Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The stock market is up, but income is down

The Washington Examiner reports that per capita income is down 3.2% since the Obama inauguration, according to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. The country was also in a recession at the start of Bush's first term, and income fell that year by 0.4%.  During the eight years of the Bush presidency, income grew a total of 12.7%.  Mine didn't, however—my highest earning years were during the Clinton presidency.

The drop in national income helps to explain why Social Security has gone cash-flow negative six years earlier than projected as recently as 2008.  I've been surprised by the number of "news" reports I've seen that stick to 2016 as the turning point year.

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