So while the poor got poorer, the rich got even richer than that.
This is why average is a shit metric for this.
Well, the mean is a bad average to use. The median would be an average more representative of the general population.
You have GOT to be fucking with me.
I mean, I think I might be able to decipher what you might be trying to say but you typed the sentence “the mean is a bad average to use.”
You know mean and average are synonyms… right?
Edit: My wife has just informed me that an article off Google says that in Finance and Sports Statistics, the term Average is used synonymous with Descriptive Statistics.
Having worked as a statistician in the past, my firm knowledge was that Mean/Average, median, mode, count, and range together form the family of Descriptive Statistics.
This hurts my brain so bad…
There are really people out there calling Descriptive Statistics and Averages synonyms? Do those people never use average to mean mean? Or do they use Average to mean both mean and Descriptive Statistic.
My brain is word souping so hard.
I did an edit acknowledging this and I am struggling HARD to accept it.
By your rules, Average has no less that 7 meanings.
By your rules, average is a useless word that doesn’t really convey anything.
But I am on notice that a lot of people are buying into this.
Please answer for me though. In your mind, is average one of the 5+ kinds of averages? Or do you only refer to mean when you are referencing that… (I really hate conceding that this is a thing) “average”.
To repeat. For over 20 years, in my world, mean and average mean “a set of values added together and divided by the count of values”, and mean/average, median, mode, range, and count are Descriptive Statistics. So when I say “average”, you know what I just said. I didn’t just say a meaningless thing (seemingly to waste time and be confusing to understand) that requires me to specify if I meant mean, median, mode, range, or count.
lol at calling wikipedia “your rules” as if I have any ownership of that website.
I never said averages have different meanings. I said there are different types of averages. You really jumped to the weirdest conclusion here. It’s as if I say “there are multiple types of shapes: squares, circles, triangles, etc” and you reply “by your rules, shape has no less than 7 meanings.” No, that’s not what was said and certainly not what was meant to be implied at all.
And to answer your question, specificity isn’t always required, so it’s perfectly acceptable to use the more vague term at times. Other times, it creates confusion or ambiguity, so it’s better to use a more specific word. If someone said “average,” I’d probably assume they meant the most common type of average: mean. That might be a wrong assumption, but thats just how words work. Some are more specific than others.
Okay. You wholesale skipped my question.
I am asking you, is average one of the 5 core, gulp, averages?
I agree with your sentiment, but I’ll say I’m in my 30s and in grade school they definitely taught us mean/median/mode as being ways to measure the average. That said, I do also use average to mean mean as that’s what something like Excel calls it and that’s what most people think of when measuring average unless you specify otherwise. So that’s all to say, yeah it’s a bit messed up.
Right. The whole linguistic cluster fuck in my head is “mean and average are synonymous, and that measure is a descriptive statistic.”
Accepting that average is synonymous with Descriptive statistic, not mean is troubling me.
My real fear is someone who calls a descriptive statistic an average is about to say to me that average and mean are synonyms as well, and that’s when I’m ready to flip a table.
Your brain can’t be healthy if you call average a descriptive statistic AND a mean.
Just learn the term descriptive statistic. Make your brain healthier. Communicate more efficiently with the world…
I’m with you basically and was also taught average = mean. If you meant median or mode you had to say so. 🤷♀️ This feels like when I learned my blood isn’t blue because it’s deoxygenated lol
Thanks for that.
Genuinely trying to make this a learning moment for me, but I also just can’t stop pushing my own point. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one like this.
They used median
So, basically what you see going on in this thread is Americans who are unable to square these statistics with their lives experience. I think the critical thing here is that net worth surged, and net worth is usually bound a lot more closely to illiquid assets like housing, stocks, etc. So while everyone’s living paycheck to paycheck, the stonks and real estate value that you can’t easily use to buy groceries are on a rip. Others here have pointed out that assets tend to remain pretty stable in value relative to inflation; that’s still true, and probably a big reason why the worth of those things has surged so much in the last few years.
So, tldr: people’s assets increased in value, largely driven by inflation, but that really isn’t helping anyone live better or more comfortably for the time being.
Other issues too… If everyone’s house is worth more, you’re not going to be able to afford to move any easier than you were before.
TL;DR: Rich people made a lot of money at everyone else’s expense.
Thank goodness for those billionaires keeping up that average!
Real, or inflation-adjusted, median net worth
Yes.
The median removes outlets like billionaires
So, from my personal perspective, mine and my wife’s wages did go up during those years. Quite substantially, I might add. Mine by $5/hr to $20/hr and hers by nearly $10/hr to $24/hr. Not without some time with us both being unemployed during the pandemic.
However, none of that helped us. We had to declare bankruptcy. Both our cars died and we couldn’t afford new ones, so we borrowed one until IT died and saved some money for a new (to us) car. Now we’re in more debt than before the bankruptcy thanks to that car and credit cards that I had to take out for us to be able to afford to eat during some hard times.
We’re paycheck to paycheck. Barely. Literally everything is more expensive. It took our entire savings (about $6k) just to move down the road to another apartment that wasn’t going to jack up our rent by $300/mo. Almost every dime goes to paying bills.
My net worth is negative. Has been since I was born. And I see no way out.
Removed by mod
This is true. Assets like houses are somewhat immune to inflation. If prices go up 10%, houses will just go up 10% too.
Read the fine print. “Americans” means “Jeff Bezos”.
yeah, how about their net costs
Rip inflation
