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This one number foretold Donald Trump’s Rise
Yahoo Finance ^ | 5/5/2016 | Rick Newman

Posted on 05/05/2016 3:16:39 PM PDT by LS

Pundits and prognosticators are in a rare mea culpa moment, acknowledging how badly they misjudged Donald Trump as a presidential candidate and apologizing for being so narrow-minded. But they didn’t need to travel to dozens of campaign events or poll hundreds of Iowans to understand Trump’s appeal. All they had to do was understand one single number: $55,191.

That was median household income, adjusted for inflation, in June 2015, the month Trump declared he was running for the Republican presidential nomination. That number is neither good nor bad on its own, but when you compare it with a second number, the problem becomes clear. In January 2000, median household income was $57,371, which means when Trump declared his candidacy, the buying power of the typical family had fallen 4% during the prior 15 years.

This simple chart, courtesy of Sentier Resarch, shows the problem. This is an index of median household income, in today’s dollars, which accounts for inflation and other factors over time. That allows apples-to-apples comparisons between now and then. The red line represents the income index (left scale), while the gray line shows the unemployment rate (right scale).

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016issues; election; employment; extraneous; hillary; sideissue; trump
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To: donna

Trick question. You’ve NEVER had a good steak.


21 posted on 05/05/2016 4:03:30 PM PDT by Lazamataz (Trump is great. Just great. He's going to do great things and America will be great and spectacular.)
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To: The Truth Will Make You Free

Well, I think you are wrong only because the anger and frustration is on the Dem side too. I agree, the GOPe is useless and should be disbanded. But I think an economic malaise, UNSEEN BY THE ELITES ON THE COASTS, has been killing this country for a decade.


22 posted on 05/05/2016 4:05:23 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: Parley Baer

Add to that quoted 4% drop the fact that the gov’t understates inflation on purpose to reduce interest and SS costs by at least 1-1.5% a year that means a drop of about 20% over that timeframe.


23 posted on 05/05/2016 4:27:25 PM PDT by oscar_diggs
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To: LS

Billionaires and their pet politicians, media cohorts are doing fantastically well, the rest of the people have been sacrificed for their globalist wet dreams


24 posted on 05/05/2016 4:27:25 PM PDT by Rebel2016
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To: babble-on

I saw what you did there.


25 posted on 05/05/2016 4:34:12 PM PDT by batterycommander (Keep calm and call for artillery.)
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To: babble-on

Sorry, 50% of Americans are below median, not below average. But I see what you were aiming for.


26 posted on 05/05/2016 4:35:51 PM PDT by Scooter100
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To: LS

I’m 75 and still working cause I gotta pay five doctors and two hospitals, and besides, no millennial has the smarts to do my job. They don’t teach Math, Science and Technology anymore. They can’t even make change right.


27 posted on 05/05/2016 4:39:36 PM PDT by batterycommander (Keep calm and call for artillery.)
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To: Parley Baer
"In the chart he has the unemployment rate at around 5%. We all know that is baloney. It is much higher than that."

Right, but if he had used U6, his editors would have had (a) no idea; and (b) pushed back because it wasn't what they saw on HuffPo this morning; and (c) just rewrite what's on the wire, Newman.

Here's hoping Newman finds a good job after Yahoo implodes very very soon...

28 posted on 05/05/2016 4:39:51 PM PDT by StAnDeliver ("Too bad your overhauled unicorn start-up failed, Ted.")
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To: LS
The article raises some interesting points, but this one is flat-out wrong and shows the danger of using incorrect statistics in these comparisons over time:

There are now nearly 13 million more U.S. jobs than there were in 2000, for instance, but if median household income is essentially the same, that’s de facto evidence that many jobs pay less than they used to.

If median household income is essentially the same in 2015 as it was in 2000, this could simply be evidence that households are smaller than they used to be.

If you really want to compare incomes from one year to the next, a comparison of individual income is a much more accurate indicator than household income.

29 posted on 05/05/2016 4:47:36 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Sometimes I feel like I've been tied to the whipping post.")
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To: LS

Seven years ago, I worked as a hospital medical transcriptionist, and my husband worked at Insight. He also worked a couple nights a week at a restaurant as a server. We made over $100k.

My job got sent to India in 2010, and he was fired from Insight 3 years ago (just before he turned 60) due to two bad quarters. Luckily, he became full-time at his restaurant job so we still have benefits. I got unemployment for awhile and now I’m in school, living off loans as well as early retirement. We make 2/3 of what we made when Obama took office.

We got the change all right...but not a lot of hope.


30 posted on 05/05/2016 4:55:15 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Be Breitbart, baby. LIFB.)
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To: LS; SaveFerris; ExTexasRedhead; Kristin; Jim Robinson
Watch the first 15 seconds, and see the reaction with hysterical laughter and mockery of the liberal audience and panel. Ann Coulter was the only one on that stage with a brain.

Real Time with Bill Maher: Overtime – June 19, 2015 (HBO)

31 posted on 05/05/2016 5:10:21 PM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: LS

According to this both legal immigrants and illegals were given the jobs:

http://cis.org/all-employment-growth-since-2000-went-to-immigrants


32 posted on 05/05/2016 5:13:28 PM PDT by Tammy8
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To: Lazamataz
That could be true because I've never really had a bad steak as long as it was well done, lol.
33 posted on 05/05/2016 5:26:26 PM PDT by donna (Radicalized Christians become missionaries; then, they tell everyone that Jesus loves them!)
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To: conservativesister

There’s also the middle-aged people who were laid off, weren’t rehired or couldn’t find another decent job, and then decided to take early Social Security at 62 as well as draw on their retirement accounts in order to survive. I’d like to know how big that number is.


34 posted on 05/05/2016 5:42:51 PM PDT by Deo volente ("NAFTA, GATT, WTO, New World Order." George Putnam, among others, warned us.)
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To: Deo volente
I’d like to know how big that number is.

I think you could make a decent estimate by looking at the number of folks going on SS at 62 by calendar year vs. the total population of that age bracket.

If your theory is correct, the percentage should show an upward jump.

35 posted on 05/05/2016 5:46:11 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: donna
That could be true because I've never really had a bad steak as long as it was well done, lol.

donna, you and I have sparred before, but I see we are (finally) on the same side of something: Trump. :)

But... WELL DONE STEAKS???!? Ew.

I like the farmer to gently whisper the word 'flame' into the cows ear.

Cut, garnish, and serve.

36 posted on 05/05/2016 6:09:36 PM PDT by Lazamataz (Trump is great. Just great. He's going to do great things and America will be great and spectacular.)
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To: batterycommander

Try giving them a $20 bill and a quarter for a charge of $17.25 and watch their heads explode.


37 posted on 05/05/2016 6:20:45 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: LS

38 posted on 05/05/2016 9:53:42 PM PDT by BagCamAddict (Wolverines!! #NeverHillary)
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To: Prince of Space

You and your husband are SO CUTE!!!


39 posted on 05/06/2016 1:06:43 PM PDT by b9 (TRiUMPh!)
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To: LS
median household income,

Median, not average. 1/5 or 20% of households have not one person in the household working.

40 posted on 05/06/2016 1:09:33 PM PDT by meadsjn
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