Middle class income, fastest growth on record last year

[-Nurot]

So the Census Bureau released it's final findings today on 9/13.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...eat-recession/

The incomes of typical Americans rose in 2015 by 5.2 percent, the first significant boost to middle-class pay since the end of the Great Recession and the fastest increase ever recorded by the federal government, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday morning.

In addition, the poverty rate fell by 1.2 percentage points, the steepest decline since 1968. There were 43.1 million Americans in poverty on the year, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014.

The share of Americans who lack health insurance continued a years-long decline, falling 1.3 percentage points, to 9.1 percent.

Real median household income was $56,500 in 2015, the bureau said, up from $53,700 in 2014. The gain was a combination of rising wages in the economy - spurred by a labor market where unemployment is falling and employers are being forced to compete more for workers - and low inflation.

All told, the gains brought median incomes nearly back to their levels before the recession, after adjusting for inflation, though they remain below 1999 levels.

So it seems like the country is definitely on the right track despite the naysayers views. It also begs the question with the political season coming up do we really need radical change and steeper tax cuts for big businesses, or will that just be a futile effort destined to fail.

[Kujako]

We also had negative inflation in 2015.

[LaserSharkDFB]

So the Census Bureau released it's final findings today on 9/13.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...eat-recession/



So it seems like the country is definitely on the right track despite the naysayers views. It also begs the question with the political season coming up do we really need radical change and steeper tax cuts for big businesses, or will that just be a futile effort destined to fail.

Nah, that doesn't feel right, Obama must be cooking the books. /s

[jessaragen]

I would love to compare this information with the real estate market figures. In 2015, 43 million households in America spent $535 billion on rent, which represents a $19 billion increase (3.7%) on the previous year. Annual house price growth was 4.0% in December 2015, which represents a total gain of 17.0% between 2013 and 2015 according to The Economist. Rental rates are growing as demand increases from tenants. While the median house price in SF is $785,800, this sum in St. Louis, MO is $141,000. The average price in the USA is $185,000. More here https://tranio.com/usa/analytics/hou...ntial_markets/

[Independent voter]

Thanks Obama.

[NED funded]

I blame Obama

[zenkai]

We also had negative inflation in 2015.

Low inflation is the sign of a bad economy.

- - - Updated - - -

American's didn't get raises in years, they get one big one, hurray! That totally fixes everything.

[Daelak]

Low inflation is the sign of a bad economy.

- - - Updated - - -

American's didn't get raises in years, they get one big one, hurray! That totally fixes everything.

I would love to hear your reasoning as to why deflation is bad for the economy, this should be a classic.

[Felya]

I would love to hear your reasoning as to why deflation is bad for the economy, this should be a classic.

Because it causes existing debt to make up a larger portion of spendable income. The problem with what he said though, there is a very obvious thing that happened last year that most likely caused this. With oil prices dropping by 30%, it should have had a deflation effect.

[Daelak]

Because it causes existing debt to make up a larger portion of spendable income. The problem with what he said though, there is a very obvious thing that happened last year that most likely caused this. With oil prices dropping by 30%, it should have had a deflation effect.

Don't help him, he's purty smart to figure it out himself.

[Narwal]

So it seems like the country is definitely on the right track despite the naysayers views. It also begs the question with the political season coming up do we really need radical change and steeper tax cuts for big businesses, or will that just be a futile effort destined to fail.

Sweet, does this mean #BLM can go back to the gutter it came out of? Everyone has a job now, and is well above poverty! They're clearly the biggest naysayers and clearly the facts show they're wrong.

[Daelak]

Sweet, does this mean #BLM can go back to the gutter it came out of? Everyone has a job now, and is well above poverty! They're clearly the biggest naysayers and clearly the facts show they're wrong.

Says a person who hasn't seen the data regarding black familial wealth and income.

[Felya]

Sweet, does this mean #BLM can go back to the gutter it came out of? Everyone has a job now, and is well above poverty! They're clearly the biggest naysayers and clearly the facts show they're wrong.

Why the fuck would you bring race into this thread?

[NED funded]

Sweet, does this mean #BLM can go back to the gutter it came out of? Everyone has a job now, and is well above poverty! They're clearly the biggest naysayers and clearly the facts show they're wrong.

A huge portion of the black population do not fit into the middle class.

[TrumpIsPresident]

Tiny increase in average middle class income.
Huge raise in overall costs of living.

Here's $5 more dollars a week on your paycheck.
And oh btw here's a $100 increase per week in your taxes, cost of goods, etc.

Not to mention the fact that there was some manipulation a while back in determining who actually is middle class in order to fuck with Obamacare enrollment numbers.
So if that same range was used here then the conclusion is rotten.

But ya sure, lets praise Obama -because he had everything to do with it- and lets carry that praise over to Cloton.
Seems legit.

[Rasulis]

I would love to compare this information with the real estate market figures. In 2015, 43 million households in America spent $535 billion on rent, which represents a $19 billion increase (3.7%) on the previous year. Annual house price growth was 4.0% in December 2015, which represents a total gain of 17.0% between 2013 and 2015 according to The Economist. Rental rates are growing as demand increases from tenants. While the median house price in SF is $785,800, this sum in St. Louis, MO is $141,000. The average price in the USA is $185,000. More here https://tranio.com/usa/analytics/hou...ntial_markets/

The housing market in S.D. is strange right now. When the average price of a decent starter house is around $500k, there really aren’t that many buyers that can qualify for a loan. On the other hand, as the data show, there are even less available house on the market. My wife is a real estate broker. According to her, selling is fun. Before your open house, you already get 6 - 10 offers. On the other hand, buying is no fun. A lot of trash properties, and you are competing against a lot of people for the decent ones.

You see construction going on all over the place downtown S.D. However, most of them are high end apartments going for $3k to $4k a month. No one is doing large scale development anymore, especially for starter house in the 300k - 400k range. With good reasons ranging from limited land availability and high acquisition cost, maze of regulations (governmental and environmental), high permit cost, and NIMBY.

The property tax structure in CA does not help either. No one is selling unless they absolutely have to. Our house is appraised at 900k, and yet, because when we moved my wife is 55+, we got an exemption and are still paying property tax based on our first house which we bought for 160k in 1993.

Then there is the insane rental market. Crappy 3-bedroom apartments in even crappier neighborhoods are going for $1,600 + now. Between mortgage, HOA and damage insurance, we pay $1,500 per month for the 3-bedroom condo that we stayed in while building the house. We were going to sell the place, but ended up renting it out for $ 2,800 a month. It does have San Vicente Golf Course as backyard.

Bottom line is there aren’t enough starter houses coming into the market. Out of the 9 houses that my wife closed this year, only one was in the $400k range. All the others are $800k and up.

[Collegeguy]

And still lower than 2007.

[Talon8669]

Part of what if not a big part of what is contributing to this is the serious lack of skilled labor in the US. Everyone is wanting to get jobs and sit in an office or be the next big doctor. As a result my company alone gave out (3) raises last year just to stay competitive with the market place and retain employees. Electricians in WA in my area make $58.60/Hr before benefit deductions for all prevailing wage and make roughly $42.50/Hr non-prevailing wage after benefits are added ($35/Hr is the average our company pays as base before benefits for non-prevailing wage work). While the prevailing wage hasn't increased significantly most of employees at our company went from $27-$30/Hr to $35 plus in just a single year for non-prevailing wage work. Areas like Seattle are even higher.

[PC2]

But Sanders said the economy isn't healthy.

[-Nurot]

Tiny increase in average middle class income.
Huge raise in overall costs of living.

Here's $5 more dollars a week on your paycheck.
And oh btw here's a $100 increase per week in your taxes, cost of goods, etc.

Not to mention the fact that there was some manipulation a while back in determining who actually is middle class in order to fuck with Obamacare enrollment numbers.
So if that same range was used here then the conclusion is rotten.

But ya sure, lets praise Obama -because he had everything to do with it- and lets carry that praise over to Cloton.
Seems legit.

Aren't you one of the one's who in the past has blamed Obama because, unemployment was high, welfare recipients were at a high and the economy was slumping?

So he had everything thing to do with it when things weren't going so well? Now that things are marginally better we have to find excuses to ignore the numbers.

We've had eight years of ignoring numbers, I just though I'd provide you and some of the others, with some more numbers to selectively ignore.

Unemployment fell, while at the same time poverty fell, so while you come up with things like "true unemployment" to blame him with it seems to be more on the side of rhetoric and partisanship, than based on his actual job performance.

He's gotten blamed for the nonsensical for a while now, maybe he is due some praise. As for Hillary continuing the legacy we can only hope she does as decent of a job that he has, because otherwise these numbers could easily turn around and we could be looking at numbers pre-2007.

---Update---

But Sanders said the economy isn't healthy.

Sander's also believes in free healthcare and education.

Maybe he's right that our economy does need work, but for now people have convinced themselves that its normal for the average household to on average have 15k+ in credit card debt, and combined with student/auto/home loans or mortgages, the average household is 132k+ in debt.

Until people can think outside the box, the debt treadmill is something everyone except the upper class is dealing with and you have to take your wins where you can get them, else you end up with the world view that just continues with down the path of making the middle and lower class worse of than they were to start.