The US real median income rate has only just now surpassed levels seen in 2007 and, before that, 1999; you can read that as, "median income is now higher than e

The US real median income rate has only just now surpassed levels seen in 2007 and, before that, 1999; you can read that as, "median income is now higher than ever before", or you can read that as, "US working families lost two full decades worth of wage increases". Both statements would be true. Furthermore, while median income has increased, the bulk of economic gains are still not making their way into the average household. This is so broadly accepted as true that there's an entire Wikipedia article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_Unite... Opioid and other drug abuse probably correlates well with poverty (example https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/04/joblessness-and-opioids/523281/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/04/joblessne...), and that problem has become a national conversation recently.