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the U.S. is rightly considered a “rich death trap” for its young and middle-aged citizens... Our purchasing power is declining, vis a vis wages not keeping up

by dfxm12 2y ago

the U.S. is rightly considered a “rich death trap” for its young and middle-aged citizens... Our purchasing power is declining, vis a vis wages not keeping up with inflation and in some cases falling [0]. It follows that if we aren't as rich as we used to be, we're falling into less of a "rich death trap". 0 - https://moneywise.com/research/americans-purchasing-power-plummets-as-inflation-slashes-salaries https://moneywise.com/research/americans-purchasing-power-pl...

ajross 2y ago
That's a terrible article. Most of the numbers[1] are "last five years", which is a huge cherry pick right around the pandemic. It's true that there was an savings and inflation burst 2021-2023! But drawing your box around it and declaring "things are getting worse" instead of looking at the trend in both directions is just bad science. As always, ask FRED, not random clickbait articles. Real (which means "inflation-adjusted") median household income in the United States: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N It's been going steadily upward since 2011, and is currently, except for the 2020-22 correction the article is cherry picking. [1] Also the headline isn't an aggregate number measuring people, it's citing "97% of professions". Wat? What does that even mean? Is there a formal list out there of all the "professions" such that you can count them all? Clearly there is not, so that number become non-falsifiable.
lkbm 2y ago
Is there some Simpsons paradox/composition effect thing going on here, or something with PPP vs. real wages? For full-time employees, real wages are up[0][1], especially for the bottom quartile[2]. Overall median income appears to be down from 2019[3][4]. [0] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881900Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881900Q [2] https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/ https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/ [3] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N [4] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N

by dfxm12 2y ago

ajross 2y ago

That's a terrible article. Most of the numbers[1] are "last five years", which is a huge cherry pick right around the pandemic. It's true that there was an savings and inflation burst 2021-2023! But drawing your box around it and declaring "things are getting worse" instead of looking at the trend in both directions is just bad science. As always, ask FRED, not random clickbait articles. Real (which means "inflation-adjusted") median household income in the United States: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N It's been going steadily upward since 2011, and is currently, except for the 2020-22 correction the article is cherry picking. [1] Also the headline isn't an aggregate number measuring people, it's citing "97% of professions". Wat? What does that even mean? Is there a formal list out there of all the "professions" such that you can count them all? Clearly there is not, so that number become non-falsifiable.

lkbm 2y ago

Is there some Simpsons paradox/composition effect thing going on here, or something with PPP vs. real wages? For full-time employees, real wages are up[0][1], especially for the bottom quartile[2]. Overall median income appears to be down from 2019[3][4]. [0] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881900Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881900Q [2] https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/ https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/ [3] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N [4] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N