America in 2014: Poorer with More Poverty

Just recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual data on the median household incomes and poverty rates for 2014.

The saddest news from the data is that the average American family (household) lost $800 in income in 2014 as compared to 2013; dropping 1.5% from $54,462/year to just $53,657. The fact that this wasn't widely reported is amazing.  And, its even more amazing when you think that the average American paid 1.6% more for the things they bought in 2014 -- as measured by the Consumer Price Index. This means that with the combination of inflation and a falling wage, the typical American family lost 3.1% or roughly $1690 in buying power in 2014.

Falling wages and higher costs hardly justify the claim that our economy somehow grew by 2.4% in 2014; the supposedly fastest growth since the recession ended in 2009.  Yet, this is what the Obama Administration told us at the beginning of the year.  If you're going to tell a lie, at least be consistent.

The other bad news was that the rate of poverty rose from 14.5% to 14.8% of our population; meaning that 46.7 million people are struggling to make ends meet. Even worse than that, 26.2% of blacks and 23.6% of Hispanics were in poverty in 2014 while whites had a rate of just 10.1%.

It's numbers like these that make the so-called low unemployment numbers and stronger economic growth claims meaningless to the average American.

References:

Typical American Family Earned $53,657 Last Year: http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/16/news/economy/census-poverty-income/

Historical Inflation Rates: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/

U.S. 2.4% Economic Growth In 2014 Strongest Since Recession:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2015/01/30/u-s-economy-grew-2-6-in-fourth-quarter-2-4-in-2014/