Americans’ Household Income Back to 1996 Levels!

This Wall Street Journal article is dreadful confirmation of how far we’ve fallen economically. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904265504576568543968213896.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

It states that Americans are back to where they were FIFTEEN YEARS AGO in terms of household income!  Since consumer spending is 70% of GDP, this basically explains why we have so much consumer debt (e.g. people borrowed to continue consuming as if they had real income gains) and why we’re now in the economic doldrums. 

Ronald Reagan won the Presidency in 1980 by asking Americans the simple question: are you better off than you were four years ago?  (e.g. at the beginning of Jimmy Carter’s term in office).  If you have to wonder why voter sentiment is so foul, imagine someone asking:  “are you better off than you were fifteen years ago?” Now we know the answer.   The forty hour a week worker is actually back to 1978 income levels (that’s 33 years ago).

.PS.  When I googled “Economic…”, Google helpfully supplied “collapse”.  Does that tell you something?  Is that charred political flesh I smell in the air?  It certainly isn’t BBQ. .