Some fascinating data out on the long awaited improvement in middle incomes in America. The past year have seen the biggest recent gains have gone to the poorest deciles — a striking change from the past few decades:
Source: Census Bureau, White House
President’s Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan saw the biggest gains in median incomes (though there is an element of fortuitous timing in both).
Presidents Gerald Ford and Barack Obama each started in the middle of contracting median incomes, but saw improvements by the end of their Presidencies (Ford, never quite got back to breakeven, Obama took two terms to do so).
George H.W. Bush (41) started with an improvement, then saw median incomes turn down. George W. Bush (43) started in a decline, saw some improvements, then suffered an even bigger downturn.
Source: WSJ
The late 1960s was where the unequal gains between the top tiers of median income versus the rest of the country really began in earnest; it was most significant under Reagan and Clinton:
Source: NYT
2015 was encouraging because income growth was concentrated in the poor and middle class.
Source: Upshot
Voters in the non medicaid expansion states should be asking their governors why they are not supporting this; there has been a significant impact on insurance coverage and costs to families for not doing so.
Source: Census Bureau, White House
What's been said:
Discussions found on the web: