YEAH, REAL PROGRESS – AT 8:31 A.M. ET:  The perception that millions of Americans are less well off than they were decades ago turns out to be true.  From CNS: 

(CNSNews.com) - The real median income of American men who work full-time, year-round peaked forty years ago in 1973, according to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 1973, median earnings for men who worked full-time, year-round were $51,670 in inflation-adjusted 2012 dollars. The median earnings of men who work full-time year-round have never been that high again.

In 2012, the latest year for which the Census Bureau has published an estimate, the real median earnings of men who worked full-time, year-round was $49,398. That was $2,272—or about 4.4 percent—below the peak median earnings of $51,670 in 1973.

In 1960, the earliest year for which the Census Bureau has published this data, the median earnings for men who worked full-time, year-round were $36,420 in 2012 dollars. Between 1960 and 1973 that increased $15,250—or about 41.9 percent.

By comparison, the real median earnings of American women who work full-time year-round peaked in 2007, when women who worked full-time earned $38,872 in constant 2012 dollars. From 1960 through 2007, the real income of American women who work full-time increased $16,774 or about 76 percent. From 2007 to 2012, the real earnings of women who work full-time declined $1,081, or about 2.8 percent.

COMMENT:  You sense a real frustration in the country.  Households now need two incomes to buy what one bought in the middle of the last century.  And both men and women feel that, no matter how hard they work, they run in place. 

One of the key answers to the problem is economic growth, and we're not getting that.  To the contrary, many current policies, including stifling over-regulation, hold back growth.

What happens if Americans decide they have no stake in the future?  I don't know, but I doubt if it will be a pretty picture.  The sense of frustration is one of the biggest time bombs in America today, and little is being done to address it.

April 29, 2014