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> Until I see median real income start to actually go down, I just don't buy it. Assuming you're intending "real" to mean the technical definition of "real" wh

> Until I see median real income start to actually go down, I just don't buy it. Assuming you're intending "real" to mean the technical definition of "real" which is "adjusted for inflation", its basically been flat since 2019*, and that's using the government's inflation measures which abuse things like basket substitution and other hacks to hide the actual increases in the true cost of living. If you made better assumptions about inflation, you actually would see that median real income is down dramatically already over the past several decades. Here is a recent video on some of these measurement biases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B4tgG-CGXU&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B4tgG-CGXU&t=1s Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N

bloppe 7mo ago
Your assertion that it's "flat" is rather unconvincing after looking at that graph. It's clearly been rising relatively consistently. The dip for covid I think is especially understandable, and it's currently higher than it's ever been. Maybe your personal expenses are not reflected by the CPI, but you can see for yourself: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/2025.htm https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/2025.htm 44% housing, 8% medicine, 14% food. I don't see how these number are manipulated to the point of malicious data picking. They also publish their methodology.
- adverbly 7mo ago
  Are you blind? 2019: 83260 2024: 83730
  - demaga 7mo ago
    2018: 77700
  - bloppe 7mo ago
    If you actually look at the rest of the graph, you'd quickly notice that 2 year dips are entirely normal. The overall trend is consistent. And it's risen over 5% in the last 4 years. Those are the 4 years since ChatGPT.
  - dahfizz 7mo ago
    It dipped during the covid recession and then recovered to an all time high. Is this your first time looking at an economic chart? It doesn't need to increase every quarter for it to have a very strongly increasing trend.

bloppe 7mo ago

Your assertion that it's "flat" is rather unconvincing after looking at that graph. It's clearly been rising relatively consistently. The dip for covid I think is especially understandable, and it's currently higher than it's ever been. Maybe your personal expenses are not reflected by the CPI, but you can see for yourself: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/2025.htm https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/2025.htm 44% housing, 8% medicine, 14% food. I don't see how these number are manipulated to the point of malicious data picking. They also publish their methodology.

adverbly 7mo ago
Are you blind? 2019: 83260 2024: 83730
- demaga 7mo ago
  2018: 77700
- bloppe 7mo ago
  If you actually look at the rest of the graph, you'd quickly notice that 2 year dips are entirely normal. The overall trend is consistent. And it's risen over 5% in the last 4 years. Those are the 4 years since ChatGPT.
- dahfizz 7mo ago
  It dipped during the covid recession and then recovered to an all time high. Is this your first time looking at an economic chart? It doesn't need to increase every quarter for it to have a very strongly increasing trend.