Median household income now less than it was in 1999.

[katinmn]

The high point for median household income -- the income of the household in the middle -- was $47,671 in 1999, adjusted for inflation. In 2005, median household income was $1,345 less at $46,326. In the same period, the Forbes 400 gained more than 100 billionaires.

Sklar doesn't list her sources but given the activities of the Reich Wing, I don't doubt the numbers.

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-10/04sklar.cfm

October 04, 2006
Economy booming for billionaires
By Holly Sklar
ZNet

Millionaires are so last millennium. The new Forbes 400 list of richest Americans is billionaires only.

If you're net worth is a mere $999 million, forget it. A billion means a thousand million, and that's the Forbes 400 minimum -- up from $900 million in 2005.

Donald Trump and two of his kids grace the Forbes 400 cover, but ranked No. 94 with $2.9 billion, Trump's a long way from No. 1 Bill Gates with $53 billion.

The combined wealth of the 400 richest Americans is a record-breaking $1.25 trillion. That's about the same amount of combined wealth held by the 57 million households who make up half the U.S. population.

The economy is booming for billionaires. It's a bust for many other Americans.

A record 400 Americans are billionaires -- and a record 47 million Americans have no health insurance.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I'm always astounded to see repub bumper stickers on inexpensive cars

...after everything that's happened, they still don't get it.:grr:

K&R for the unwashed masses.:kick:

[corkhead]

18. When I see them, I flash them a thumb/finger loser "L" on my forehead

[MannyGoldstein]

2. It's Worse Than That K&R

Family income is a somewhat fraudulent measure - it used to be that individual worker income was the figure most looked at. The problem was that individual worker income peaked in the early 1970s, and has slowly dropped ever since - yes it fell even under the Clintons, who sucked way less than (either) Bush, but loved to implement "fuck the Middle Class" policies such as "free trade" to help their rich friends get even richer.

But I digress... in any case, in the mid-1970s our Government saw that more and more families started sending out a second person to earn an income, so they switched to measuring family income as a way to make the numbers look better. Even this isn't working any more.

It is sad that most Americans, even those on DU, are way more interested in jokes involving the penis-scandal du jour than in how much money they're taking home.

[katinmn]

6. Excellent overlooked point.

:thumbsup:

[Union Thug]

9. This is a great point. I wonder what the real figures are if you factor

in the loss of healthcare and other benefits (or is that part of the current metrics)?

[papau]

13. total comp decrease is hidden by increase cost of medical care -so

it looks like we are getting "more" since they do not adjust the medical care cost down to constant dollars using actual medical care inflation rates.

[papau]

12. Clinton era had average hourly wage increase from 7.57 to 8.07

Interesting stuff -

8.07 in the first month after Bush took office has moved up to 8.16 an hour

but Compare that to Clinton's 7.57 moving up to 8.07

then Compare to Reagan's decrease in average wage after inflation

then Compare to Daddy Bush's decrease in average wage after inflation

Of course the GOP anti-union game has meant that January 1973's $9.08 has never been exceeded since then.


this is for non-supervisory workers:

Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National)

Series Id: CES0500000049Seasonally AdjustedSuper Sector: Total privateIndustry: Total privateNAICS Code: N/AData Type: AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS, 1982 DOLLARS

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
1970 8.42 8.43 8.44 8.42 8.45 8.43 8.44 8.47 8.48 8.46 8.44 8.47
1971 8.50 8.53 8.58 8.56 8.61 8.62 8.60 8.65 8.68 8.68 8.68 8.74
1972 8.88 8.90 8.93 8.98 8.98 8.98 8.99 8.99(c) 9.02 9.04 9.05 9.07
1973 9.08 9.06 9.02 9.01 8.99 9.00 9.04 8.89 8.93 8.90 8.87 8.85
1974 8.78 8.74 8.69 8.71 8.71 8.72 8.69 8.67 8.63 8.62 8.54 8.53
1975 8.49 8.48 8.50 8.47 8.49 8.50 8.45 8.49 8.45 8.44 8.45 8.44
1976 8.43 8.50 8.52 8.52 8.56 8.55 8.56 8.60 8.60 8.59 8.62 8.61
1977 8.61 8.60 8.61 8.62 8.62 8.62 8.62 8.63 8.63 8.69 8.68 8.67
1978 8.69 8.70 8.69 8.72 8.68 8.69 8.67 8.67 8.66 8.65 8.64 8.64
1979 8.63 8.59 8.57 8.46 8.45 8.41 8.37 8.34 8.32 8.27 8.24 8.22
1980 8.10 8.08 8.04 7.99 7.96 7.95 7.98 7.99 7.97 7.97 7.96 7.93
1981 7.93 7.90 7.92 7.91 7.91 7.90 7.85 7.86 7.83 7.83 7.85 7.83
1982 7.88 7.87 7.91 7.89 7.88 7.81 7.81 7.84 7.84 7.82 7.85 7.92
1983 7.95 7.99 7.96 7.94 7.95 7.95 7.97 7.90 7.94 7.97 7.96 7.96
1984 7.96 7.94 7.98 8.00 7.97 7.99 7.99 7.92 7.92 7.90 7.92 7.94
1985 7.92 7.91 7.91 7.91 7.90 7.91 7.91 7.93 7.94 7.90 7.89 7.90
1986 7.85 7.90 7.96 7.99 7.99 7.96 7.97 7.98 7.95 7.96 7.98 7.96
1987 7.92 7.92 7.90 7.87 7.88 7.84 7.83 7.85 7.83 7.83 7.85 7.85
1988 7.84 7.82 7.82 7.82 7.84 7.82 7.80 7.78 7.79 7.80 7.80 7.79
1989 7.79 7.79 7.76 7.74 7.69 7.70 7.72 7.73 7.74 7.76 7.73 7.73
1990 7.69 7.70 7.70 7.70 7.71 7.70 7.68 7.63 7.60 7.57 7.56 7.56
1991 7.56 7.57 7.57 7.59 7.58 7.59 7.60 7.59 7.59 7.58 7.57 7.57
1992 7.56 7.57 7.57 7.56 7.56 7.55 7.54 7.55 7.53 7.53 7.53 7.52
1993 7.53 7.52 7.55 7.53 7.53 7.52 7.53 7.53 7.54 7.52 7.53 7.53
1994 7.54 7.56 7.54 7.55 7.55 7.53 7.52 7.50 7.50 7.53 7.52 7.52
1995 7.51 7.52 7.52 7.51 7.50 7.52 7.54 7.54 7.55 7.55 7.56 7.55
1996 7.55 7.54 7.53 7.54 7.54 7.56 7.56 7.58 7.58 7.57 7.58 7.58
1997 7.59 7.60 7.63 7.64 7.67 7.67 7.68 7.71 7.70 7.74 7.76 7.78
1998 7.79 7.83 7.86 7.88 7.88 7.88 7.88 7.92 7.93 7.93 7.94 7.94
1999 7.95 7.98 8.00 7.98 8.00 8.02 8.01 8.01 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00
2000 8.02 8.01 7.98 8.03 8.03 8.01 8.02 8.04 8.03 8.05 8.07 8.07
2001 8.04 8.07 8.09 8.09 8.06 8.08 8.10 8.13 8.11 8.16 8.20 8.23
2002 8.23 8.23 8.21 8.19 8.22 8.23 8.23 8.23 8.24 8.26 8.26 8.28
2003 8.26 8.25 8.21 8.24 8.29 8.30 8.30 8.28 8.25 8.27 8.31 8.29
2004 8.27 8.26 8.23 8.24 8.22 8.21 8.22 8.25 8.25 8.21 8.20 8.22
2005 8.23 8.21 8.19 8.17 8.20 8.22 8.20 8.15 8.05 8.09 8.15 8.20
2006 8.17 8.20 8.19 8.18 8.15 8.17 8.16 8.16(p)

[MannyGoldstein]

16. Perhaps I Was Wrong

I distinctly remember that average nonsupervisory wages dropped under Clinton - but perhaps I was wrong. Maybe it was adjusted take-home pay that dropped - as unadjusted wages rise, the typical worker pays a higher % of income in federal taxes, since more income is taxable.

I'll have to root around for this.

In any case, it's clear that Rethugs are screamingly evil and awful.

[SharonAnn]

21. The family loses at least 2,080 hours of family service when a member

works a full-time job outside the home.

I know, there are flaws in this argument, but hear me out.

When one spouse is able to be a "stay-at-home" parent, they're available to do cost-effective shopping, prepare nutritious meals, clean and maintain the home and yard, supervise the hcildren, etc. When that person has to go outside the home to work, the family loses all those services and has to pay for those they require. Other services just go undone.

It's a huge cost for families and is why there's "no time" in today's family life.

[lcordero2]

3. factor this in

factor in REAL inflation, not the BULLSHIT CPI

then factor in how much the dollar has depreciated against the Euro

[katinmn]

7. Economists have sounded the alarm using many different measures

The economy has been in a crisis stage for a long time but most tune it out. I find that astounding.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

4. K & R. These are the facts on the ground, for many of us. n/t

MKJ

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

5. The MORON Factor

Our secretary, a Religious churchgoing nutcase, with a "depression" disorder, is a fervent King george lover. She lives with her hubby and 2 children in a small 3 BR condo in OC, CA.

She lives paycheck to paycheck. LITERALLY. She cashes her check during lunch on the day she receives it, so she can have a few bucks of lunch money for that day. She gets jealous when I tell her I spent $80 to see a major concert, and she's been out to one like once in the last 10 years. They live paycheck to paycheck.

Yet, things are just fine and dandy for her. The economy is in great shape. Everything is going just great. But be a day late on her pay, and she will go ballistic as she NEEDS the funds that desperately to pay her bills.

Oh, and her retirement savings? It's made up of a few hundred dollars. She's a Fucking MORON, and will never understand reality, and will ALWAYS vote repub NO MATTER WHAT.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. This is the sort of person who will be totally dependent on Social

Security later on. The program that jr is trying desperately to screw up. However, people that that are fooled into thinking that all the jesus & anti-abortion & gay marriage talk is what's really important.

[WePurrsevere]

10. '99 median household income @ $47,671 vs '05 @ $46,326, that's $1,345 LESS

Meanwhile the rich keep getting richer, the middle class and poor have an increasingly difficult time just paying for the basics and the RepubliCONs won't allow even a small (compared to what is needed) minimum wage increase unless the rich are given even MORE. :grr:

[katinmn]

11. The middle class should be enraged at what has taken place.

:shrug:

[ananda]

14. I figure that..

.. if billionaires paid 50% in taxes, that would probably fund education
and healthcare for everyone.

Think about it.

[papau]

19. How about a 5% tax annually on assets in excess of value of house plus

500,000, with the value of the house capped at 2 million.

Rome used an asset tax, and it seems a good way to go.

Then add-in a "flat tax" of 30% on income after a deductible equal to 20000 per family plus 10000 per adult person on the return as either dependent or joint filer, plus 5000 per child, plus a mortgage deduction of 5% of the value of your house on your local real estate tax bill - not to exceed 50000= one heck of a "flat tax". The add in a charitable deduction limited to the smaller of the actual contribution to charity or 50000 - and we have a "flat tax I can sell. Keep the earned income credit as a refundable credit.

On the corporate side keep all laws as they are now, but do some IRS Code 482 - transfer pricing - enforcement, plus end the buying of financial structures when there is a tax effect over the next 5 years tax in excess of 5%, unless a manufacturing or service cost savings can be shown.

[progressoid]

15. Yea!! I set a record!

I'm one of the 47 million Americans with no health insurance! I feel so proud.

[corkhead]

17. Yes, but free trade and lower taxes have made EVERYTHING cheaper

:sarcasm:

[struggle4progress]

20. "The economy's doin great!" ... "O yeah? Whose economy?"

[Glenda]

22. Wow! Great article - thanks for posting

:kick:

[FogerRox]

23. Median Individual income has not kept up with inflation for 30 yrs.

Median Family income has almost kept up with inflation, but not quite, over 30 yrs.

See Kevin Philips book, Wealth & Democracy.

Its called the war on the middle class.

TOP personal income tax used to be 92%, untill about, 1961, when it was cut to 86%. & Whats the top rate now?

[NMMNG]

24. But, but....giving tax breaks to the uber rich will help everybody!

Right???

[Uncle Joe]

25. I am working on my second billion,

I gave up on the first.