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Manhattan Diary

by Cahir O'Doherty

Middle Class Squeeze Graph

Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 10:21 AM
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barbaral | Dec 27, 2011, 09:14 PM EST
GeorgeDillon, do you understand what "median" means? That's "middle number" in an entire range. In this case, of the entire working U.S. population. As in, that's a lot more people than the other commenter you've decided to target for whatever reason who can't afford their rent. Unless they can get, not "a" job but "another" job, in many cases. And, there are many people who can't get a job right now, and there's no shame there. I'm not sure why you think it is. Here's another chart, in case you were wondering who the "work smarter*, not harder" people were these last few decades. -edit. No, this one's actually just over the last 20 years or so. *your definition of 'smarter' may vary, depending on your ethics http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4#the-last-two-decades-were-greatif-you-were-a-ceo-or-owner-not-if-you-were-anyone-else-5 Most production workers (aka "most people with a job") saw their income in real wages go up only as high as a modest 4.3% increase. Minimum wage effectively declined (relative to rate of inflation), 9.3%. If you were a CEO, though, you saw a pay increase of nearly 300%. Basically, in order to improve your standard of living as much as one of these CEO's over the last two decades, you would need to not just "get a job," but about 60 of them. And this is *after* the Reagan Revolution, mind you. (No, Clinton does not get off the hook. Clinton helped to create this mess, absolutely).

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joycean | Dec 22, 2011, 03:41 PM EST
I think the graph may say something about American social history.From 1950-70, the graph is fairly stable. From 1970-2000 it rises; then there is a steep rise between 2000-2005. From 1950-70, the Baby Boomers were children and housing was cheap.Between 70-2000, the BB were working, 2 income families. People assumed housing was a good investment. 2000-2005, was financially good. Now we would see a slide in 2005-2011,as housing prices fell.

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eiriamach | Dec 22, 2011, 02:27 PM EST
I have a job, Georgie, thanks anyway for the advice. If you can't get along with others, get a new personality. Maybe easier said than done in your case, though.

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GeorgeDillon | Dec 22, 2011, 02:09 PM EST
eiriamach, if you can't afford where you are living, get a job. Maybe easier said than done in your case, though.

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sirpeter | Dec 22, 2011, 01:54 PM EST
I guess the rise must be due to the fact you now have double incomes coming into a house.

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eiriamach | Dec 22, 2011, 11:54 AM EST
You can't be serious. Isn't this a spoof? I can remember when the advice of budget experts was to spend no more than 25 percent of monthly salary for rent or mortgage. Then it went to one-third. I'm slow at math, but it looks to me like renters spent about 50% of earnings on living space in the early part of this decade (assuming a 40-50-hr. work week). And the apartment/ flat has gotten much smaller while the rent has grown huge!

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