Let them eat cheap consumer electronic goods

I’m sure I would have joined the ranks of the Steven Levitt bashers sooner had I only read more from the Freakonomics dude, but his latest post is unspeakably thick-headed and remarkably counter-intuitive:

 

When people talk about inequality, they tend to focus exclusively on the income part of the equation. According to all our measures, the gap in income between the rich and the poor has been growing. What Broda and Romalis quite convincingly demonstrate, however, is that the prices of goods that poor people tend to consume have fallen sharply relative to the prices of goods that rich people consume. Consequently, when you measure the true buying power of the rich and the poor, inequality grew only one-third as fast as economists previously thought it did — or maybe didn’t grow at all.

Why did the prices of the things poor people buy fall relative to the stuff rich people buy? Lefties aren’t going to like the answers one bit: globalization and Wal-Mart!

 

Stevey baby, I can go years without buying a new shirt or pants (you get older, you end up with closets full of clothes). Kitchen appliances? Isn’t that the kind of shit you can easily go without in times of need?

For the benefit of a guy who obviously doesn’t know anyone who’s not affluent, here’s a list of the shit that’s killing lower earning and unemployed Americans:

 

• Housing (rent’s been way above 25% of income for over a decade)
• local taxes/sales taxes (way up under Bush)
• education (see also, Taxes, local)
• Energy costs (home and auto)
• medical costs 

 

Levitt’s not mentioning healthcare just proves the depth of his dishonesty. You can live without a microwave. Try living without a roof over your head or a car, and then if you can do that, let’s see how long it takes for that lack of healthcare to do you in.

The poor do not go to bed at night with a smile on their Dial soap-washed faces because the cost of buying a toaster oven has never been cheaper. Only a sick, privileged fuck with no clue would say otherwise.

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Obama-Edwards vs. McCain-Romney.

You read it hear first.

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If the pus oozing from a lanced sore on a Hashemite harlot’s pudendum could speak . . . it would sound a lot like this.

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Best news all week:

The Field can now confirm, based on multiple sources, something that both campaigns publicly deny: that Senator Clinton has directly told Senator Obama that she wants to be his vice presidential nominee, and that Senator Obama politely but straightforwardly and irrevocably said “no.” Obama is going to pick his own running mate based on his own criteria and vetting process.

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Corrections. And maybe it’s just my imagination, but I think David Brooks is busting his ass to distance himself from the Republicans. My guess is that this possible outcome is driving his latest thinking:

Actually, I think I accidentally grabbed a picture of Incurious George’s grandpappy, Preston.

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Probably not on your list of things to do, but a buddy has an extra Rush ticket for tonight. Great seat: $100. Or, if necessary, they’ll reconfigure and can come up with two tickets if that’s what you need. Email me and I’ll put you in touch. On the main floor twenty rows from the stage.

 

 

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