Sure, but I wasn't referencing micro-economics in order to make a statement about trade policy, merely showing how these large indicators don't take into account so many variables when it comes to how these policies impact the individual American. I was replying to the attitude that numbers about real income actually says very much of anything about the average American lifestyle, which was implied in the other poster's comments.
I find these numbers interesting to a point, but I had my Saul/Paul moment a few years ago when I met someone who's worked in government statistics since the 60's. Now I find them useless in trying to determine the effects of government policy on the individual in any meaningful way. Simply put, I've never seen anyone who matched up to these statistics I am always seeing. So they may aid government policymakers, but they don't tell diddly about the actual people and lives those policies are supposed to effect. That may sound glib but it's anything but.
Are you saying that the sum of government statistics doesn't match up to any one person or group of friends in your community? Isn’t that like remarking that the average of 300 million numbers doesn’t say diddly about say... number 132,967,456 or any of the 200 adjacent numbers? Would you expect it to?