bought {whatever} back in the day, I'd be retired now. I suggest keeping some cash aside for a year or two of expenses. Otherwise, keep yourself exposed to the market.
Post reply on HN