How can it be? (Walter E. Williams)

townhall.com ^ | January 14, 2004 | Walter E. Williams

[The Old Hoosier]

No, you're re-indexing it again. Inflation is accounted for already. You are re-accounting for it.

[nopardons]

Oh great...now YOU imagine that you know more/understand economics better that Walter Williams does ?

ROTFLMSO

[Lancey Howard]

Dr. Williams BUMP!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

well documented by liberals

Liberals lie a lot, and tell half-truths even more.

"well documented by liberals" is pretty close to being an oxymoron, but you're welcome to provide links to solid data / argumentation in support of your thesis . . .

[Willie Green]

Oh great...now YOU imagine that you know more/understand economics better that Walter Williams does ?

It's not my imagination.
With the superficial slop that Walter is shilling to a dumbed-down American populace, there is no doubt that he is an abolute embarrassment to those who take economics seriously.

[#3Fan]

I'm betting if God condemned an unborn spirit to a lifetime of poverty but He left him free to choose the country in which to be poor, he'd choose United States.

That's a good way of thinking about it.

[xzins]

no, my friend, that would mean that the us per capita gnp was less than 21 grand in 1980. That's not very likely.

Also there is only a 1.7 times growth in 22 years. That's not very likely. One would expect about a 1.8 every ten years with an average 6% inflation rate.

We can probably look up the inflation rates for those 22 years and get an average, but we still have to put it over all 264 months. Even if we use just 3%, we still get a double.

[NutCrackerBoy]

I couldn't find where to get raw data for GDP per capita, but I did find this in the source that Dr. Williams linked:

Today, the expenditures per person of the lowest-income one-fifth (or quintile) of households equal those of the median American household in the early 1970s, after adjusting for inflation. -Understanding Poverty in America (Backgrounder #1713) by Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.

That strongly indicates to me that the figures were not mistaken.

[xzins]

Could be, but I'd like to crank the inflation numbers myself.

[gieriscm]

Thomas Sowell also ranks high on my list along with Walter Williams.

[nopardons]

Yeah, yeah, Willie, and YOU are THE " expert "....NOT !

Willie Green, a legend in his own tiny mind. LOL

[Willie Green]

Yeah, yeah, Willie, and YOU are THE " expert "....NOT !

I don't think I've ever made any claim of being "THE expert"...
But I was fortunate to have an opportunity to receive a good education and I studied diligently to earn my degrees.
It makes it pretty easy to poke holes in this disingenuous and convoluted political propaganda that's cranked out by Walter Williams. And considering his educational background, it's also pretty sad that he doesn't have the personal integrity to author a more objective economic analysis.

And as far as your sarcastic personal attack against me...
Well, that certainly isn't any surprise...
You've demonstrated that same adolescent behavior countless times before,
I don't see any reason why I should expect a reply with any substance from you.

[The Old Hoosier]

Well, I looked it up. Real per capita GDP went from $21,531 in 1980 to $33,599 in 2000. That's in 1999 U.S. dollars.

I think you are forgetting that population also increases, not just GDP, bringing down the per capita measure.

21,000 does not sound unreasonable to me. Remember, it's just per-capita, not per-worker or per-earner.

[nopardons]

Willie, you've no one but yourself , to blame for the reaction you got; posted by me and though of by most of the readers of your posts.You continually leave yourself wide open for it.

I post valid, substance filled replies, as well as a few poking you in the eye. As far as your posts, they are NOT ones filled with substance, rational, nor even anything at all, showing your supposed education and perpescatiousness.;^)

[xzins]

I trust your number OH. It's just that it doesn't seem like strong enough growth to me.

You are correct about my not thinking of the population going up. (But shouldn't that be proportionate?)

[Straight Vermonter]

How many people have a sizable savings account, investment portfolio and are mortgage free. Now that would be a better barometer than how many "own" their homes.

That sounds more like the measure of someone's age rather than their earnings. I would guess that the vast majority of people who fit your above description are 50+.

[Willie Green]

I initial replies to this thread consisted strictly of criticism of Walter Williams inept economic opinion. Thus far, nobody has rebutted the substance of what I said regarding Debt. Just the same old lame and predictable personal attacks. I guess that's to be expected, since Walter's position is so indefensible from any truly informed perspective.

I see no reason to respect Walter Williams' opinion when he obviously doesn't have any self-respect for his own educational achievements. The man is a hack and a shill. He knowingly distorts and advocates corrupted and incorrect economic propaganda to fullfill a political agenda. His credibility is as worthless as Michael Moore's.

[american spirit]

I agree with you on this one....anybody who thinks fedgov figures have any validity obviously hasn't been paying attention to sleight of hand they've used for years scamming us on the overall federal debt, budget deficits, # of illegals in this country, etc. simply put, the truth is not in them.

[Straight Vermonter]

I found similar numbers here that say they are calculated in constant 1999 dollars.

[nopardons]

No,not really. Up until rather recently ( two decades ago, at most ), one had to have the FULL price ( NO mortgage ) to buy a co-op.

Almost no one, used to buy a house outright, for the last 100 years at least and longer, actually. The old N.E. custom, of putting a small ivory round, into the newel SP ? ) post of the main stairway, once the mortgage was paid off, took many years to accomplish.

We bought this house with cash, have a sizable savings account,have an investment portfolio and did so when we were NOT 50+. And yes, I know of others who fall into that category too.

The fact is, more people own their own home now, with a mortgage, or without one, than at any other time in this nation's history.