User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Middle-class income rose above $61,000 for the first time last year,

  1. #1
    Points: 445,125, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    SocialVeteran50000 Experience PointsOverdrive
    Common's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    339107
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    66,761
    Points
    445,125
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    8,781
    Thanked 18,310x in 10,922 Posts
    Mentioned
    396 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Middle-class income rose above $61,000 for the first time last year,

    Middle-class income rose to the highest recorded levels in 2017 and the national poverty rate declined as the benefits of the strong economy lifted the fortunes of more Americans, the U.S. Census reported Wednesday.

    The median U.S. household earned $61,372 last year, meaning half of the families in the country brought in more income than this and half earned less.


    Crossing the $61,000 mark signals the American middle-class may have finally earned more than it did in 1999, although the Census Bureau cautions that median income last year was not statistically different from 1999 or 2007, the last year before the recession. A change in methodology in 2013 makes precise comparisons difficult. All the income figures have been adjusted for inflation and are reported in 2017 dollars.


    Middle-class household income has been rising steadily for the past several years as the economy has rebounded from the deep recession and millions of Americans have found jobs again. The extra pay from having another person in the home employed again or working additional hours is the largest factor contributing to rising income, the Census Bureau said.



    "We’re continuing to see a shift from part-time to full-time work, so some of that could explain an increase in income,” said Trudi Renwick, an assistant division chief at Census Bureau.


    The Census Bureau also reported that the U.S. poverty rate declined modestly to 12.3 percent, the lowest level in more than a decade and a sign the economic devastation from the Great Recession is subsiding.


    But by other measures, the economy is still not working as well as it could for everyone. Inequality remains near the highest levels in the modern era, according to various metrics the Census Bureau tracks, and the share of Americans without health insurance stalled last year after several years of progress to extend coverage to more people under the Affordable Care Act.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.c5d02c3f90c6
    LETS GO BRANDON
    F Joe Biden

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Common For This Useful Post:

    Captdon (09-13-2018)

  3. #2
    Points: 430,479, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 100.0%
    Achievements:
    50000 Experience PointsVeteranOverdriveSocial
    Awards:
    Frequent Poster
    Tahuyaman's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    307721
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Bremerton, Washington
    Posts
    182,743
    Points
    430,479
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    20,115
    Thanked 76,736x in 55,432 Posts
    Mentioned
    695 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)
    The increase in wages is not where it should be, but that could be a result of higher job growth than anticipated. Once job growth levels off, we should see stronger wage growth. Still things are improving.

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to Tahuyaman For This Useful Post:

    Captdon (09-13-2018)

  5. #3
    Points: 100,504, Level: 77
    Level completed: 22%, Points required for next Level: 2,046
    Overall activity: 17.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialYour first Group50000 Experience PointsVeteran
    IMPress Polly's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    156189
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Vermont, USA
    Posts
    8,547
    Points
    100,504
    Level
    77
    Thanks Given
    10,191
    Thanked 7,612x in 4,342 Posts
    Mentioned
    634 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I think that if one actually visited middle America, the picture you got would be less optimistic. You know why I say that? Because the fact is that this great economic expansion we're having right now is being fueled heavily by debt, both personal and governmental. We know about the governmental. We just got that report yesterday that the deficit for the current fiscal year so far (which is still incomplete) has already managed to reach $895 billion (a 32% increase over last year) and is projected to hit fully $1 trillion next year...in the absence of a recession to explain it! You probably know about that if you watched the news yesterday. But do you know that the growing debt of individuals is another major factor? 40% of the U.S. population currently has negative net income after you factor in steadily increasing debts. That's because, for nearly half the population, the cost of living is rising faster than their incomes are. It's not just that the economy is growing unevenly, but that it is growing parasitically, in a way that is unsustainable.

    The signs of corresponding distress can be found all over working class America, and are readily apparent. From increasing rates of alcoholism to the opiod epidemic and several other growing rates of drug addiction, to rising rates of depression, anxiety, suicide and increasing suicide attempts, to falling life expectancy, it should be clear that all is not well with working America, despite these occasional surface level analyses that Trump loyalists focus on promoting. Not by a long shot. Further evidence of growing economic distress among working Americans in the real world includes the fact that labor organizing and activity is actually increasing for the first time in decades. Union membership actually rose last year for a change, driven by a surge of organizing by younger workers, and waves of strikes have hit a range of economic sectors in recent years, from the fast food industry to this year's wave of wildcat strikes by teachers (in mostly Republican-dominated states, incidentally).

    Apologists for this administration, such as the OP, will say what they have to to conceal the aforementioned material reality. The only reason they can get away with it though is because the people they're sharing their information with aren't working class Americans.
    Last edited by IMPress Polly; 09-13-2018 at 06:39 AM.

  6. #4
    Points: 445,125, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    SocialVeteran50000 Experience PointsOverdrive
    Common's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    339107
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    66,761
    Points
    445,125
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    8,781
    Thanked 18,310x in 10,922 Posts
    Mentioned
    396 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    More people are employed than in decades, more blacks and hispanics. Wages have gone up across the board. We are only one year into a Trump economic expansion and still the trump haters cant give him any credit.

    Lets talk about the deficit, obama walked in the door gave away 300,000,000 bush set aside for handouts to corps, he gave that out and gave out 700 Billion to big banks, then more to the auto industry and Fannie and Freddie Mac bailouts. He gave away BILLIONS.

    Then there was Obama care that cost more billions and giving half a billion to iran and on and on.
    He ruined Medicare taking 700billion from it.

    But of course the deficit belongs to trump, 8 yrs of obama had nothing to do with it.
    LETS GO BRANDON
    F Joe Biden

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to Common For This Useful Post:

    Captdon (09-13-2018)

  8. #5
    Points: 172,455, Level: 98
    Level completed: 71%, Points required for next Level: 1,195
    Overall activity: 31.0%
    Achievements:
    50000 Experience PointsSocialVeteran
    donttread's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    88473
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Posts
    51,785
    Points
    172,455
    Level
    98
    Thanks Given
    18,180
    Thanked 20,441x in 14,732 Posts
    Mentioned
    318 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Common View Post
    Middle-class income rose to the highest recorded levels in 2017 and the national poverty rate declined as the benefits of the strong economy lifted the fortunes of more Americans, the U.S. Census reported Wednesday.

    The median U.S. household earned $61,372 last year, meaning half of the families in the country brought in more income than this and half earned less.


    Crossing the $61,000 mark signals the American middle-class may have finally earned more than it did in 1999, although the Census Bureau cautions that median income last year was not statistically different from 1999 or 2007, the last year before the recession. A change in methodology in 2013 makes precise comparisons difficult. All the income figures have been adjusted for inflation and are reported in 2017 dollars.


    Middle-class household income has been rising steadily for the past several years as the economy has rebounded from the deep recession and millions of Americans have found jobs again. The extra pay from having another person in the home employed again or working additional hours is the largest factor contributing to rising income, the Census Bureau said.



    "We’re continuing to see a shift from part-time to full-time work, so some of that could explain an increase in income,” said Trudi Renwick, an assistant division chief at Census Bureau.


    The Census Bureau also reported that the U.S. poverty rate declined modestly to 12.3 percent, the lowest level in more than a decade and a sign the economic devastation from the Great Recession is subsiding.


    But by other measures, the economy is still not working as well as it could for everyone. Inequality remains near the highest levels in the modern era, according to various metrics the Census Bureau tracks, and the share of Americans without health insurance stalled last year after several years of progress to extend coverage to more people under the Affordable Care Act.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.c5d02c3f90c6

    Broke even with 1999? How have the super rich done in that same amount of time I wonder?

  9. #6
    Points: 100,504, Level: 77
    Level completed: 22%, Points required for next Level: 2,046
    Overall activity: 17.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialYour first Group50000 Experience PointsVeteran
    IMPress Polly's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    156189
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Vermont, USA
    Posts
    8,547
    Points
    100,504
    Level
    77
    Thanks Given
    10,191
    Thanked 7,612x in 4,342 Posts
    Mentioned
    634 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Common wrote:
    Wages have gone up across the board. We are only one year into a Trump economic expansion and still the trump haters cant give him any credit.
    Whoa, raw wages have gone up? No way! But oh wait, so has the cost of living! The real question is which is rising faster for working class America. I pointed out which it is in my last post.

    Raw wage growth means nothing if the prices you pay to maintain your standard of living rise faster.

    Lets talk about the deficit, obama walked in the door gave away 300,000,000 bush set aside for handouts to corps, he gave that out and gave out 700 Billion to big banks, then more to the auto industry and Fannie and Freddie Mac bailouts. He gave away BILLIONS.

    Then there was Obama care that cost more billions and giving half a billion to iran and on and on.
    He ruined Medicare taking 700billion from it.
    I do not feel that all of the Obama-era policies were responsible or unbiased ones. I feel that a more responsible approach to economic recovery would have been to nationalize the banks rather than bailing them out and throw their executives in jail for their crimes, launch a $2 trillion public works program to fully restore America's crumbling infrastructure and put working America back to work in the process, and pay for it by doubling the top marginal income tax rate and slashing military spending by at least 50%. As to the matter of health care policy, my preference would have been to simply nationalize the health care system, which would've been both less expensive (particularly for real people) and more effective. Those would've been my preferred solutions. But I am a socialist, and America writ large seems to think that socialists are crazy, so what do I know?

    Nonetheless, one can say this much for the fiscal state of the country amidst the Great Recession: that there was a recession to explain at least part of it! One cannot rationally explain, in any sense, why the federal deficit must increase today, amidst conditions of economic expansion. Or why the cheerleaders of said deficit growth today are the same people who just got through spending a full decade protesting the federal budget deficit.
    Last edited by IMPress Polly; 09-13-2018 at 06:29 AM.

  10. #7
    Points: 43,477, Level: 50
    Level completed: 96%, Points required for next Level: 73
    Overall activity: 10.0%
    Achievements:
    Veteran25000 Experience Points
    Hoosier8's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    10130
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    13,605
    Points
    43,477
    Level
    50
    Thanks Given
    1,404
    Thanked 10,121x in 6,384 Posts
    Mentioned
    65 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by IMPress Polly View Post
    I think that if one actually visited middle America, the picture you got would be less optimistic. You know why I say that? Because the fact is that this great economic expansion we're having right now is being fueled heavily by debt, both personal and governmental. We know about the governmental. We just got that report yesterday that the deficit for the current fiscal year so far (which is still incomplete) has already managed to reach $895 billion (a 32% increase over last year) and is projected to hit fully $1 trillion next year...in the absence of a recession to explain it! You probably know about that if you watched the news yesterday. But do you know that the growing debt of individuals is another major factor? 40% of the U.S. population currently has negative net income after you factor in steadily increasing debts. That's because, for nearly half the population, the cost of living is rising faster than their incomes are. It's not just that the economy is growing unevenly, but that it is growing parasitically, in a way that is unsustainable.

    The signs of corresponding distress can be found all over working class America, and are readily apparent. From increasing rates of alcoholism to the opiod epidemic and several other growing rates of drug addiction, to rising rates of depression, anxiety, suicide and increasing suicide attempts, to falling life expectancy, it should be clear that all is not well with working America, despite these occasional surface level analyses that Trump loyalists focus on promoting. Not by a long shot. Further evidence of growing economic distress among working Americans in the real world includes the fact that labor organizing and activity is actually increasing for the first time in decades. Union membership actually rose last year for a change, driven by a surge of organizing by younger workers, and waves of strikes have hit a range of economic sectors in recent years, from the fast food industry to this year's wave of wildcat strikes by teachers (in mostly Republican-dominated states, incidentally).

    Apologists for this administration, such as the OP, will say what they have to to conceal the aforementioned material reality. The only reason they can get away with it though is because the people they're sharing their information with aren't working class Americans.
    Apologists? Manufacturing jobs make up the rise in job growth compared to the Obama admins rise in service jobs. Creating something actually increases wealth.
    When Donald Trump said to protest “peacefully”, he meant violence.

    When he told protesters to “go home”, he meant stay for an insurrection.

    And when he told Brad Raffensperger to implement “whatever the correct legal remedy is”, he meant fraud.

    War is peace.

    Freedom is slavery.

    Ignorance is strength.

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to Hoosier8 For This Useful Post:

    Captdon (09-13-2018)

  12. #8
    Points: 34,652, Level: 45
    Level completed: 47%, Points required for next Level: 798
    Overall activity: 2.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialTagger First ClassVeteran50000 Experience Points
    midcan5's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    71955
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    5,953
    Points
    34,652
    Level
    45
    Thanks Given
    1,333
    Thanked 2,497x in 1,841 Posts
    Mentioned
    301 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    America's new gig economy may work for some, but I'm not a fan. I know retired people who now drive for Uber, while this may be convenient what about the young driver trying to support a family?

    'U.S. unemployment is down and jobs are going unfilled. But for people without much education, the real question is: Do those jobs pay enough to live on?'

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/m...-homeless.html

    'Social Security, food stamps, and other programs kept 44 million people out of poverty last year'

    https://www.vox.com/2018/9/12/178504...ome-2017-trump


    Sources for the interested reader and see my sig.

    https://projects.propublica.org/grap...p-job-promises
    http://american.edu/kogod/research/autoindex/index.cfm
    http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/
    http://www.levelfieldinstitute.org
    Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, INFJ-A, I am not PC.

    "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." Voltaire

  13. #9
    Points: 430,479, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 100.0%
    Achievements:
    50000 Experience PointsVeteranOverdriveSocial
    Awards:
    Frequent Poster
    Tahuyaman's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    307721
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Bremerton, Washington
    Posts
    182,743
    Points
    430,479
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    20,115
    Thanked 76,736x in 55,432 Posts
    Mentioned
    695 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by IMPress Polly View Post
    I think that if one actually visited middle America, the picture you got would be less optimistic. You know why I say that? Because the fact is that this great economic expansion we're having right now is being fueled heavily by debt, both personal and governmental. We know about the governmental. We just got that report yesterday that the deficit for the current fiscal year so far (which is still incomplete) has already managed to reach $895 billion (a 32% increase over last year) and is projected to hit fully $1 trillion next year...in the absence of a recession to explain it! You probably know about that if you watched the news yesterday. But do you know that the growing debt of individuals is another major factor? 40% of the U.S. population currently has negative net income after you factor in steadily increasing debts. That's because, for nearly half the population, the cost of living is rising faster than their incomes are. It's not just that the economy is growing unevenly, but that it is growing parasitically, in a way that is unsustainable.

    The signs of corresponding distress can be found all over working class America, and are readily apparent. From increasing rates of alcoholism to the opiod epidemic and several other growing rates of drug addiction, to rising rates of depression, anxiety, suicide and increasing suicide attempts, to falling life expectancy, it should be clear that all is not well with working America, despite these occasional surface level analyses that Trump loyalists focus on promoting. Not by a long shot. Further evidence of growing economic distress among working Americans in the real world includes the fact that labor organizing and activity is actually increasing for the first time in decades. Union membership actually rose last year for a change, driven by a surge of organizing by younger workers, and waves of strikes have hit a range of economic sectors in recent years, from the fast food industry to this year's wave of wildcat strikes by teachers (in mostly Republican-dominated states, incidentally).

    Apologists for this administration, such as the OP, will say what they have to to conceal the aforementioned material reality. The only reason they can get away with it though is because the people they're sharing their information with aren't working class Americans.

    I think if one visited middle American, they'd be more optimistic.


    Liberals continually see misery and suffering everywhere. They are generally pessimistic by nature.

  14. The Following User Says Thank You to Tahuyaman For This Useful Post:

    Captdon (09-13-2018)

  15. #10
    Points: 84,434, Level: 70
    Level completed: 83%, Points required for next Level: 416
    Overall activity: 21.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger Second Class50000 Experience PointsSocialVeteran
    Captdon's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    12813
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    Charleston South Carolina
    Posts
    38,257
    Points
    84,434
    Level
    70
    Thanks Given
    67,629
    Thanked 12,824x in 10,122 Posts
    Mentioned
    160 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I went to work in 1965. They were worried about the deficit, the national debt and personal debt. I retired in 2009 and they were worried about the deficit, the national debt and personal debt. They were worried before I started to work and after I stopped working.

    I don't say it can always continue or that it's the right way to run a railroad. I will say it has worked for many years. No reason to get all bent out of shape over it.
    Liberals are a clear and present danger to our nation
    Pick your enemies carefully.






+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts