Replies

The weirdness in the economy couldn't wait for Sunday morning.

It sounds to me like the “powers that be” are simply making a futile effort to resuscitate a very dead patient.

After the shock of the Depression and the lack of consumer goods to buy during WWII, Americans were heavy into saving for a rainy day and making regular deposits into bank accounts. I’m the son of a WWII Marine and a member of the clean your plate club and fix it or mend it.

As a baby boomer, I had the benefit of a booming economy, good & cheap education and always had work, never cashed an unemployment check.

The booming economy fooled a lot of my generation into not worrying about the economy or saving for retirement.

We boomers also read Dr.Spock and spoiled our kids with love & possessions, so our kids are even less into saving. Plus, with school cost rising like rockets, our kids are not in a position to save as I did.

The 2008—>to God knows when recession has turned we citizens into debtors and our government into a monster that eats both our money and privacy. I still believe America has a future, but we citizens have to work harder and take care of our families on our own. More government isn’t the solution, it’s still the problem as Reagan said.

As a saver and pay off your debts guy, my retirement investments are heavy into big and medium cap stocks that pay dividends & mutual funds/ETFs that are similar. With low interest rates bonds just do not attract me. I’m a gold bug and believe 5% of savings should go into physical gold or GLD/IAU. It’s also good to have cash on hand and a stash the family can live on for a month or two if all hell breaks out. I have little faith our government will be on the job, considering how it fails simpler tasks.

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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
BEA 15-14

* See the navigation bar at the right side of the news release text for links to data tables,
contact personnel and their telephone numbers, and supplementary materials.

Technical: James Rankin (202) 606-5301 (Personal Income) piniwd@bea.gov
Harvey Davis (202) 606-5302 (Personal Consumption Expenditures) pce@bea.gov
Media: Jeannine Aversa (202) 606-2649
PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS, FEBRUARY 2015

Personal income increased $58.6 billion, or 0.4 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $54.2 billion,
or 0.4 percent, in February, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE)
increased $11.8 billion, or 0.1 percent. In January, personal income increased $61.8 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI
increased $61.5 billion, or 0.5 percent, and PCE decreased $28.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, based on revised estimates.

Real DPI increased 0.2 percent in February, compared with an increase of 0.9 percent in January. Real PCE decreased
0.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.2 percent.

2014 2015
Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb.
(Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.4
Chained (2009) dollars 0.2 0.5 0.5 0.9 0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars 0.4 0.4 -0.2 -0.2 0.1
Chained (2009) dollars 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.2 -0.1

FOOTNOTE._________
NOTE. Monthly estimates are expressed at seasonally adjusted annual rates, unless otherwise specified.
Month-to-month dollar changes are differences between these published estimates. Month-to-month percent
changes are calculated from unrounded data and are not annualized. “Real” estimates are in chained (2009) dollars.

This news release is available on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.
__________________

Compensation

Wages and salaries increased $23.9 billion in February, compared with an increase of $47.3 billion in January.
Private wages and salaries increased $21.9 billion, compared with an increase of $44.2 billion. Government
wages and salaries increased $2.1 billion, compared with an increase of $3.1 billion. Pay raises for federal
civilian personnel added an additional $0.6 billion to the change in government payrolls in February; pay raises
for federal civilian and military personnel added $2.2 billion to government payrolls in January.

Supplements to wages and salaries increased $5.2 billion in February, compared with an increase of $8.4 billion in January.

Other personal income

Proprietors’ income decreased $7.0 billion in February, compared with a decrease of $11.7 billion in January.
Farm proprietors’ income decreased $6.3 billion, compared with a decrease of $6.4 billion. Nonfarm proprietors’
income decreased $0.7 billion, compared with a decrease of $5.3 billion.

Rental income of persons increased $3.9 billion in February, compared with an increase of $1.8 billion in January.
Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) increased $19.7 billion,
in contrast to a decrease of $4.1 billion. Personal dividend income increased $25.3 billion, compared with an increase
of $1.6 billion.

Personal current transfer receipts increased $15.9 billion in February, compared with an increase of $28.7 billion
in January. In January, a 1.7-percent cost-of-living adjustment to social security benefits and several other federal
transfer payment programs added $16.7 billion. Also in January, other government social benefits was boosted $5.3 billion,
primarily reflecting health insurance premium subsidies paid in the form of tax credits to enrollees of the Affordable
Care Act exchanges. For additional information, see the FAQ on “How will the Affordable Care Act affect BEA’s measure
of personal income and outlays?” at www.bea.gov.

Contributions for government social insurance — a subtraction in calculating personal income — increased $3.0 billion
in February, compared with an increase of $8.5 billion in January.

Personal current taxes and disposable personal income

Personal current taxes increased $4.4 billion in February, compared with an increase of $0.3 billion in January.
Disposable personal income (DPI) — personal income less personal current taxes — increased $54.2 billion, or 0.4 percent,
in February, compared with an increase of $61.5 billion, or 0.5 percent, in January.

Personal outlays and personal saving

Personal outlays — PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments — increased $14.2 billion
in February, in contrast to a decrease of $25.4 billion in January. PCE increased $11.8 billion, in contrast to a decrease
of $28.5 billion.

Personal saving — DPI less personal outlays — was $768.6 billion in February, compared with $728.7 billion in January.
The personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income — was 5.8 percent in February,
compared with 5.5 percent in January. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA’s national income and product accounts
with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board’s financial accounts of the United States and data on changes in net worth,
go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa-frb.asp.

Real DPI, real PCE, and price index

Real DPI — DPI adjusted to remove price changes — increased 0.2 percent in February, compared with an increase of 0.9 percent
in January.

Real PCE — PCE adjusted to remove price changes — decreased 0.1 percent in February, in contrast to an increase of 0.2 percent
in January. Purchases of durable goods decreased 1.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.7 percent. Purchases of motor
vehicles and parts accounted for most of the decrease in February. Purchases of nondurable goods increased less than 0.1 percent
in February, in contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent in January. Purchases of services increased 0.1 percent, compared with an
increase of 0.2 percent.

The price index for PCE increased 0.2 percent in February, in contrast to a decrease of 0.4 percent in January. The PCE price
index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.1 percent in February, the same increase as in January.

The February price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent from February a year ago. The February PCE price index, excluding food
and energy, increased 1.4 percent from February a year ago.

2014 Personal Income and Outlays

Personal income increased 4.0 percent in 2014 (that is, from the 2013 annual level to the 2014 annual level), compared with an
increase of 2.0 percent in 2013. DPI increased 3.8 percent, compared with an increase of 1.0 percent. PCE increased 3.9 percent,
compared with an increase of 3.6 percent.

Real DPI increased 2.5 percent in 2014, in contrast to a decrease of 0.2 percent in 2013. Real PCE increased 2.5 percent,
compared with an increase of 2.4 percent.

Revisions

Estimates have been revised for October 2014 through January 2015. Changes in personal income, in current-dollar and
chained (2009) dollar DPI, and in current-dollar and chained (2009) dollar PCE for December and January — revised and as
published in last month’s release — are shown below.

Change from preceding month
December January
Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised Previous Revised
(Billions of dollars) (Percent) (Billions of dollars) (Percent)
Personal income:
Current dollars 45.3 48.9 0.3 0.3 50.8 61.8 0.3 0.4
Disposable personal income:
Current dollars 37.3 40.3 0.3 0.3 52.6 61.5 0.4 0.5
Chained (2009) dollars 62.1 65.3 0.5 0.5 103.4 109.8 0.9 0.9
Personal consumption expenditures:
Current dollars -35.7 -20.2 -0.3 -0.2 -18.9 -28.5 -0.2 -0.2
Chained (2009) dollars -7.3 7.5 -0.1 0.1 32.9 22.3 0.3 0.2

BEA’s national, international, regional, and industry estimates; BEA news releases; and related articles in the Survey of
Current Business are available for free on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov. The entire historical time series for these
estimates can be accessed in BEA’s Interactive Data Application at www.bea.gov/itable/. Stay informed about BEA
developments by signing up for our email subscription service or following us on Twitter @BEA_News. You also can
access BEA data by registering for our Data Application Programming Interface, or API. (www.bea.gov/API/signup/index.cfm).

BEA’s news release schedule is available at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/2015rd.htm.

* * *

Next release – April 30, 2015 at 8:30 A.M. EDT for Personal Income and Outlays for March

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