• grue@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    8 months ago

    There is nothing arrogant about recognizing that your living conditions have regressed over the course of the past 5 years, nor is there anything wrong with basing your decisions around how you percieve things to be.

    There is absolutely something wrong when you decide that your anecdotes trump statistical data, though. That’s just flat-out defective and invalid.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      But which statistics?

      The 1980 ones?

      The 1990 ones?

      The 2010 ones?

      The ones I have in my budgeting software?

      Should I believe ones I can make using my costco receipts or the ones whoever on the whatever show on MSNBC is repeating? What statistics we calculate, how we choose to include or exclude data in their formulation, and what we interpret them to mean are all subjective. Is it any more or less subjective than my lived experience?

      You are being obtuse about how people make real decisions about their lives. They don’t and shouldn’t’ base them on statistics because the world is varied and not monolithic in experience. Experience and memory are a form of data, if not a great one. Experience always trumps statistics. People aren’t’ going to be making their decision in November based on statistics. They’ll be making them based on their lived experience.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      8 months ago

      Never claimed that it trumps their stats, simply that the character of the economy they describe does not mesh with reality. Kind of tired of the incessant gaslighting, when no significant changes to materially improve our living conditions have materialized.

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        8 months ago

        In fact, I suspect slate is just making this up entirely, based on anecdotal experience.

        • crusa187@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          8 months ago

          Ok Mr Obtuse - I’m saying they can cherry pick stats to support their narrative all they want, but at the end of the day material living conditions for the majority of Americans have declined in this time period. Over 62% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck today, and cannot afford an emergency $400 expense. That number is up from 40% pre-pandemic. If you live in a major metro, open your window and look outside to see how the size of tent cities are multiplying. These people simply aren’t counted by the new metrics. How is this the strongest economy we’ve ever seen?

          • grue@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            8 months ago

            at the end of the day material living conditions for the majority of Americans have declined in this time period. Over 62% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck today, and cannot afford an emergency $400 expense. That number is up from 40% pre-pandemic.

            See, now those are statistics! That’s a very different – and much more sound – argument than you were making before.

      • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Never claimed that it trumps their stats doesnt mesh with reality

        your personal reality is the only perspective/experience, which everyone experiences, ergo that reality is right and trumps their stats

        ill give you a personal experience. in the last decade in the UK I have made significant gains in my personal income. While living in a crumbling country determined to get everyone into poverty. My reality is good and comfortable but that is not the vast majority of “reality” as a whole. Im an outlier. As are you, in comparison to the stats.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      That’s not data that gives us information on standard of living or affordability though. They keep telling you about oranges and saying it means something about apples.