tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post966394278760631982..comments2024-01-17T07:03:57.842+00:00Comments on The Mad Ranter: Child Poverty againFlipChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-59173474734408062762010-01-27T11:24:24.401+00:002010-01-27T11:24:24.401+00:00Yet and that's not even difficult to show, jus...Yet and that's not even difficult to show, just line up the medians for the two years and using the same scale you can see if the left or right-hand side (or both) has spread away from it.<br /><br />The newspapers get a pretty graphic that show how sciency and technical they are and everyone can see exactly what's happening at a glance.FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-7953302530914427212010-01-27T11:04:06.820+00:002010-01-27T11:04:06.820+00:00Seems about right to me.
In a related note, today...Seems about right to me.<br /><br />In a related note, today a government survey has apparently shows that the gap between rich and poor has got wider over the last 40 years. “And by the time they reach retirement age, the gap can be colossal.”<br /><br />No quantification of <em>how much</em> wider. No indication of whether this is because the rich got richer or the poor got poorer or both.<br /><br />So, all round, a pretty empty statement then. Still, it <em>is</em> only the news headlines…Orphihttp://blog.orphi.me.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-86167296334072953772010-01-26T17:03:47.551+00:002010-01-26T17:03:47.551+00:00Well you can compare it with housing costs or with...Well you can compare it with housing costs or without; Save the Children use an after-housing cost. So if you live in a high-rent area you don't get booted out of the poverty bracket simply because you have more income than someone in a low-rent bracket when you both end-up with the same amount of money at the end of the day.<br /><br />As you say though that doesn't take into account local prices. It may be that in London prices are actually cheaper due to the increase in competition than they would be out of London in say a village. So even taking rental income or even council tax into account won't see that disparity.<br /><br />And no that's a good flaw to point out - gosh I've little money and I wish I could go on holiday shame I keep spending my money on booze and drugs then isn't it.<br /><br />So take the gross income and use a regional RPI (and/or CPI) to weight it, then calculate a median and use a magic figure to define poverty. That should clear out differences in both house prices and food costs that would distort the figures.<br /><br />So gross income of £20k and an RPI of 1 stays the same but in an RPI of 1.2, you have the equivalent of £16,666 income because things are more expensive in that area.FlipChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09449939046593105926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36939759.post-44361442685823121282010-01-26T16:07:37.418+00:002010-01-26T16:07:37.418+00:00Saying that anybody who earns X% less than most of...Saying that anybody who earns X% less than most of the populus is “poor” seems wrong to me. If everybody else suddenly starts earning radically less or more money, that has no direct effect on me.<br /><br />The <em>other</em> thing of course is that in some parts of the country, money goes a lot further than others. In most parts of London, parking seems to be charged at £9/hour, whereas in some parts of MK it's £0.10/hour. Slight difference there.<br /><br />A better measurement would seem to be comparing your income to the local cost of living.<br /><br />Similarly, whether you can “afford” material items depends on more than just how much money your parents have coming in. (E.g., if you're dad's an alcoholic, most of the income is never going anywhere near the kids. Not that I wish to imply that most poor people <em>are</em> alcoholic, I'm just pointing out a flaw in the statical process.)<br /><br />But hey, what the **** do I know about anything?Orphihttp://blog.orphi.me.uk/noreply@blogger.com