September 15th, 2016 – Article previously published in the blog “US and emerging markets “CincoDías.com
The US Bureau of Statistics released its report on US family incomes by 2015. The statistical median – different from the arithmetic mean – shows that incomes rose by 5.2 percent last year, Seventh of the economic recovery. The data is undeniable. The middle class, the same that Trump says has gone to the bust economically, has increased its income by 8%. The poorest 3.5 million people have abandoned poverty, ie have annual incomes of more than $ 24,000 a year for a family of 4 – increased their incomes by 5%. The richest …, we know: the richest 1% accumulates 90% of the whole country, hence the thesis on income inequality by Josepth Stiglitz, Paul Krugman and Thomas Piketty.
However, if things are like this, why did Bernie Sanders’ protests resonate so strongly from the left and now do Trump from the right? Because people have an economic memory, and although 15 million jobs have been created – 8.5 million were lost between 2007 and 2009 – and wages have increased by 2.4%, the reality is that the Americans have not recovered or Their level of income or their standard of living, or their purchasing power prior to the crisis. Worse, they compare the current economic situation with that of the better nineties, when Bill Clinton was president.
Then 24 million jobs were created, the GDP grew to 5% and there was a lot of social mobility and full quality employment.
Perhaps another Clinton can restore the luster for the economy of American families
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