[expat_panama]

"($88,000-$63,000)/37=.6% per annum growth in personal income"

You didn't mean that an increase of $25,000 over 37 years (namely $675.68 per year), is the same as saying this is a 0.67568% each year.  

My guess is you meant that the growth of $63k to $88k is a factor of 1.4 over 37 years; which is the same as multiplying $63k by 1.009 --again and again 37 times until we can get $88k.  In other words: ³⁷√1.4 = 1.009, or 1.009³⁷=1.4.

[AndyJackson]

yes, I agree that you are right in terms of how to calculate this precisely. I still don’t think that .9% per annum government advertised growth in personal income based on government advertised CPI is stunning or, in your words “soaring.” Again, a 1% error in govenrment CPI calculations would make the actual growth negative, and given HOW the CPI is calculated (with substitutions, geometric and hedonic corrections) I don’t know why you would choose to believe it as a correct methodology.

[Toddsterpatriot]

In other words: ³⁷√1.4 = 1.009, or 1.009³⁷=1.4.

That number sounds very familiar.