It’s interesting how so few of the objective measures tally well with the GDP statistics:
U.S. incomes plummeted again in 2009, with total income down 15.2% in real terms since 2007, new tax data showed on Wednesday. The data showed an alarming drop in the number of taxpayers reporting any earnings from a job — down by nearly 4.2 million from 2007 — meaning every 33rd household that had work in 2007 had no work in 2009.
Average income in 2009 fell to $54,283, down $3,516, or 6.1% in real terms compared with 2008. … Compared with 2007, average income was down $8,588 or 13.7%.
So, income is down 15.2% and I previously calculated that current U3 unemployment comparable to the Depression-era estimates are around 15.5%. I’m just not seeing a lot of economic growth there, seven straight quarters of reported GDP growth notwithstanding.