How many times have you heard this or variations of it? It is both a stupid question and a "loaded" question all at the same time. That is what this blog is about.
I am going to use some abstractions to explain this and I hope that most of you are smart enough to understand the logic. You are in a boat rowing up a river and you are 30 years old. After seven years of rowing, how far up the river are you? If you are farther up the river than where you started, then you would answer the stupid question "yes". With me on this one? What if you were not farther up the river, but were actually a little further down stream than where you started? In that case you would answer the stupid question "no". I think that now, you understand the problem with the stupid question.
What if we had a slightly different situation where we had asked this same question "7" years ago to a group of "different" people and saved the results to compare with your answer. I think that we would get the similar answers, but here would be a big difference. Now what could that be? Rather than just asking if they were farther up the river, we would add the detail of "exactly how far up the river were you?" Now, things take on a very different interpretation. What we notice is that those people "7" ago were much further up the rive than those who we just asked! Big deal, right?
It would be like asking a person working for the post office if they now make more than they did before Obama was elected. I can tell you that 100% would say "yes". Why is that? Because they are "7" years older on the job. What we need to compare are people who are, today, the same age that you were "7" years ago and see if they are better off than you were "7" years ago. When you do this, you get a very different answer. Now do you understand why the question is both stupid and loaded?
When I was 28 years old back in the 60's, with a BS and a MS degree in Engineering, I made enough to qualify for a loan to purchase a 4 bedroom 3 and 1/2 bath formal dining room and rec-room with a fireplace and wet bar in San Jose. Now, you find me a similar person with two kids and only "one" income who could do that? That is the comparison that you need to make and the answer is clear that we are "not" better off. We are going backwards and don't even know it.
There are a couple of additional things about the boat in the river. First off, the river is flowing faster. That is a fact of life. This is because we are now competing with more and more people around the world and it is getting cheaper every day for them to shop their products here. They don't come by Camel as in the past, they come by supertanker or container ship. The other thing is that we used to be good boat rowers, but we have gotten fat and lazy while the rest of the world have become much better at rowing boats. Getting the message?
The next time you hear some simple minded person asking "are you better off now", think about how stupid this question really is.!
I am going to use some abstractions to explain this and I hope that most of you are smart enough to understand the logic. You are in a boat rowing up a river and you are 30 years old. After seven years of rowing, how far up the river are you? If you are farther up the river than where you started, then you would answer the stupid question "yes". With me on this one? What if you were not farther up the river, but were actually a little further down stream than where you started? In that case you would answer the stupid question "no". I think that now, you understand the problem with the stupid question.
What if we had a slightly different situation where we had asked this same question "7" years ago to a group of "different" people and saved the results to compare with your answer. I think that we would get the similar answers, but here would be a big difference. Now what could that be? Rather than just asking if they were farther up the river, we would add the detail of "exactly how far up the river were you?" Now, things take on a very different interpretation. What we notice is that those people "7" ago were much further up the rive than those who we just asked! Big deal, right?
It would be like asking a person working for the post office if they now make more than they did before Obama was elected. I can tell you that 100% would say "yes". Why is that? Because they are "7" years older on the job. What we need to compare are people who are, today, the same age that you were "7" years ago and see if they are better off than you were "7" years ago. When you do this, you get a very different answer. Now do you understand why the question is both stupid and loaded?
When I was 28 years old back in the 60's, with a BS and a MS degree in Engineering, I made enough to qualify for a loan to purchase a 4 bedroom 3 and 1/2 bath formal dining room and rec-room with a fireplace and wet bar in San Jose. Now, you find me a similar person with two kids and only "one" income who could do that? That is the comparison that you need to make and the answer is clear that we are "not" better off. We are going backwards and don't even know it.
There are a couple of additional things about the boat in the river. First off, the river is flowing faster. That is a fact of life. This is because we are now competing with more and more people around the world and it is getting cheaper every day for them to shop their products here. They don't come by Camel as in the past, they come by supertanker or container ship. The other thing is that we used to be good boat rowers, but we have gotten fat and lazy while the rest of the world have become much better at rowing boats. Getting the message?
The next time you hear some simple minded person asking "are you better off now", think about how stupid this question really is.!
