triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Quote For The Day

"It's sometimes called 'population thinking,' Kennesaw. A pity you never learned to apply those methods. Instead, you made the classic mistake of categorizing people into abstract types instead of recognizing their concrete variations."

Anton Zilwicki, speaking to the genetic superman he is about to crush, in Eric Flint's Honorverse story From The Highlands. It also applies to people who base claims of immiseration on the near-stagnation of the median income, ignoring the fact that any individual's situation changes over time, more often than not for the better. Optimistic fanboy that I am, I take the fact that the median, a statistical artifact, is holding steady while the rich get richer, means that large numbers of people are finding employment, at the low-paying entry level where they start, and have every confidence that those who apply themselves will move up as I have.

Update:

Here's some simple math supportive of my assertion that the "stagnant" median is not bad news.

Posted by triticale at August 31, 2006 04:32 PM | TrackBack