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Comment by InclinedPlane | Hacker News Reader

"If the share of income in a group gets smaller over time, their purchasing power goes down correspondingly as well."

What do you mean by that? I don't see that supported by any evidence whatsoever. If a particular quintile has a smaller share of total income and yet are able to buy exactly the same products, exactly the same services, and exactly the same housing with their income then how is their purchasing power diminished?

Indeed, in actuality people are able to buy better products and services for their money. The "poor" today have cable TV, computers, and cellphones.

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"I don't see that supported by any evidence whatsoever. If a particular quintile has a smaller share of total income and yet are able to buy exactly the same products, exactly the same services, and exactly the same housing with their income then how is their purchasing power diminished?"

Except, they can't, on any objective basis. You're overlooking inflation when it's inconvenient to your argument, and using it as a bludgeon when it is. Price declines in consumer electronics are meaningless when the cost of energy and food and housing and education goes up steadily over time, often at rates higher than inflation.

Following your logic to it's end, it'll be fine and dandy if the richest 1% accumulates 99.99% of the wealth and the poor can't afford buy vegetables or homes, just as long as the last .01% of wealth lets them buy televisions (or whatever mass-produced gee-gaw is cheaply produced in 2050).

Some interesting ideas here, and in the parent comment. I'll admit to being fairly naive when it comes to economics. With that in mind, when I started this thread I was thinking about whether it mattered that the discretionary income of those in the upper quintiles was growing faster than those in the lower quintiles, as long as all quintiles have discretionary income. I agree that being able to buy a TV is not the same thing as being able to house/clothe/feed your family. In light of this discussion, I'm now thinking it would be helpful if the charts showed how poverty (which I will define to mean unable to house/clothe/feed your family) has increased/decreased during the same period.

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