[Sam's Army]

"This is the continuing story of the rich getting richer," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. "Clearly, the gains in wealth are going to the top end."

Oh, the humanity!

[ClearCase_guy]

the 2001 recession

I'm pretty sure this recession began in 2000, with Bill Clinton in office.

[RexBeach]

I would feel a great deal better if Sen. Schumer stopped whining and started working to make America stronger.

Meanwhile, Senator Schumer, did you know that nearly 70% of Americans own their own homes? This is not only a national record, but a WORLD record. I'd say this statistic is an extremely good indicator of a vibrant economy.

Putz.

[riverdawg]

It was pointed out yesterday in another thread that these data actually imply high-income households did relatively worse during this period, since median income rose but mean income fell.

[VOA]

bump

[Sam Cree]

I didn't read the article yet, but the idea that wealth creation is harmful to the poor and middle classes, or that putting a limit on wealth creation is helpful to them, is one of the classic deceptions of socialism.

[raybbr]

ping

[quack]

It's ALL my fault.If my wife and I hadn't decided she would stay home with kids,instead of continuing working,none of this would have happened.

[Jack of all Trades]

So by and large, the one person responsible for increasing or atleast maintaining family incomes between 2001 and 2004 was...

George W. Bush

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually fell from 2001 to 2004, and the growth in net worth was the weakest in a decade, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

Wasn't because of me. Family income went up a real 5.4% in that time and a real 9.5% from 2001 to 2006. My net worth has gone from $25,000 to $300,000 in that time period (thanks to housing prices, my 401K and stocks rapdily increasing, cash savings enabled by tax cuts, and trading in my old car for a new one). Although my own income went up a real 47% from 1998 to 2001, that increase enabled my new bride to quit working and start our family, so her income went down a real 100% that ended up being equivalent to my raise. Its amazing how wealthy you get socking away $900 a month, and buying a house at the right time.

Average family incomes, after adjusting for inflation, fell to $70,700 in 2004, a drop of 2.3 percent when compared with 2001.

The median family income, the point where half the families made more and half made less, rose a tiny 1.6 percent to $43,200 in 2004 compared with 2001.

Interesting there is such a difference in the average and median.

[Mr. Brightside]

the booming 1990s when incomes and stock prices

Oh, if only we could return to the phoney accounting standards and the pre-popped stock market bubble.

We were a lot better off then!

(rollng eyes)

[Alberta's Child]

The use of "family income" as a performance measure for the U.S. economy is one of the most misleading statistical gyrations we see on a regular basis. For the most part, real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) family income has been slowly declining for decades. This is not news.

What most people probably don't know, however, is that the primary factor in this decline is not economic changes, but social changes. "Family income" has been declining primarily because families are getting smaller, and we have more people earning more money than ever before -- but in separate households.

[OHelix]

"This is the continuing story of the rich getting richer," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. "Clearly, the gains in wealth are going to the top end."

...not only that, but the fattest people are getting the most food.

[pabianice]

Another anti-Bush screed from .

[MNJohnnie]

"chief economist at Standard & Poor's"

That this twit is an Economist and makes such an utterly stupid statement should be an embarrassment to all Economist everywhere.

To compare the best two years of the Clinton Era to a period of War and Recession is intellectually indefensible. More lying with statistics by the junk journalists.

[GSlob]

"And to him who has much, more shall be given". So what's the objection?

[Sam's Army]

ALL TAKE NOTE:

Special prize to the first poster to link (and mean it) Wal-Mart or tax cuts to this "problem".

[sauropod]

review

[slowhand520]

I love the subliminal codes here.

"After the booming 1990s when incomes and stock prices were soaring" means during the Clinton administration

"Average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually fell from 2001 to 2004" means Bush's first term

We are smart enough to see through this transparency

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

The average incomes had soared by 17.3 percent in the 1998-2001 period

How much of this was driven by the Y2K mobilization? For a while there, qualified IT folks could pretty much name their salary.

[Fintan]

"Clearly, the gains in wealth are going to the top end."

 

And in other news, reliable studies have shown that it gets darker when the sun goes down.