Recession Officially Over, U.S. Incomes Kept Falling

[alp227]

Source: NY Times

In a grim sign of the enduring nature of the economic slump, household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended than it did during the recession itself, new research has found.

Between June 2009, when the recession officially ended, and June 2011, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 6.7 percent, to $49,909, according to a study by two former Census Bureau officials. During the recession — from December 2007 to June 2009 — household income fell 3.2 percent.

The finding helps explain why Americans’ attitudes toward the economy, the country’s direction and its political leaders have continued to sour even as the economy has been growing. Unhappiness and anger have come to dominate the political scene, including the early stages of the 2012 presidential campaign.

President Obama recently called the economic situation “an emergency,” and over the weekend he assailed Congressional Republicans for opposing his jobs bill, which includes tax cuts that would raise take-home pay. Republicans blame Mr. Obama for the slump, saying he has issued a blizzard of regulations and promised future tax increases that have hurt business and consumer confidence.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/us/recession-officially-over-us-incomes-kept-falling.html

[dkf]

1. Ezra Klein explains it all...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/could-this-time-have-been-different/2011/08/25/gIQAiJo0VL_blog.html?wprss=ezra-klein

[No Elephants]

15. Ezra Klein's point of view? WAPO, Bloomberg, MSNBC. Might as well read a WH press release.

[dkf]

22. Yes it is from the pov of the white house but a nice rundown of what they were thinking.

I have more sympathy for Obama after reading it.

They did what they thought was feasible. I have to admire that.

[Warpy]

2. This is coming on the tail of 7 years of "jobless recovery" under Stupid's

misadministration, so working people have taken a real beating for far longer than the three years since the 2008 crisis.

The only people who don't think we're in a depression are the wealthy few and a bunch of designer suited men in urban corner offices. The rest of us know better and it's getting worse instead of better.

I sincerely hope all the Koch brothers' carefully cultivated and paid for politicians will be on the unemployment line in January, 2013. I hope their replacements realize what needs to be done if they want to keep their own jobs.

[Remember Me]

9. Yes, plus they need to craft a better definition of recession nt

[No Elephants]

16. Why would they? They twisted themselves into pretzels to come up with this one.

And to disguise the real unemployment numbers.

You can just about double, maybe more like triple, the unemployment figures they give us.

[area51]

20. Almost quadruple the current official unemployment rate,

according to this website, which says we have 30.5% unemployment. Our govt. and media would rather cut their tongues out than call it the Depression that it is.

[XemaSab]

25. Also, I haven't seen any figure for underemployment

be it the person who was working for $50,000 three years ago and is now making $20,000, or the person who would like to work 40 hours a week but who is working 20.

There's also the measurement of people who are working 2 jobs when they would like to only work one.

[unkachuck]

3. "...household income declined more in the two years after the recession..."

....how can this be?....with all those millions of Republican tax-break jobs out there?

"...household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended than it did during the recession itself..."

"Between June 2009, when the recession officially ended, and June 2011, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 6.7 percent,"

....they are either lying to us or they have absolutely no idea of what they're doing....

[No Elephants]

17. Congress was Democratic from January 2007 thru January 2011.

And Dummya left the WH in January 2009.

I really don't think you can rightfully hang U.S. tax policy between June 2009 and June 2011 on Republicans and only on Republicans.

[Jello Biafra]

4. The Recession is Officially Over...

and The Depression is Officially Started...it's only gonna get worse gang.....

[Angry Dragon]

5. +157

[Divine Discontent]

6. they know they've had us right where they want us. it's disgusting. I know a few people who are

super rich and they have never a worry or stress about caring what a jar of pickles cost at the store, or how much gas is on the corner a block away from your regular station, and so on. It disgusts me to see that the super rich and upper middle class aren't paying taxes in the same manner that so many middle class and lower middle class are paying. I support the protests and hope the people see that the GOP does not want to make the wealthy pay another dime... it's sickening.


http://www.zazzle.com/obama_biden_2012_magnet-147764302703368412?rf=238107662556833486

[bananas]

14. Did you see this about Citigroup and the Plutonomy?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2086494

>>>>
SUMMARY
➤ The World is dividing into two blocs - the Plutonomy and the rest. The U.S.,
UK, and Canada are the key Plutonomies - economies powered by the wealthy.
Continental Europe (ex-Italy) and Japan are in the egalitarian bloc.

➤ Equity risk premium embedded in “global imbalances” are unwarranted. In
plutonomies the rich absorb a disproportionate chunk of the economy and have
a massive impact on reported aggregate numbers like savings rates, current
account deficits, consumption levels, etc. This imbalance in inequality
expresses itself in the standard scary “ global imbalances”. We worry less.

➤ There is no “average consumer” in a Plutonomy. Consensus analyses focusing
on the “average” consumer are flawed from the start. The Plutonomy Stock
Basket outperformed MSCI AC World by 6.8% per year since 1985. Does
even better if equities beat housing.
>>>>

Must read entire internal memo.

[No Elephants]

18. Citigroup has wiped Part 2 of its Plutonomy memo off the Internet.

That is a feat, too.

I wish I had copied it when I had a chance. I will never again assume that, once on the Internet, always on the Internet.

Especially now that enforcement of copyright laws is part of the WOT. (I kid you not.)

[Leftist Agitator]

23. Is this what you were referring to?

http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/files/plutonomy-2-1.pdf

[kestrel91316]

7. The recession started 4 1/2 years ago for me, and hasn't ended yet.

[workinclasszero]

8. Sure the recession is over for big business and wall street

They got baled out and now sit on trillions and not hiring waiting for us all to starve to death apparently.

But it went from recession to depression for the 99%!

[OHdem10]

10. We have a structural problem brought on by a poorly managed

Globalization and Trade Policy over the last 20 plus years.
Ohio and many other states had been losing jobs for years.



Unemployment predicted to remain high until at
least 2018 (Zandi, Moody's Ratings Agency

It appears no one wants to approach this subject.
Could it be they want to do more trade deals.

The World did not Globalize itself. The Governments
of Every Country participated. There is not some
"great force" out there determining our destiny.

Until people are willing, and just as they formulated
Globalization and Trade Policies' have the courage
to say this is not working for anyone--we need
to make adjustments, we will limp forward. This goes
for all the countries involved.

[defendandprotect]

13. This was a financial coup -- as engineered as the first depression .....

[No Elephants]

19. The policies that got us here are broader than that and began in earnest

not long after Reagan took office.

EVERY President since has added to them.


Lobbyists before 1980 were in much smaller numbers than they are now.

And that was not only Reagan's doing.

In 1980 or '81, the DNC sent a memo to Democrats, asking them if they couldn't figure out a way to get some of that lobbyist money that the Republicans were getting.

And the competition between Republicans and Democrats for lobbyist money was off and running and the number of lobbyists on K Street (and elsewhere) began increasing exponentially.

[Quantess]

11. Anyone still complaining about "consumer confidence" is out of touch.

If you really need that explained to you, then maybe you're out of touch as well.

[defendandprotect]

12. We've been in a depression -- and it continues to be a depression --- !!

And Obama is no FDR -- !!

[onehandle]

21. Is there a one word term for the GOP purposely keeping the economy bad to remove a Black President?

Because that's what we are 'in.'

[FlyByNight]

24. US incomes kept falling

Now that's class warfare.

Don't think it'll be too much longer 'til the pitchforks and torches are dusted off (relative to what OWS is doing which is good).