Since Recession’s End, American Incomes Fall Most Since Great Depression

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Since Recession’s End, American Incomes Fall Most Since Great Depression

Incomes of US citizens fell more in the three-year expansion, known as the “greenshoots,” the “economic recovery” etc. than during the longest “recession” since the Great Depression, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by Sentier Research, LLC. For most of the US, the recession never ended and has actually morphed into a depression leaving 50% of Americans beneath the poverty line. In the report, a former Census Bureau worker says that we are in “an unprecedented period of economic stagnation.” The only reprieve for US workers has been a false reprieve, as working more hours, while satisfying monetary demands, can leave an individual in an increased state of stress and therefore potential intellectual and spiritual incapacity.

Real median annual household income fell from $54,916 to $53,508 during the 18-month “shock therapy” brought on strong in the US and world by the banking collapse in fall of 2008. Since the 18-month contraction, from December 2007 to June 2009, incomes have continued to fall, dropping to $50,964 in June.

If, since the end of the recession, incomes fell more than during the recession, wouldn’t that then mean that the recession never ended? This seems pretty straight-forward logic. So, why the false sense of recovery that is purported through an obvious haze of looming economic fronts? the powers-that-be have benefited in some way by continuing the illusion that things are levitating, instead of continuing their plunge. A bluff in front of other nation-states or a means of keeping the impoverished and middle class racing? In the end, it does not matter. The point is the depression is ongoing, and without the dynamic of welfare guarantees amidst wealth confiscation, it would already be the worst since the Great Depression.

Bloomberg:

Median household income fell 4.8 percent on an inflation- adjusted basis since the recession ended in June 2009, more than the 2.6 percent drop during the 18-month contraction, the research firm’s Gordon Green and John Coder wrote in a report today. Household income is 7.2 percent below the December 2007 level, the former Census Bureau economic statisticians wrote.

“Almost every group is worse off than it was three years ago, and some groups had very large declines in income,” Green, who previously directed work on the Census Bureau’s income and poverty statistics program, said in a phone interview today. “We’re in an unprecedented period of economic stagnation.”

While gains in hourly earnings and average hours worked per week may have had “a minor mitigating effect” on income declines, they couldn’t offset a jobless rate that hasn’t fallen below 8 percent since February 2009 and a record duration of unemployment, according to the Annapolis, Maryland-based firm.

The average duration of unemployment increased to a record 41 weeks in November and remains at 39 weeks, Labor Department data show. Almost 5.2 million Americans have been out of work for at least six months.
Earnings Drop

Real median annual household income fell to $53,508 from $54,916 during the 18-month recession from December 2007 to June 2009, according to the firm’s study of income data for the 36- month period ended in June 2012. Incomes kept falling during the 36-month period since then, dropping to $50,964 in June 2012.

Men living alone experienced the worst drop in income, losing 9.4 percent, while married couples fared best with a 3.6 percent decline, the report shows. Incomes are before tax and adjusted for changes in consumer prices and expressed in constant June 2012 dollars.

“Median annual household income declined significantly for both family and non-family households,” Green and Coder wrote. “Real median annual household income declined more significantly for younger households.”

Incomes for all age groups below 65 years fell, while older Americans saw increases. Incomes for those 55 to 64 fell the most, losing 9.7 percent, followed by the 8.9 percent decline for 25- to 34-year-olds. The two gains were among those 65 to 75, whose incomes rose 6.5 percent, and those 75 and up who experienced an increase of 2.8 percent.

By education, Americans with some college lost the most, with incomes falling 9.3 percent, followed by an 8.6 percent slump for those with associate degrees, the report said. Those without high school degrees lost the least, falling 5.3 percent.

Green is a former chief of the governments division at the Census Bureau, the report said. Coder was chief of the Income Statistics Branch at the bureau, where he oversaw collection and processing of income data and developed new survey methods.

Since Recession’s End, American Incomes Fall Most Since Great Depression | Silver Vigilante