Hard to argue that the U.S. sucks when you have numbers like these:
"Real" (inflation-adjusted) median family income--the income of the family right in the middle of the income distribution--hit $61,355 in 2007, an all-time high. This was an increase of 2.1% vs. 2006 and the third consecutive annual increase.
The last all-time high was set in 2000. As a result, family incomes in this cycle have followed the same (down, then up) pattern seen during every recession and recovery in the past 30 years. It took until 1986 to beat the record high set in 1979, and it took until 1996 to beat the record high set in 1989. In other words, the fact that it took seven years to reach a new high is "normal..."
The most shocking part of the report, at least for those who have bought into conventional wisdom, is that in 2007, inequality among families declined at the fastest pace in 45 years. The share of income earned by the top 5% of families declined to 20.1% in 2007--the lowest level since 1995--from 21.5% the year before. The share of the bottom 20% of families increased to 4.1% from 4%.
So unlike in 1986 and 1996, when median family incomes were finally breaking record highs but income inequality was growing, now we have a new record high for the typical family while inequality is shrinking. Bet you didn't hear that on the evening news.
But facts won't stop the Democrat meme...
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