I’m perfectly heathy, active, young looking, and young at heart. But I do think that dick Cheney has a better standard of living than I do.
You miss the point. Academics, economists and policy makers look at the aggregate, not individual cases.

No: I get your point. I just think you’re wrong. 🙂

As far as the policy makers, the output is influenced by the input — it’s a lot easier to use “the most toys per capita” as an input and desired end state, rather than a more complex mixture of conditions. I’m exaggerating a bit, of course, since no one is really that single-minded…

I wouldn’t trade places with Dick Cheney if you paid me ten million and gave me all the iPads in the world to do so. Life’s too short to go through it with angina, a limp dick, an unsteady aim, and an alienated daughter…