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Should politicians know the price of a pint of milk?

Should politicians know the price of a pint of milk?

  • Yes, it's critically important.

    Votes: 3 15.8%

  • Yes, but only marginally important.

    Votes: 2 10.5%

  • I don't want a politician to be an average person.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Meh. A factor, but a lesser factor.

    Votes: 3 15.8%

  • No, not really important at all.

    Votes: 11 57.9%
  • Total voters
    19
radcen

radcen

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Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.

Should politicians know the price of a pint of milk?

BBC News - Should politicians know the price of a pint of milk?
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No, they should be required to read everything they vote on.
 
radcen said:
Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.
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I related to the question metaphorically. I think a politician should be intimately familiar with the everyday living costs/expenses of his constituents to be able to relate to the problems it is his duty to resolve. Milk is just an example of one cost, not an only answer.
 
AliHajiSheik said:
No, they should be required to read everything they vote on.
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That too.

They should at least have a general idea of how their constituents are doing, wrt real life ability to maintain reasonable standards of living.
 
radcen said:
Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.
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Politicians live inside a bubble in which everything is done for them. Their speeches are written for them, someone shops for their food, drops off and picks up their dry cleaning, picks up their kids at school, drives them, and someone cleans their houses. Point is, even if you did tell a politician the price of a container of milk, I don't think he'd have the ability to process that information into any kind of real world context.
 
DaveFagan said:
I related to the question metaphorically. I think a politician should be intimately familiar with the everyday living costs/expenses of his constituents to be able to relate to the problems it is his duty to resolve. Milk is just an example of one cost, not an only answer.
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I agree, but when you say "intimately" I think 'within reason'. For example, if a gallon of milk is presently $3.49, and they answer $3.19, that's fine. But if they were to answer $1.69 that would tell me they are completely out of touch.
 
Who buys pints of milk? This is 'Murica, goddamnit. We buy milk by the gallon! Only Guinness ought to be measured in pints.
 
Cardinal said:
Politicians live inside a bubble in which everything is done for them. Their speeches are written for them, someone shops for their food, drops off and picks up their dry cleaning, picks up their kids at school, drives them, and someone cleans their houses. Point is, even if you did tell a politician the price of a container of milk, I don't think he'd have the ability to process that information into any kind of real world context.
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Fair point. I would hope, though, that they'd be able to reach back into the dusty cobwebs of their memory and remember what it means. At least in concept.

2nd & 3rd generation politicians, excepted, of course.
 
lizzie said:
That too.

They should at least have a general idea of how their constituents are doing, wrt real life ability to maintain reasonable standards of living.
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Fine, but someone who is not out of touch would realize that most people don't buy milk in pints, unless this is also a math quiz.
 
AliHajiSheik said:
Fine, but someone who is not out of touch would realize that most people don't buy milk in pints, unless this is also a math quiz.
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:lol:
Good point.

Maybe the politician in question buys milk from the corner convenience store.
 
radcen said:
Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.
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Milk? No. A lot of people don't drink milk. A gallon of gas? Yes. Add: mortgage interest rates and typical mortgage payment, the average electric bill for a typical family, etc.
 
radcen said:
Fair point. I would hope, though, that they'd be able to reach back into the dusty cobwebs of their memory and remember what it means. At least in concept.

2nd & 3rd generation politicians, excepted, of course.
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I doubt they could. I've seen studies that found most people are generally crap at appreciating the full difficulty of their lives before they were rich and powerful. And if they were never poor to begin with? Well, just forget about it. People who have been rich their entire lives have about as much hope relating to the difficulty of affording groceries as I do relating to the everyday concerns of avoiding being killed by warlords in the Congo.
 
radcen said:
Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.
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I don't think I could tell you the price of a pint of milk, so I don't really care if a politician can or not. I don't know that I've ever even bought a pint of milk, or even whether my grocery store sells milk in pints. I usually buy a half gallon.
 
radcen said:
Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.
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No. I buy milk every week and I barely remember what the price of milk is. It's like 2-4ish dollars. Something like that.
 
radcen said:
Knowing the price of milk isn't the point, I believe. The point is how relatable the politician is and how capable they are of understanding our needs and how things affect us. *I* don't care if they're spot on, but I do want them to be reasonably close and know if it's trending up or down at the moment, and why.
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Most milk is sold in gallons or half gallons so probably not
 
"No, not really important at all."

The real reason is no sane economist would suggest such the associated micromanagement with what is being proposed by forcing politicians to know the daily price of any one good or service. It is one of those things that sounds like a good idea until you realize the consequences of having politicians make decisions based upon those prices, and ultimately you end up with economic fault from price motivated political "feel good" intentions.
 
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radcen said:
I agree, but when you say "intimately" I think 'within reason'. For example, if a gallon of milk is presently $3.49, and they answer $3.19, that's fine. But if they were to answer $1.69 that would tell me they are completely out of touch.
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I think knowing the price of milk right now, today a good thing and might show they are not completely detached.

However, knowing the trending prices in relation to last year, 2 years back and the conditions that will inflate or hold stable is what we should look for in our leaders.

Our leaders don't do this, though. And we allow them to not do it. Our country has not had national policies on much of anything in about a decade.

How's that been working out for us?

U.S. Household Incomes: A 46-Year Perspective





Here is a table showing decline in income for each household segment from its real peak.
household-income-real-decline-from-peak-table.gif
​
 
We'd all really be much better off if our representatives met a few times a year, or in emergency session, to discuss the protection of our lives, liberty and property and little else. Then they could go back to their regular jobs. Full time representatives have too much time to make decisions about which they have no Constitutional authority. They need to stay out of our business.
 
Most people don't know most things most of the time.

I think most men probably don't know the price of milk.

People mainly only remember things like this if they are struggling with money - and politicians are not....
 
Stoney said:
We'd all really be much better off if our representatives met a few times a year, or in emergency session, to discuss the protection of our lives, liberty and property and little else. Then they could go back to their regular jobs. Full time representatives have too much time to make decisions about which they have no Constitutional authority. They need to stay out of our business.
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Add to that the regulators who create law out of caprice should all be taken out back and whipped and then hanged and then imprisoned for life and we might have a less oppressive system of vindictive controls.
 
twixie1 said:
Most people don't know most things most of the time.

I think most men probably don't know the price of milk.

People mainly only remember things like this if they are struggling with money - and politicians are not....
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In an indirect way, you hit upon the point of the question... probably without even realizing it.

They don't know what's going on in the world in which they are legislating. And that's the point, they have more of a need and responsibility to know more so than an average citizen. You or I may not know what's going on in our markets, and that's not a big deal because our lack of knowledge affects only ourselves, but it is imperative that those who are legislating the markets know.
 
There are other barometers for measuring the public's life. Any given metric would be difficult to suggest would be the primary one to look at. In principle, the more ones advisors let you know about how one thing interacts with the average (or targeted group's) life the better.
 
AliHajiSheik said:
No, they should be required to read everything they vote on.
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Dear God, why? This has always struck me as one of the single dumbest ideas for government possible.

We ask them to campaign, we ask them to have a platform, we ask them to them to vote, we ask them to visit their constituents in any given region of the country, we ask them to make public addresses, we ask them to be part of committees, and now you want them to read everything they vote on.

We don't elect superhumans to office, people.

There isn't enough time in the day.

They lean on trusted colleagues for advice on what to do with their vote, they get staffers to draft legislation, they seek input from interest groups impacted by any legislation or regulation.
 
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Should politicians know the price of a pint of milk?
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no. they should be well read on the history of empires, however. most don't seem to be.
 
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