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For you to make the statement "wages have not collapsed" is a non starter.
The sky is not red and denial is not a river in Egypt. Wages have most certainly collapsed. Please try arguing that the price of college and the price of insurance has not exploded faster than wages. I can't wait to hear your response.
You might find this article interesting. Basically, the majority of household spending used to be on the truly basic needs of food and clothing, yet look where those are today. House sizes have increased incredibly versus a smaller percentage in total spending, and are simply inflated living. As the article mentions, healthcare costs are obscured here due to employer coverage, but it's pretty clear that we're spending on different things. We're definitely not worse off.
For you to make the statement "wages have not collapsed" is a non starter.
The sky is not red and denial is not a river in Egypt. Wages have most certainly collapsed. Please try arguing that the price of college and the price of insurance has not exploded faster than wages. I can't wait to hear your response.
I would like to see your statistics as to how wages "have most certainly collapsed." They haven't. There has been a drop in median (median means half earn more, half earn less, it is not skewed upwards by the 1% or .1%) income over the last few years of about 5%, this represents an anomaly of the historical trends over the last 50 years.
College prices are one of the very few things that have increased disproportionately to inflation in recent decades. Here's a pretty good article explaining many of the factors that have caused the increase:
Sorry if any of these facts and figures are contradictory to much more exciting stories about wage collapses, the disappearing middle class and the new found need for some families to buy second hand goods.
From the linked article: "Because it is so difficult to find a good job in America today, I often recommend to people that they should consider starting their own businesses.
But thanks to the bureaucratic control..., small business ownership in America today is at an all-time low.* It is almost as if they don't want the "little guy" to win.* Every avenue of prosperity for the middle class is under assault..."
Reminds me of the entrepreneurial Oregan girl selling home-made mistletoes on the street was shut down, and told panhandling however is allowed there.
American middle class, may you rest in peace.
The numbers are skewed by all the idiots who have to be lead by their nose to do a job, and who come to a dead stop unless they are supervised constantly. I could make good use of a couple idiots, but not full time. If I stop to do paperwork, they lose focus and wander off. At most, I can only deal with them half time. They are "workers," but sure don't make anything like 28k a year. They're not worth more.
The same morons think they will go into business for themselves, but can't be bothered to learn their business or keep books. Those people are going to stay lower class because they are lower class.
You might find this article interesting. Basically, the majority of household spending used to be on the truly basic needs of food and clothing, yet look where those are today. House sizes have increased incredibly versus a smaller percentage in total spending, and are simply inflated living. As the article mentions, healthcare costs are obscured here due to employer coverage, but it's pretty clear that we're spending on different things. We're definitely not worse off.
Your chart has zero credibility. Just look at the healthcare tab. Employer contribution or not, healthcare costs are through the roof. When I was in college in the mid 1990s I could buy a very good private plan for $200/mo. I remember people complaining then that the price was up 100% over the past 5 years!
In other words, in the late 80s, it was 100$/mo for premium health insurance (with little to no copays, btw). An equivalent plan today would cost me well in excess of $1000/mo that's an increase of over 1000% in 25 years.
Yet your chart shows healthcare as the virtually the same! C'mon, now.
I would like to see your statistics as to how wages "have most certainly collapsed." They haven't. There has been a drop in median (median means half earn more, half earn less, it is not skewed upwards by the 1% or .1%) income over the last few years of about 5%, this represents an anomaly of the historical trends over the last 50 years.
College prices are one of the very few things that have increased disproportionately to inflation in recent decades. Here's a pretty good article explaining many of the factors that have caused the increase:
Sorry if any of these facts and figures are contradictory to much more exciting stories about wage collapses, the disappearing middle class and the new found need for some families to buy second hand goods.
Useless charts and figures. It's the income relative to living expenses that is important.
As mentioned in a previous post, health insurance is up over 1000% in 25 years.
Price of home ownership I would estimate at around 600%.
Price of food- I don't know.
Price of college, probably around 1000%.
Have we seen increases in wages of 1000% over the past 25 years? No, we haven't.
Useless charts and figures. It's the income relative to living expenses that is important.
As mentioned in a previous post, health insurance is up over 1000% in 25 years.
Price of home ownership I would estimate at around 600%.
Price of food- I don't know.
Price of college, probably around 1000%.
Have we seen increases in wages of 1000% over the past 25 years? No, we haven't.
These charts and figures would be useless IF they weren't weighted for inflation. They are not constant dollars, but rather constant dollars from a given date, adjusted for the relative increase of goods and services over time. Some of these goods and services have increased at a higher rate than others. However, they have used some actual figures to come up with these numbers, not just "I don't know."
If you wish to debate the validity of the indices used to adjust the dollars, that's one thing. If you dismiss them because they don't make your argument for you, that's another.
If it makes you feel any better, yes, Cadillac Escalades are more expensive (even adjusted for inflation) than Chevy Nova wagons. Just the same as insurer paid in vitro fertilization and living to 100 is more expensive than not having kids and dying of a heart attack at age 60.
In fact, if you take out the two times the government decided everyone should buy a house (GI Bill after WWII and interest rates and lending standards in the early 2000s) home prices have moved generally in tandem with inflation.
Your chart has zero credibility. Just look at the healthcare tab. Employer contribution or not, healthcare costs are through the roof. When I was in college in the mid 1990s I could buy a very good private plan for $200/mo. I remember people complaining then that the price was up 100% over the past 5 years!
In other words, in the late 80s, it was 100$/mo for premium health insurance (with little to no copays, btw). An equivalent plan today would cost me well in excess of $1000/mo that's an increase of over 1000% in 25 years.
Yet your chart shows healthcare as the virtually the same! C'mon, now.
Read the article. This is BLS data. from the article (the chart of which you decided to discredit without reading):
Quote:
Health-care spending makes up more than 16% of the U.S. economy, but only 6% of family spending, according to the CES. One reason for the gap is that most medical spending isn't out of our pockets. Employers pay workers' premiums and government foots the bill for the elderly and the low-income. Government spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid has quadrupled since the 1950s in the most meaningful measurement, which is share of GDP.
In short, health care costs are squeezing Americans. But the details of this squeeze elude the color-wheel above. We are paying for health care with taxes, borrowing, and compensation that goes to health benefits, rather than wages.
Quote:
Historical context shouldn't cheapen middle class suffering. Today's suffering is real. Unemployment is high. Wage growth is flat. We are squeezed by rising health care costs and scarcity of affordable housing in productive cities.
And yet, who can deny that we are richer? A century ago, we spent more than half our money on food and clothes. Today, we spend more than half of our money on housing and transportation. Our ambitions turned from bread and shirts to ownership and highways. We are all subtle victims of the expectations that 100 years of wealth have bought.
Saw the other day that Chinese average worker makes less than 1000 per year. But then many make much more and country is among fastest growing in millionaires.
Useless charts and figures. It's the income relative to living expenses that is important.
As mentioned in a previous post, health insurance is up over 1000% in 25 years.
Price of home ownership I would estimate at around 600%.
Price of food- I don't know.
Price of college, probably around 1000%.
Have we seen increases in wages of 1000% over the past 25 years? No, we haven't.
25 years ago the median sales price for a house was 120k with the average being 148,800 this is back in 1989 as of 2010 those same figures were 221800/272900 so the 600% might be off
25 years ago the median sales price for a house was 120k with the average being 148,800 this is back in 1989 as of 2010 those same figures were 221800/272900 so the 600% might be off
And as I posted in another thread, the average house size has increased while persons per house has dropped. Explains a lot...
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