Posted on 09/14/2011 7:02:34 AM PDT by bolobaby
The income of the typical American family—long the envy of much of the world—has dropped for the third year in a row and is now roughly where it was in 1996 when adjusted for inflation.
The income of a household considered to be at the statistical middle fell 2.3% to an inflation-adjusted $49,445 in 2010, which is 7.1% below its 1999 peak, the Census Bureau said.
The Census Bureau's annual snapshot of living standards offered a new set of statistics to show how devastating the recession was and how disappointing the recovery has been. For a huge swath of American families, the gains of the boom of the 2000s have been wiped out.
Earnings of the typical man who works full-time year round fell, and are lower—adjusted for inflation—than in 1978. Earnings for women, meanwhile, are a relative bright spot: Median incomes have been rising in recent years and rose again last year, though women still make 77 cents for every dollar earned by comparably employed men.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
What's wrong with this picture?
Once it gets down to third world levels, things will pick up.
Big government kills.
Look at the shambles that government has made and risk indicators are blowing off the charts.
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/
On a related side note... Democrats are extremely happy about this latest finding because as everyone gets poorer the dreaded gap between the rich and the poor gets smaller.
can we take Federal spending back to 1996 levels too?
That’s right. Obama’s mission accomplished when everyone is making $40,000. He prefers that to many people making $60,000 or more and a few even a million.
When China and Mexico start complaining about their jobs fleeing to the low wage U.S. and U.S. citizens jumping the border into Mexico for a chance at "the good life".
Housing has also dropped to 1996 levels (except for rent of course!)
What’s wrong with this picture?
Smacks of communism and that is why the “little queens” are going to get a smack down in 2012!
I worked for the State of Floriduh and am now unemployed as of 8/31/11. There is nothing out there job-wise, so I am exploring my options. I have applied for unemployment and foodstamps (1st time in my 53 years).
Not counting the cost of food and fuel of course.
Best of luck to you, FRiend. HOpe you find something soon.
TY!
The list, ping
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And, of course, when the U.S. starts looking like China and Mexico. How do you say “maquiladora” in English?
Free trade is a glorious thing. Move the factories to China, Mexico and other third world nations. Incomes decline in the USA and rise in other nations.
The free traders have enjoyed their 20 years experiment and it has been a disaster for the American middle class and the economy. Until this nation begins producing again, we will continue evolving into a third world socialist hell hole.
Let’s bring back the tariffs and quotas that existed during the 1980’s when the US economy was growing and the strongest in the world. Eliminate the corporate tax on products manufactured in America. You will see investment flow back into this country and an economic boom that will employ millions in middle class manufacturing jobs and jobs that support a revitalized manufacturing infrastructure.
All of the history lessons about the Smoot Hawley tariff causing the Great Depression of the 1930’s are bunk taught to us by the globalists to further their ends. The facts are, Smooth Hawley was passed after the 1929 crash. At the time Smoot Hawley was passed in 1930, exports of manufactured goods comprised less than 2% of GDP. Between the 1929 crash and the depth of the Depression in 1932, GDP declined 40% and manufacturing declined roughly the same 40%. Even if the US lost 100% of its manufacturing exports during that time, it would explain only 2% of the drop of over 40% of GDP.
More historical facts. The US became a mighty industrial power in the period between 1865 and 1900. This was a period of high tariffs. These tariffs funded almost the entire federal government and served to protect the development of American industry from European competition. The 1950’s also saw economic prosperity built on a manufacturing economy. China today is booming based on a manufacturing economy.
The high tech service economy dream of academics, multinational corporations, and politicians has been a disaster for the middle class and the economy strength of the nation. Look at the countries whose economic fortunes are rising today (China, India, Vietnam, Brazil) and you will see nations taking advantage of the wide open US free market while aggressively pursuing mercantilistic policies to protect their own markets.
We can choose to pursue economic policies that further the interests of our nation or we can continue to deindustrialize until our citizens live in poverty and our industrial infrastructure is no more.
Economic warfare is as deadly to a nation as a war with bullets and bombs. It just takes longer to play out. For 20 years we’ve been fighting a war to the death with our hands tied behind our backs while our enemies picked off the best fruits of our former prosperity. The recent announcement that GE is moving its medical imaging business to China should be a huge wake up call for this nation. Economically this news is as big as the attack on Pearl Harbor or the 9/11 attacks. Unfortunately, it seems to have been met with a big yawn by our elites.
I wonder what the price of a gallon of gas was in 1996.
“I wonder what the price of a gallon of gas was in 1996.”
Looking at internet resources for historical gasoline prices it appears the average price of a gallon of regular was $1.23 in 1996 in 1996 dollars.
Amen. But all you’ll hear is “lower taxes and less regulation” and employers will come back. But the truth is, if wages are lower somewhere else, and you can import your products cheaply, that somewhere else is where the jobs will go.
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