The middle class has been caught in an economic vise, trying to pay 2012 prices with paychecks that haven't grown since the good times went bust — or even earlier.

Across the nation, family income was down 8 percent last year from what it was in 2000. And in South Carolina, the median income last year was just over $40,000.

That's the lowest wages have been in the Palmetto State since 1985, according inflation-adjusted figures from the U.S. census.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • History • Marriage & Family • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The U.S. Government

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