This is for any episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, starting with Season 11 Episode 9 (next week from time of posting).
I will be using the Wikipedia Episode list for the record, which also contains a full historical record of previous episodes. We’re only counting “Main segment” or “Other segment” topics, not jokes made offhand as a part of either, or between the two.
As John has repeated topics, where he updates on news since the previous episode, you can add topics which have already been covered. All open topics will Resolve NO when the show is cancelled, market will extend until the show ends.
1,000
3.00@mattyb I'd argue we've got a hit.
@Quroe No, the issue isn't one of ambiguity. It's that when we say wages are stagnating or increasing or what have you we mean that, adjusting for CPI, they aren't going up. Comparing it to "GDP" or "productivity" is just silly. We have no reason to expect that real wages / (whatever denominator you want) would continue to increase. The concern was that there was a period of about 10-15 years (albeit, including '08 and the recovery) where real wages were stagnating, which is why people kept talking about it. But we're well and truly past that! Economists don't say that anymore, because real wages have gone up! But to rescue the idea that the middle class is in dire, awful financial straits for rhetorical effect, the claim has become "oh, but if you just compare it to these other indexes, then they've stagnated". But there's just no reason to do that. That's not what we care about. There's no reason to think that comparison is meaningful. It's just lying.
@Najawin Very well. I believe the general idea presented here is a talking point in America, and seeing our favorite British fellow with a thing for muscular horses talk about the points you bring up and debunking the talking point as you have here would be a solid hit for that market category. Can we shake hands on that?
@Quroe I mean, sure, but I think it's unlikely to happen, because he doesn't punch left enough. And to punch right he'd have to lie.
@Najawin I am quite alright with you winning the internet for the night here. I will admit that I am not immune to propaganda.
@Quroe nah. It needs to be either the Main Segment or an “Other Segment”, going off the Wikipedia article. He’s gotta devote the show to a topic (at least partially) for this to count.