09/11/09 Baltimore, Maryland
Over the last ten years, have you really become more wealthy? We hope the answer is yes… one of our many credos is to protect and enhance your wealth, as small or large as it may be.
But for the average family, the answer is no, says a Census Bureau study released this week.
From 2007-2008, the most up-to-date data the government has, the median family income fell almost $2,000, to $50,300. That wipes out all gains made over the last three years. Factor in inflation, and the typical family is actually making less now then they were in 1998.
So let us gripe for bit: We all spend so much time poking at things like our GDP – reporting changes every quarter and spending millions upon millions guessing where it will be next month, next year, etc. Yet there’s only one gauge of how wealthily we as a nation are actually growing… and we leave it to the Census Bureau to report once a year with a nine-month lag time. Which matters to you more: If you are more financially sound now than you were last quarter, or if the U.S. gross domestic product shrank 2.1% or 2.3%?
Poverty in the U.S. has risen to its highest level in 11 years – that’s the more popular headline from the Census report. They released the annual poverty study this week, which was oddly delayed, as we mentioned back in August, because the data were “not optimal.”
At any rate, 13.2% of Americas lived in poverty in 2008, up almost full percentage point from 2007. That’s the highest rate since 1997 and the data that’s captured most headlines this week. And even though you’re likely shaking in suspense over next year’s number – SPOILER ALERT – we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
What exactly is “poverty” to the U.S. government? The equivalent of a family of four living on an annual budget of $22,025 or less. Rest assured that if you’re stuck raising a family on 30k a year, you’ll be just fine.
Ian Mathias
Ian Mathias is the managing editor of Agora Financial’s Income Franchise, where he writes and researches about retirement, dividend and fixed income investing. Much of his work is featured in The Daily Reckoning and Lifetime Income Report – Agora Financial’s flagship income investing advisory.
Previously, Ian managed The 5 Min. Forecast, a fun, fast-paced daily look into the future of global markets and macroeconomics. He’s also worked in public relations, where media outlets like Forbes, AP, Yahoo! and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. If he’s not at work, you’ll probably find Ian on a bicycle, racing up and down the “mountains” of Baltimore County. Ian has a BA from Loyola University in Maryland.
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I love this site, but there should be a gigantic disclaimer on it. Just go to the “Related Articles” section of this page… go. Do it now. The one from April 1, 2003.
Read it.
OK, what do you notice? Doom and gloom? Yes, I thought so. Notice how they were predicting a deepening recession? How about the prediction of the imminent collapse of the bond market? Got all of that? Did it happen… sure it did! We went into a recession and the equities market collapsed… almost five years later! I’m still waiting for that bond market collapse that Mr. Fry was so sure was going to happen.
Gloom and doom is the channel that this space is permanently stuck on. And, yes, I am with them and all of you reading right now. That’s why I come to this blog every day. I do believe America is in a great deal of trouble. But I believe this blog is doing a great disservice to people by hammering away at that point, as if it’s all going to happen TOMORROW OH MY GOD.
We need to beat on some other drums.