Reading lots of end-of-decade late-capitalism stuff that contrasts the great strides in poverty reduction in the developing world the past 10 years with the "second lost decade" the US experienced. That's one way to put it. /1
But if I take @SentierRes figures (from ex-Census Bureau guys) and use the #PCE deflator, median household income was 15% higher last month than at the end of 2009--higher than ever before in US history. /2
And that is before taking into account taxes (lower) and noncash benefits (higher). And the PCE deflator overstates inflation. /3
Further, by any reasonable measure, poverty is at an all-time low in the US, including child poverty and poverty among the children of single moms. That was basically true BEFORE the recent wage growth at the bottom /4 manhattan-institute.org/html/poverty-a…
Anyway, none of this is to say we can't do better, but it's just wrong to say that we made progress on global living standards but not American ones.
Anyway, here's hoping for an even better 2020s--including for you and yours.
