Re:The Dream Hoarders: How America's Top Percent Perpetuates...
by Pfhreak on Monday February 11, 2019 @05:11PM
(#19138870)
That's fair! Assuming you are making the argument that we are making progress.
I should amend my statement to say, "Is that a reasonable metric to use to declare success?" I regularly bump into folks who say, "Well, what more should we do? We're already better than we were 100 years ago."
Re:The Dream Hoarders: How America's Top Percent Perpetuates...
by JumpCrisscross on Monday February 11, 2019 @05:33PM
(#19139098)
> I should amend my statement to say, "Is that a reasonable metric to use to declare success?"
Got it. I think there may be confusion between a metric and a threshold. The metric being certain objective measures of quality of life. The thresholds being where we were 100 years ago, where we are today, and where we should be today.
More broadly, anyone "declaring success" on such a broad question is--at best--deluded. More common is people throwing their hands up at what looks like an insurmountable problem. I've found pointing out the often-unappreciated magnitude of recent historical performance to be useful in that respect.
Yes, it is. There is hyperbole on both sides of this debate. Being able to show we've made historic progress makes future potential progress look more realistic. It shows our institutions are capable of solving this problem.