Posted on 09/13/2017 12:53:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Buried amid a deluge of nasty news ranging from the growing North Korean nuclear threat to killer hurricanes hitting our coasts, the Census Bureau reports that median household income, a broad gauge of family financial well-being, hit its highest level ever last year. That's another strong sign that the economy is trying to break out of its 10-year growth slump.
The median household income last year was $59,039, up 0.7% from the previous record of $58,655 set in 1999, the year the dot-com boom went bust. Real median incomes for married households with both spouses working soared to $106,000 in inflation adjusted dollars, nearly $10,000 higher than where it stood in 1999.
This is a clear sign that middle-class families are starting to do better as the economy turns the corner from the post-financial crisis malaise that lasted for much of the Obama years. Incomes rose, Census said, because more people found full-time jobs or better-paying jobs in 2016. At the same time, the poverty rate dipped to 12.7%, its lowest level since 2007.
But in analyzing the numbers, some in the media seemed to miss the bigger picture.
"Economists hailed the news as evidence the recovery is finally taking hold after years of frustration for the middle class, which watched the stock market soar while the average American's income barely budged," the Washington Post wrote.
But in fact the stock market might, in large part, be the reason why incomes rose. Over the past two years, Census says, incomes have risen sharply. And, as the Post notes, the stock market did soar over that time — by 22.1%, as measured by the S&P 500. Using the far broader Wilshire 5000 as a gauge, the U.S. stock market has added $3.44 trillion in wealth to the U.S. economy
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Instead, much of the recent rise in household incomes, the data show, comes from more people in each household being employed — and not necessarily from higher wages for those already working. This is still a good thing, but with tax reform that lowers rates for individuals and for businesses, job and income growth can be even faster.
Note is says “last year.” That was 2016, folks, as Juan Williams was only too happy to point out on The Five.
I’m not sure we should say wealth was ‘added’. Probably more appropriate to say wealth was ‘recovered’ from the disaster caused by a single memo from Chuckie Schumer.
According to the 1974 Census Report that pops up in the fist few items when you search for the 'Median Income for 1973', they say the that figure is $10,512 for a difference in real dollars of $1,219 or, $35.85 per year gain since 1973.
With real, inflation adjusted income going up at a tad less than a dollar a month for the past 43 years it's my considered, but humble, opinion that the whole "post industrial society" meme started in the early seventies is a total fraud on par with the global warming scam.
It's worth noting that various inflation calculation programs put 1973 equivalent still lower by about five hundred dollars, but hey, why quibble over a few pennies a month when we've all been getting those fat income increases for decades now.
JMHo
ooops...
Census Bureau: Mens’ Wages Remain Below 1973 Levels
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/09/12/census-bureau-mens-wages-remain-1973-levels/
gotta love statistics, eh?
The way our economy works, driven by debt and speculation as it is and likewise sustained by feels, I don’t think we’ll ever have a shortage of balloons to get blindsided by....
Economic and public policy over the last 40 years has been designed to keep wages stagnant or in decline in the USA. It’s worked.
Are those numbers adjusted for inflation? I always hold such articles in suspect.
Stock markets do NOT add real wealth. They are just paper changing enterprises. Wealth comes from production.
This malaise hasn’t even started. Wait till we have to come up with the 400 trillion dollars (and growing) we’re on the hook for.
Yes, the 1% who run the country want US workers to have "World Class" wages.
I believe it. We may never recover those golden days.
...some in the media seemed to miss the bigger picture.
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I watched Fox News this a.m. and saw several people on different programs that don’t understand that “median”, as used in this article, is the mid-point in the range of household incomes. Many used the word “average” interchangeably. Guess they slept through math classes.
People on the lower end of incomes could have had very little improvement while those on the upper end received good increases and that would cause the “median” to rise.
If you own stocks, you own companies that produce goods and services. Over time, they will make profits, and give some of them to you as dividends, and reinvest some of them in the business. This is how investors get rich over long periods.
Here in NJ and the NYC metro area there certainly hasn’t been any recovery at all; “for sale” signs everywhere, and only importing masses of Third Worlders conceals the fact that for most people this area is unaffordable. Too many good jobs left, too many government workers making a lot of money from the dwindling pool of property owners and taxpayers...
Like Western Europe, the only stability people find now in the US is through foregoing children - and that causes the elites to simply traffic non-contributing Third Worlders to fill areas abandoned by the shrinking number of Americans.
I agree. My main argument is that stock prices going up, in themselves, don’t add to the wealth of a nation. Classical economist agree that wealth is derived from production. Banks and investment banks sell paper.
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