Friday, September 21, 2012

Scary Chart of the Day

September 20, 2012
The Atlantic: The Graph That Should Accompany Every Article About Millennials and Economics

Real earnings for young grads with a college degree have now declined for six straight years. "Real average earnings for young grads have fallen by over 15% since 2000, or by about $10,000 in constant 2011 dollars," PPI reports.

There's clearly a shortage of "qualified" college graduates. Just look at those rising incomes!

This post inspired by About That Education Bubble ... as seen at The Echo Boom Bomb.

See Also:
Sarcasm Disclaimer

8 comments:

  1. I didn't understand anything until I saw this graph:

    http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CMDEBT

    Then I understood everything.

    We can recast this in terms of leverage -- debt / wages:

    http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=aWd

    And that is pretty scary, and we can also switch the numerator to actual YOY debt take-on / wages:

    http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=aWe which makes the departure clearer still.

    But missing in the above 2 graphs is the reality that the numerator has been feeding the denominator to a very great extent.

    We can see that in the college earnings numbers, how they peaked during the 2005 mortgage fraud-fueled buzz.

    My God is our goose cooked. The only way out is Clawbacks, but that requires going toe-to-toe with the most powerful people on the planet, the people Romney was entertaining in Boca Raton last May.

    The world is a crazy place. I have no cause for complaint, but it doesn't have to be 1/10th as bad as it is now for people.

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  2. Hey Mark,

    Completely off topic, but I was wondering if you have purchased the new Borderlands 2 yet?

    If so, what do you think?

    It seems to be receiving rave reviews, but it's hard to cough up $59.99 when I know that sooner or later the price will come down.

    Take care and my apologies for side tracking the thread.

    WT

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  3. Troy,

    My God is our goose cooked.

    That's because our economy is based on "crock pot" economic theories.

    Gallows sarcasm. Sigh.

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  4. Watchtower,

    What do you really think the odds are that I would shell out $59.99 (+ sales tax) for a video game? Not going to happen!

    That said, there is a distinct possibility that I shelled out $59.96 two days ago at Fry's (saving 3 whole cents!), spent a few hours playing it with a friend, spent several hours playing it with my girlfriend yesterday, spent several hours more playing it solo, and intend to continue that pattern today.

    I might say that if you loved the first Borderlands and you haven't burned out, then you should love its sequel. I might say that. One never knows. I just can't confirm or deny it. Hahaha! ;)

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  5. Watchtower,

    In all seriousness, I didn't have a hard time paying $59.96 once I amortized it over its game playing lifetime. I shouldn't have a problem getting it down to 20 cents per hour, lol.

    I still haven't bought Skyrim (especially for PS3) though. Each bug found costs me at least one sanity point.

    What's a sanity point worth? I'd say at least 25 cents! The more I play Bethesda games the more I lose! ;)

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  6. Mark,

    That's the confirmation that I needed.

    If you say it's good, then I know it's good.

    Thanks! : )

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  7. 20c per hour! No wonder our real economy is collapsing.

    To make any money in this place you've got to find a juicy victim to attach your taps to.

    Housing Rents are up-up-up:

    http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=aZ8 -- up 30% between the 1991 & 2001 recession and up 25% between the 2001 & 2008 recession.

    Health care, that's another one, outpacing even housing:

    http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=aZa but young people generally don't consume much health care at least.

    But real estate and medicine isn't a young person's game . . .

    Good thing I chose computers -- money for nothin' and the chicks for free!

    I didn't fully understand it, but back in the 1980s I sensed that computers were going to be great at creating a replacement economy, where wealth was encoded in bytes and shipped on discs.

    Apple got to be 5% of the S&P 500 by seizing the moment to establish this new economy, 2007-2009.

    With the proper peripherals, the iPhone 5 could be my universal computing device -- laptop, gaming console, DVR . . . it's a beast inside.

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  8. Troy (& Watchtower),

    20c per hour! No wonder our real economy is collapsing.

    I'm down to 6 cents per hour on Rainbow Moon. It cost $14.99. I played about 80 hours and decided to start over. I'm up to 160 hours on the second pass. Although I technically completed the game many hours ago, there's still plenty of game left to play should I so desire (there is a deep post-game world).

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