My income puts me way down the list but there is nothing in this chart to figure what I really have. You see, I don’t owe any one a single red cent. My wife and I own our house and the 640 acres it sits on. We have paid in full assets that can be liquidated should we need extra cash. The monthly income without having to make payments lets us live far better than we did when I was working.
I don’t fit in anywhere. I’m an individual, not an average number. Statistics compute averages for a large group of people, and so don’t apply to any one individual.
Thomas Sowell’s excellent books on the subject of economics discuss this phenomenon in length.
I find it interesting, because this phenomenon described in this graph demonstrates reality as it should be, and is.
As people enter the workforce, they often have little real experience or little real skill in a given area, so consequently, their income will not be great. It is one of the wonderful mechanisms of capitalism that as people develop skills and acquire education and experience in a given field, their value increases (if, of course they are in the correct field) and their income increases as they age.
It is one of the most wretched and irritating aspects of the minimum wage acolytes that they see this as somehow an unfair discrimination against people working in low income jobs.
If one takes the time to look at the situation, most low-paying jobs are not meant to have people stay in them for their entire career, or to try and support a family off of them. Those low-paying jobs should be portals for people to be able to gain experience and “personal capital” that will enable them to make a jump upwards.
That mechanism works both for employees and the employer, as it rewards those who are willing to work hard to get ahead, and rewards the employer by providing them with experienced workers who have the necessary skills and talents to execute a job or service.
Liberals completely don’t get this. They view this income disparity as being unfair. When you come right down to it, this particular difference in outlook, in particular, may be one of the reasons that industry is tanking in this country.
Well, I was knocked from the tenth percentile to almost the sixtieth in one fell swoop back in 2008, and still there. Thank goodness I wasn’t carrying much debt. It’s tight but servicable. For now. Sounds like another round of selling stuff might be looming, though. Couple hundred less per month starting at the first of the year, who knows how much with health insurance. It can be depressing if you dwell on it. Only debt I’ve got is the note on the house, less than $50k to go, might have to respread the note or sell. Heck if I know at this point. Increasing income hasn’t been in the cards since this all came down, but I’ll keep trying.
That ‘income equality between 15-24 year olds’ is because most of them who are working are only making MINIMUM wage, and many are grossly overpaid at that rate!!!
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