Is income inequality actually decreasing? | ft. Articles from Noah Smith & Matthew Yglesias

Thanks for watching everyone. Feel free to leave questions, comments, and your general thoughts about my analysis or this issue in the comments below.

#Policy #Inequality #Economics

0:00 Introduction
0:52 Noah Smith Article
13:47 Matthew Yglesias Article
26:57 My Thoughts

[paulspringwood]

Inequality is increasing one can look at the level of savings, gini coefficient, and the return from capital. It will continue to increase as financiers and corporate accountants move assets to tax havens. Matthew Yglesia has always been a libertarian masked as a moderate liberal but I expected a little more from Noah Smith. Furthermore, increases in inequality aren’t even leading to more growth and investment as you economist claimed. Savings is at the highest it has ever been yet investment is low (and certainly not going towards the investment we need like good quality green jobs) and GDP growth by decade is at the lowest it’s ever been when compared to the post WW2 era.

[victormn]

Any measure of inequality that doesn't include housing costs and returns from housing investments are not valid measures.

[overlord]

Big issue long term, even if the trends highlighted here are true and endure, are the issues of precarity and job quality, and instability. Even if people's wealth and income situation improves, they won't be noticed if the current labor market meat grinder and anti-labor conditions remain. See last December's railway worker's dispute as an example of this dynamic, wherein high compensation is used to justify terrible treatment and working conditions. Also, see working conditions in tech, not-unionized, but high compensation fields where job hopping is relatively common.

[Akveet]

I like to see people pushing against doom-posters.

[donovan]

No income inequality is not decreasing

[PoliticalEconomy]

Pre-tax inequality is still increasing. The top 10% income shares increased 1.3% since 2013. So Yglesias is wrong.