Federal Reserve reports Average Family Income dropped 2.3% - 2001 to 04

[papau]

The average income of American families, adjusted for inflation, fell
2.3% to $70,700 in 2004 compared with 2001, according to the Federal
Reserve. The median, or point where half the families earned more
and half less, did rise slightly in 2004 (after adjusting for
inflation) to $43,200, up 1.6% from the 2001 level. The median, or
midpoint, for net worth rose 1.5% to $93,100 from 2001 to 2004. The
Fed survey found the share of Americans' financial assets invested in
stocks fell to 17.6% in 2004 from 21.7% in 2001, while the percentage
of Americans who owned stocks, either directly or through a mutual
fund, fell 3.3 percentage points to 48.6% in 2004, down from 51.9% in
2001. The survey found the percentage of families with some type of
tax-deferred retirement account, such as a 401(k), fell 2.5 percentage
points to 49.7% of all families – however, the median for holdings in
retirement accounts rose 13.9% to $35,200

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf

[sam sarrha]

1. i am Proud to have done more than my share -50% + $15,000 in debt and lost

our home.. our El Paso property taxes went up from 900 to 2200, the tax list showed that we paid $700 a year for free medical for Mexican Citizens crossing the boarder to have babies and get free medical care.. i was billed 3 times for one visit.. it took a year to get them off my back..

my wife had 2 jobs outsourced i had one..i cant get a Job here, my wife works in Memphis 95 miles away and comes home weekends.. since King George was appointed DickTatter.

[Warpy]

5. The poor Mexicans aren't your problem, and

you just lost a lot of sympathy by playing that right wing game that demonizes powerless people so that you won't notice who is really to blame for the rotten situation you're in.

It's time to stop stepping on people below you and start to notice who's been stepping on YOU from above. Once you realize just what and who those problems really are, you may be well on the way to solving them.

That poor Mexican mother who wants dual citizenship for her baby so that baby has a chance at a better life than she has isn't your problem. The billions and billions being bilked every month by paying substandard wages to workers world wide and by overcharging for every good and service sold in the US is your problem.

[murray hill farm]

2. But, the figures do not give a true picture.

since they also average in the top 1% of the very, very wealthy..i would like to know how much the average income has dropped ..not taking into account even the top 30%...and i think you would see a very different figure.

[papau]

3. I agree - The very wealthy have become very, very wealthy

the lower paid would see a much more dramatic drop resulting from the Bush prosperity.

[applegrove]

4. I think they take out illegal aliens. And really - the WH policies have

made the top half wealthier. And all sorts of people are baby boomers.. at the height of income, savings, & wealth (just before they retire). How are people doing by age demograph?

[fasttense]

6. Since the government over-inflates what the average income of American

families really is, this 2.3% drop is probably closer to a 23% drop.

"Any benefit a person receives has an imputed income component. If you’re a homeowner, the government assumes that you pay yourself rent on your house, so that’s rental income. If you go to a bank and the bank doesn't’t charge you any fee for your checking account, that’s counted as imputed interest income. When the government puts all of its imputations into “income” its growth generally remains positive—and has very little relationship to reality. Imputed interest income, for instance, accounted for 21% of all personal interest income in 2002, and was growing at an annual rate of over 8%. Meanwhile, fully 62% of total rental income that year was the imputed variety."

http://www.weedenco.com/welling/lilogo.asp

Stand back the worse is yet to come.