Robert J. Samuelson: Are Living Standards Truly Stagnant?

[expat_panama]

from: http://www.investors.com/politics/columnists/robert-j-samuelson-are-living-standards-truly-stagnant/

ROBERT J. SAMUELSON Apr. 11, 2017, 4:43 PM ET

It may turn out that the widespread belief that most Americans' incomes have stagnated for years is, well, false or at least overstated.

Say what?

No doubt, many Americans feel that, except for the rich and segments of the upper middle class, they've been treading water economically for years. To take a prominent piece of evidence: In 2015, the average "real" (inflation-adjusted) wage of workers was about $21 an hour, almost exactly what it was in 1975.

That's nearly half a century without a wage increase!

Or is it?

In a provocative new study, economist Bruce Sacerdote of Dartmouth College reviewed the material well-being of the poorest 50% and 25% of Americans. What he concluded was that even these families had achieved a "meaningful growth in consumption ... (despite) a prolonged period of increasing income inequality ... and a decreasing share of national income accruing to labor."

To reach this counterintuitive finding, Sacerdote relied on three types of evidence. The first was...

...many Americans feel that they're not getting ahead, whether — in a material sense — they are or they aren't. There are many plausible explanations. Sacerdote speculates that the rise in inequality may make Americans "feel worse ... even if their material goods consumption is rising." Or maybe it's just disappointment. People got less than they expected, and the pace of change was so slow that it seemed like stagnation.​

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *​

The evidence that people's incomes are down are:

• Everyone 'knows' that incomes are down.
• Everyone feeels like they're not better off.
• The Census Bureau says real family median incomes are down from their peak a dozen years ago.

The evidence that incomes are up:

• Real disposable income percapita is at an all time high.
• Real total employee compensation is at an all time high.
• Real average private net worth is at an all time high.

 

[william the wie]

nice find

 

[Jomama]

People realize that houses full of cheap Chinese crap is not fulfilling so they feel deprived.

The other explanation is that fairly docile employee types in slow growth parts of America see friends losing jobs, getting wage stagnation, etc and they feel hunted by market forces they cannot see or control. These wage earners see fathers and uncles who they admire getting sidelined like an afterthought in a changing America and it scares the hell out of them. No economic re-examination of the numbers is going to change that very real and somewhat accurate feeling.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The evidence that incomes are up:

• Real disposable income percapita is at an all time high.
• Real total employee compensation is at an all time high.
• Real average private net worth is at an all time high.

does that mean real disposable income as an average for all income earners regardless of the fact that the rich are pulling up the average for the poor and middle class who saw their jobs off shored and income reduced by liberal policies?


or does it mean the super rich have more money and pull up the income of those

 

[expat_panama]

The evidence that incomes are up: Real disposable income percapita is at an all time high...

does that mean real disposable income as an average for all income earners regardless of the fact that the rich are pulling up the average for the poor and middle class who saw their jobs off shored and income reduced by liberal policies? or does it mean the super rich have more money and pull up the income of those

The way you posed the question doesn't make sense, unless we're assuming maybe that incomes are not really up if it's mainly becuase the rich got more of that "up" than the poor because the rich are somehow not as "worthy" as the poor.

imho that line of thinking sucks.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The evidence that incomes are up: Real disposable income percapita is at an all time high...

does that mean real disposable income as an average for all income earners regardless of the fact that the rich are pulling up the average for the poor and middle class who saw their jobs off shored and income reduced by liberal policies? or does it mean the super rich have more money and pull up the income of those

The way you posed the question doesn't make sense, unless we're assuming maybe that incomes are not really up if it's mainly becuase the rich got more of that "up" than the poor because the rich are somehow not as "worthy" as the poor.

imho that line of thinking sucks.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The evidence that incomes are up: Real disposable income percapita is at an all time high...

does that mean real disposable income as an average for all income earners regardless of the fact that the rich are pulling up the average for the poor and middle class who saw their jobs off shored and income reduced by liberal policies? or does it mean the super rich have more money and pull up the income of those

The way you posed the question doesn't make sense, unless we're assuming maybe that incomes are not really up if it's mainly becuase the rich got more of that "up" than the poor because the rich are somehow not as "worthy" as the poor.

imho that line of thinking sucks.

Ideally you want everybody's income to be going up when it is only the rich and largely because they are conducting business offshore that points to a long-term problem with the domestic economy which ultimately Will weaken the nation

 

[william the wie]

Gross incomes are going up. Risk adjusted incomes have been going down. "High Wire" 2009 by Peter Gosselin is the main popularization of the BLS data that proved that the YoY changes in income are increasing in both amplitude and frequency while also marching up the income ladder as time goes on. Former billionaires on public assistance is less than a decade away if trends continue.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Gross incomes are going up. Risk adjusted incomes have been going down. "High Wire" 2009 by Peter Gosselin is the main popularization of the BLS data that proved that the YoY changes in income are increasing in both amplitude and frequency while also marching up the income ladder as time goes on. Former billionaires on public assistance is less than a decade away if trends continue.

we know that 2 things are happening:

1) huge affordable technological change is taking place that is making us all better off. For example, we all have smart phone supercomputer toys in our pockets.

2) but, much of the benefit that was largely created by Americans was off shored by liberal tax and regulation policy that king Donald wants to correct.