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Great! But the comment I was referring to was specifically about the accuracy of the official statistics
Great! But now I am missing your point, because as long as I follow the rules and stay on topic - which I am, just a different angle - I am not required to only post within the confines of the op's argument, am I?
No, but you were specifically referring to my comment, right? Which was about the merits (ie, lack of merit) the use of personal anecdotes to attack the validity of statistics about the norm, right? Because OP wasn't talking about how personal experience colors subjective perceptions of the economy; he was claiming that his personal experience demonstrate an objective truth: that the economy as a whole is doing poorly, and that the data showing otherwise is fake.
So, if you are "not trying to draw inferences about the norm," why are you responding to my comment, which was literally and only about trying to draw inferences about the norm? Which is what OP was doing, There is an entire main thread on perceptions of the economy.
From your comment, and other comments you made, I determined that you did not believe the economy was doing poorly, so I asked about your personal circumstances. I couldn't post in the thread about perceptions of the economy when I asked you about your personal circumstances, because it didn't exist.
No, I have not expressed opinion about the state of the economy. That is what I mean when I said you are missing the point. I was merely commenting on the OP's [mis]use of his personal anecdote to argue that all positive data must be fake.
Was I wrong, do you think the economy is doing worse than the government says? Or do you, as I inferred, think the government is broadly accurate in its presentation?
Frankly, the question makes no sense. The govt doesn’t issue a "status of the economy" metric. Rather, it generates all sorts of data on aspects of the economy: data on unemployment, employment, inflation, poverty, gdp, housing starts, (at least two measures), and scores of others. Do I think that the data is basically accurate? Yes. But what the data implies about "how the economy is doing" depends on what one deems most important about the economy, as well as who you are. There is generally a tradeoff between unemployment and inflation, for example. And if you are an African-American teenager looking for work, the economy has never been particularly good. If your concern is inequality, things seem to be getting better recently.
You can talk down to me all you like, I am fully aware that personal circumstances shape perception of the economy, that is exactly why I asked you, as I explained earlier. I would have also been fine with you just saying "yes".
Again, you are missing the point, because my answer isn't "yes." My answer is obviously "it depends." And, I was not talking about personal perception of the economy; I was talking about personal judgment about the economy, which is not the same thing. "In my personal opinion, unemployment is actually higher than the official data says, because that is my personal opinion," is a very different claim than, "in my personal judgment, other factors outweigh the low unemployment rate; hence, I judge the overall state of the economy to be poor."
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