DAY AFTER DAY THE FIGURES ROLL IN. THE EVIDENCE IS CLEAR.
THE CURRENT AMERICAN BUSINESS MODEL ISN’T DELIVERING AS FAR AS MOST AMERICANS ARE CONCERNED. MEANWHILE THE RICH GET EVER RICHER.
The following is from that excellent magazine www.businessweek.com
Americans Watched Their Incomes Shrink, Except For the Highest-Earners
It's the latest sign of income inequality in the country
Americans are earning less than they did in 2013, with one notable exception: the rich.
Average incomes before taxes fell for a second year in the year ended July 2014, down 0.9 percent, while expenditures were up 1 percent on average, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics mid-year consumer expenditures update, released Thursday.
Only the top 20 percent of American earners experienced income growth in that time period, swelling 0.9 percent. Their annual pre-tax income increased to $166,048. Meanwhile, every other income group shed 2 percent or more. The lowest quintile, which earned $9,818 on average, lost the most ground.
The lowest-earners also increased their spending by the most, boosting their expenditures by 2.9 percent, to $22,981 on average. The bulk of those outlays (41 percent) went to housing.
The data offer the latest signs of the growing chasm between America's rich and poor. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has used her first year as Fed chief to advocate for those hurt most by the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
As central bank policy makers prepare to possibly raise interest rates for the first time since June 2006, Yellen told a Boston Fed conference on inequality in October that she’s “greatly” concerned by a sustained rise in U.S. income and wealth inequality.
No comments:
Post a Comment