Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

progree

(11,463 posts)
7. OK you got me on the median household income up in 2021 vs. 2020 - thanks to many more
Mon Jan 10, 2022, 05:43 AM
Jan 2022

Last edited Mon Jan 10, 2022, 06:28 AM - Edit history (3)

people working in 2021 on average than 2020. And creating money out of thin air to buy $1.4 trillion/year of bonds to artificially suppress interest rates. Which stimulates the stock market and corporate profits (their debt is cheaper to finance), and thus more income from dividends and capital gains.

And stimulus financed with $3 trillion deficits that we and future generations will be paying interest on forever.

Yeah yeah, inflation will make a given dollar of debt less burdensome. But interest rates will rise along with inflation -- from what I've read, there is a consensus that using inflation to try to cure a national debt problem doesn't work

"And in the December job report from the Dept of Labor there was a good jump in wages, more than inflation."

How do you know what the December inflation number is?

Real average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000032
was down 1.5% from November 2020 to November 2021.

As for the change in nominal earnings from this November to December (since we don't have the inflation-adjusted numbers yet from the BLS because we don't have the December CPI number yet), http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000008 it was +0.68% (8.5% annualized)

Compare to the CPI: From October to November (the latest 2 months with data available): +0.78% (9.8% annualized)
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0

I gotta tell you, I know of nobody who lived during that time that wanted to go back to it. Wages were lagging far behind inflation (set the start time to 1970 or before) -- http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000032

And I haven't heard of many people in high inflation countries doing well -- other than some clever rich people. Certainly not the majority of the people.

And the renters are not exactly the rich bankers.

Yes, it is terrible, I lived thru the 70's, and early 80s progree Jan 2022 #1
Inflation adjusted Median household income is up in 2021 Cicada Jan 2022 #4
OK you got me on the median household income up in 2021 vs. 2020 - thanks to many more progree Jan 2022 #7
Inflation is complicated in practice. unblock Jan 2022 #2
During the year 2021, no lag, median household income rose more than 9%, inflation plus 3 Cicada Jan 2022 #6
... progree Jan 2022 #9
Progee 64% of Americans have a mortgage Cicada Jan 2022 #15
Simulation: The mortgage holders and other fixed rate debt holders benefit in the short run, progree Jan 2022 #26
in the long-run, it's mostly a transfer of wealth from savers to borrowers unblock Jan 2022 #13
Median households in 2021 had 9% income gain, bigger than 6% inflation Cicada Jan 2022 #16
Where are you seeing that income stat? unblock Jan 2022 #17
Here is my source for income outpacing inflation Cicada Jan 2022 #18
There's a lot of good news in the economy especially for the working poor unblock Jan 2022 #22
A lot of us here are on fixed incomes left-of-center2012 Jan 2022 #3
Those getting social security and govt retirement get pay hikes equal to inflation Cicada Jan 2022 #5
Sustained inflation over a long period of time certainly helps Tomconroy Jan 2022 #8
If you believe that the official inflation adjustment applies exactly to your own expenses, it does MichMan Jan 2022 #11
social security adjustments both lag and underadjust for consumer inflation unblock Jan 2022 #14
I agree social security should use a better cola adjustment Cicada Jan 2022 #20
Median household income up 9%? Throck Jan 2022 #10
9% is household income, more spouses got jobs, less part time work Cicada Jan 2022 #21
Inflation affects retired people on a fixed income more than most. Sure we get a COLA raise doc03 Jan 2022 #12
Several hours after my post here CNN stole my story Cicada Jan 2022 #19
When you pay debt you're only funding the billionaires banks. Throck Jan 2022 #23
We need to reduce housing costs Cicada Jan 2022 #24
High inflation increases housing costs MichMan Jan 2022 #25
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Economy»Is inflation really bad f...»Reply #7