Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Median Income Fallacy



Over the years, I’ve read countless editorials from local newspapers in the state of North Carolina bitching and moaning about the piss poor economic conditions of our teachers and the population in general.  These lamentations have reached a fevered pitch since republicans have taken control over the General Assembly and the governorship.  You ask, what is the basis for all of this woe?  Why it's the median income of course.  This measurement of economic prosperity is disingenuous.  Here is an excerpt from Investor’s Business Daily:

 One point needs to be emphasized: Commentators often talk about income per capita or median income as if they were good measures of economic performance. They aren't. Lower tax rates attract people and income, and higher tax rates universally repel both. Sometimes income is more sensitive to taxes than population, sometimes it's not.


Thank you, IBD!  Finally, somebody has taken up the cudgel and started to whack-a-mole these scurrilous progressives.  I’ve written about their sophistry here, here and   here. 

However, progressives will never admit their economic models are hurting people.  Instead they will move the goal posts in a naked attempt to deceive the citizenry.  Here is an example by IBD:

So now state government apologists are scrambling to invent statistics that show that blue states are doing better. Not long ago, the New York Times published a long article that concluded: "And despite what you may have heard, blue states are generally doing better."

How did they come to this remarkable conclusion?

They examined four variables. Life expectancy at birth, percentage of college graduates, median income (an inappropriate income per capita-type number), and number of patents per 1,000 people (what?). Did they analyze how people vote with their feet? No. Or how income migrates? No.


I haven’t seen three of the four in the editorial pages, yet.  But I’m sure it’s coming.

Source:

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