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/

The "Bad" of the December Employment Report: The Average Worker Loses Purchasing Power

According to the latest Employment Report, the month of December saw an increase of 252,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.6% from the prior month's 5.7%.

Now, that sounds like a good report.  One that President Obama is sure to take credit for.

However, there's another bit of news that you won't hear him talk about.  That news is that the average hourly wage fell by 5 cents.  While 5 cents per hour doesn't sound like much, when its annualized and applied to a workforce of more than 156 million Americans, that loss of 5 cents is an equivalent annual loss of more than $16 billion dollars in overall wages; and, those are billions of dollars that won't be applied to growing the economy.

The fact is, that since 2010 and the employment recovery, too many Americans have lost good paying jobs only to be rehired at lower salaries; resulting in stagnant wages.

This is why, more than anything, Americans have given the President low marks on the economy and why, consistently still place it as their number one priority.  No amount of political speak or the touting of how many jobs he's created is going to make the average American feel good about themselves or the economy.

References:

US created 252,000 jobs in Dec vs. 240,000 est; unemployment rate at 5.6% vs. 5.7% est: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102324257

Wage Stagnation Puts The Squeeze On Ordinary Workers: http://www.foreconomicjustice.org/13657/wage-stagnation-puts-the-squeeze-on-ordinary-workers

President Obama Job Approval - Economy: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval_economy-2820.html

Priorities: http://www.pollingreport.com/prioriti.htm

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