Median household income is falling in the vast majority of U.S. states and in virtually every single major U.S. city. According to the Census Bureau’s annual survey of income and poverty in the United States, of the 52 largest metro areas in the nation, only the city of San Antonio did not see a decline in median household income in 2009. Needless to say, that is not good news. If incomes are falling from coast to coast, then how in the world can anyone claim that we are experiencing a “recovery”? The truth is that we are not in the middle of an economic recovery. What we are in the middle of is a long-term economic decline. Incomes are going down and middle class American families find themselves squeezed like never before. Meanwhile, unemployment has skyrocketed in recent years and it has become much harder to get a good job. Less Americans than ever are able to achieve anything even close to resembling the American Dream. Things are getting really tough out there, and as more jobs and factories leave the United States, as the U.S. government goes into even more debt and as the economy continues to implode things are going to get even worse.
According to the Census Bureau, median household income declined in 34 U.S. states in 2009, and the only state where median household income actually moved up was in North Dakota.
In some areas of the United States, the decline in household income during 2009 was absolutely jaw dropping….
*In Detroit, median household income declined 10% to $48,535.
*In Orlando, median household income dropped almost 10% to $46,856.
*In Cleveland, median household income fell 8.5% to $45,395.
*In Miami, median household income declined 8.2% to $45,946.
*In Indianapolis, median household income dropped 7.1% to $50,140.
Remember, these declines were just in one single year.
And each year, 40 or 50 thousand dollars buys a whole lot less than it did the year before.
In fact, as I have written about previously, it is exceedingly difficult for an average American family of four to make it on $50,000 these days. Money just does not stretch as far as it used to.
So is there any city in the United States that is doing relatively well?
Yes, there is.
Washington, D.C. has the highest median household income of any major U.S. city. With a median household income of $85,198, the folks over in D.C. are doing quite well.
But what should we expect? As the federal government continues to grow, Washington D.C. is rapidly becoming the center of the economy.
Today, the average federal worker makes nearly twice as much in total compensation as the average worker in the private sector does.
Does that seem like a good thing to you?
Of course not.
We are descending into European-style socialism as a staggering rate and the private sector is dying a very slow and painful death.
In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to live a middle class lifestyle without working for the government these days.
The percentage of Americans that are hanging on by their financial fingernails continues to go up. According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck. That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
Unfortunately, a growing number of Americans are not even “hanging in there” anymore. Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, which is almost four times as many as were receiving it back in 2007.
Poverty is exploding from coast to coast and tens of millions of Americans now find themselves completely dependent on the federal government. The number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program passed the 41 million mark for the first time ever in June. More than 50 million Americans are now on Medicaid, the U.S. government health care program originally designed principally to help the poor.
Yes, things really are that bad.
Incomes are going down and yet health insurance premiums are skyrocketing.
Foreclosures continue to set records and there are very few signs that the housing crisis is going to end any time soon.
U.S. consumers are completely and totally tapped out, and yet everyone expects them to start spending again soon and pull us out of this “recession”.
The reality is that there is not going to be any “recovery” without good jobs for the American people.
But every single day more factories and more good jobs flee our shores and they are never coming back.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government goes into much more debt every single month, our state and local governments go into much more debt every single month and America becomes poorer as a nation every single month.
Can someone please explain to me how in the world that is a recipe for long-term economic success?
It is time to wake up, America. Your economic goose is cooked. The government can borrow and borrow and borrow to mask our problems for a while, but eventually this whole thing is going to come crashing down like a house of cards.
We are in deep, deep, deep trouble and it is time to admit it.
