American Household Incomes Down over the Last Year Due to Rising Prices

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Rising prices took a toll on Americans’ incomes as the year began, halting a four-month streak of gains and renewing concerns about the consumer’s resilience amid higher gas prices.

That’s according to a report Tuesday that found real median annual household income in the U.S. declined by 1.3% in January from December, to $50,020 from $50,673.

The tick downward follows monthly increases in income from September through the end of 2011, according to the analysis of Census Bureau data conducted by Sentier Research, an Annapolis, Md., firm run by two former Census officials.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Personal Finance • Energy, Natural Resources

4 Comments
Posted March 2, 2012 at 5:00 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) wrote:

American median family income, since the beginning of 2009—and yes, note the date—has already declined to 1995 levels. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, who anticipate the trend to continue (or even accelerate) through 2012, which if true will bring real median family income down to about 1984 levels.

Four years to destroy an entire generation of middle class progress.

That this has NOT happened in Canada (with its Conservative government) is the clearest indication possible that America’s economic duress is the direct result of the actions and policies of the current administration, which is now clearly the most destructive since that of James Buchanan. A repeat of the Carter years is now a rapidly fading hope.

Consequently, after what we’ve seen, supporting Obama (or not) should be seen as a powerful proxy for intelligence and common sense. I say that as a man who voted for Clinton, and my little business has five potential new jobs waiting to see what happens in November.

March 2, 10:48 am | [comment link]
2. Deep Freeze wrote:

Bart Hall, you’re very quick to draw a comparison with Canada and use it as “evidence” that Obama is a bad guy.  Are you willing to extend your “logic” to public health care and gun control?  Most Canadians think these policies are working quite well for us.

March 3, 11:15 am | [comment link]
3. Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) wrote:

Which is why your notoriously liberal Supreme Court declared key aspects of the national health care approach unconstitutional for a case arising from Quebec? So Claude Castonguay, the father of government health care, was just imagining things when he developped that White Paper in response? Remember? That white paper in which he said Canada’s health care system needed to adopt many aspects of the American one ... 

Oh, I forgot about Canada’s two-tier health care system. The first tier is down here in the States, which is why they can’t come up with four NICU beds in Calgary (pop. 1.1 million)  so a family with quads has to go to Great Falls, Montana (pop. 55,000) where they ARE available.

Oh, and why was it that Parliament just cancelled the national long-gun registry programme? Surely you don’t believe that a gun registry and a national health system have made the difference in Canada’s recent economic performance vis-a-vis the States ... since it most certainly did not do in the past.

March 3, 11:05 pm | [comment link]
4. Deep Freeze wrote:

I rest my case.  Thank you.

March 3, 11:56 pm | [comment link]
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