Sheila Bair’s Graph Of The Year: For Many Americans, There’s Been No Recovery At All - WaPO

[WillyT]

Sheila Bair’s graph of the year: For many Americans, there’s been no recovery at all
By Wonkblog/WaPo
December 30 at 11:03 am



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This chart, drawn from a report by the Sentier Research Group, shows that for a large number of American households, there has been no economic recovery. Caught in a vice of chronic unemployment and falling wages, real median household income (excluding capital gains and losses but including cash government benefits) has declined 4.4% since the “recovery” began in 2009. For many households, the drop has been more severe. For African-American households, it is 10.9%. For those under 25 years old, it is 9.6%. For single females with children, it is 7.5%. Indeed, the only households to experience an increase in real income are those 65 to 74 years old.

So as the investor class celebrates the stock market’s bubbly 25% gain in 2013 courtesy of quantitative easing, let’s not forget the plight of those Americans who work for a living. And in 2014, let’s face up to the ineffectiveness of monetary policy to help them and the desperate need for fiscal leadership to generate real, sustainable growth.

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Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/30/sheila-bairs-graph-of-the-year-for-many-americans-theres-been-no-recovery-at-all/