Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Drop in US income

The full 9.8 percent drop in income from the start of the recession to this June — the most recent month in the study — appears to be the largest in several decades, according to other Census Bureau data. Gordon W. Green Jr., who wrote the report with John F. Coder, called the decline “a significant reduction in the American standard of living.”


http://www.cnbc.com//id/44840144

My comments: Income has continued to fall for most people. The gap between the rich and poor is widening. More people are finding the cost of living to be unaffordable, This is the failure of the current economic system and need to be addressed.


1 comment:

Koh Lip Wee said...

Still fancy following the Big Apple Dream?

Please also click and read this, though I cannot fully vouch the complete accuracy of all these statistical figures.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-100-statistics-about-the-collapse-of-the-economy-that-every-american-voter-should-know-2011-10

Our government needs to re-think hard to bridge the growing rich-poor gap.
Is wiser for government to run a modest budget deficit in some key areas (e.g. BASIC transport, utilities, education and health-care) in order to have a more stable society in long run.

This deficit can be funded by fine-tuning our current consumption tax (i.e. marginally higher GST rate on luxury goods if necessary).

Relying purely on 'market dynamics of invisible hands' to reign in public goods deliverance is not ideal approach in my view.

Public policy success should hinge on delicate balance between both 'allocation / distribution equity', as well as 'economic maximisation (i.e. in absolute $)', and not purely focusing on the latter.

Lip Wee

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