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Yes and no. The ASEC survey is capturing total money income, which is not the same as total compensation. It's an important difference, because total compensa

Yes and no. The ASEC survey is capturing total money income, which is not the same as total compensation. It's an important difference, because total compensation includes things like the value of employer-provided health insurance that has never been included in the total money income measure. Also keep in mind that a lot of that intense technological development has resulted in falling costs for a wide variety of goods over time. http://www.aei.org/publication/the-chart-of-the-century-makes-the-rounds-at-the-federal-reserve/ http://www.aei.org/publication/the-chart-of-the-century-make... One of the bigger questions that society needs to answer is why the costs of the things that have been rising so much faster than incomes are doing so.

HarryHirsch 8y ago
value of employer-provided health insurance that has never been included in the total money income measure How do you measure the value of that health insureance? You can of course post the sticker price, but the healthcare that the dollar buys you is difficult to measure. Life expectancy tells that the rest of the OECD is there with the US but pays 25 % of the costs. Also keep in mind that a lot of that intense technological development has resulted in falling costs for a wide variety of goods over time It's like a certain re-work of the Bible. Their version of Revelation 6 reads : "A pound of bread will now be 90 Euros. But the price of a Porsche will remain unchanged." And we all thought that the Apocalypse of St John was literature, not an accurate prediction of the future! Yes, technological progress can bring down the price of an i-Pad but won't do anything about the rent.
sgc 8y ago
> One of the bigger questions that society needs to answer is why the costs of the things that have been rising so much faster than incomes are doing so. I don't really think it is a question that needs to be answered, but a problem that needs to be resolved. It's pretty well documented that income inequality in the US is at an all time high and will only get worse with more automation and recent changes to the tax codes.

HarryHirsch 8y ago

value of employer-provided health insurance that has never been included in the total money income measure How do you measure the value of that health insureance? You can of course post the sticker price, but the healthcare that the dollar buys you is difficult to measure. Life expectancy tells that the rest of the OECD is there with the US but pays 25 % of the costs. Also keep in mind that a lot of that intense technological development has resulted in falling costs for a wide variety of goods over time It's like a certain re-work of the Bible. Their version of Revelation 6 reads : "A pound of bread will now be 90 Euros. But the price of a Porsche will remain unchanged." And we all thought that the Apocalypse of St John was literature, not an accurate prediction of the future! Yes, technological progress can bring down the price of an i-Pad but won't do anything about the rent.

sgc 8y ago

> One of the bigger questions that society needs to answer is why the costs of the things that have been rising so much faster than incomes are doing so. I don't really think it is a question that needs to be answered, but a problem that needs to be resolved. It's pretty well documented that income inequality in the US is at an all time high and will only get worse with more automation and recent changes to the tax codes.