By the end of January 2024, I read three articles by Mike Green on Substack: these are three very lengthy articles that make you feel like you've been reading forever; combined, they are as long as a small book. I will try to summarize them in Mandarin as follows: the main idea of the articles is: if you think the current economic data is good but your life is still tight, earning $100,000 a year is still considered poor, then it's not your fault—it's because the measure of wealth and poverty is based on Doraemon's self-deceiving ruler. The articles have three main points:
1. "Poverty Line" is actually a flawed measure
The US official poverty line is an annual income of $31,200( for a family of four); as long as your income exceeds $30,000, you're not considered poor. But this ruler was created in 1963. The logic back then was simple: a family spends about one-third of their income on food, so by calculating the minimum food cost and multiplying by three, you get the poverty line. But now, the situation is very different. Most people have seen that famous chart—the "Baumol's Cost Disease"(: food is getting cheaper, but the costs of housing, healthcare, and childcare are skyrocketing. If you calculate based on the 1963 standard of living—that is, being able to participate normally in society), having a house, a car, someone to take care of the kids, and access to healthcare(—the real current poverty line is not just over $30,000, but $140,000), roughly 1 million RMB(, which is just enough to live decently in this society.
2. The more you work hard, the poorer you become
America's welfare