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Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

census.gov

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Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#11

Post by itissid »

zappo2938 wrote: post #2

What happens when the US needs to start paying off the trillions in debt? I remember the last time things were good. It stopped being good quite rapidly. I don't know much about monetary and economic policy but I'm optimistically cautious. I can't imagine the US borrowing several trillion dollars to keep credit from freezing again.

With debt it depends who the debt is owed to. US owes a lot to other govts. Greece owed it to bond buying private firms. China's debt is owed by the people and local corporations to the local bank. And debt is typically a problem when recession strikes.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#12

Post by 0xbear »

mattbgates wrote: post #6

My bank account says, "That was a lie."

Your bank account says “find a better job”. In today’s job market there’s really no excuse for anyone who can understand at least half the news posted on this site to make less than six figures.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#13

Post by baron816 »

electrograv wrote: post #9

How is "all time high" income surprising, given that inflation essentially guarantees perpetually increasing dollar amounts of everything?

> The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income

Real means the numbers are adjusted for inflation.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#14

Post by vacri »

alistproducer2 wrote: post #5

For context, the survey covers 2015-16. The gains are from the last administration.

The first year of someone's term is very rarely affected by their policies. My particular pet hate is when politicians start bragging about how their policies are responsible for good economic news when they're still in the first three months.

Truth is that economies change slowly, and politicians have much less control over it than we all like to believe.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#15

Post by learc83 »

electrograv wrote: post #9

How is "all time high" income surprising, given that inflation essentially guarantees perpetually increasing dollar amounts of everything?

Looks like they are adjusting for inflation. I didn't have time to dig to deep but they are reporting real income, which should be inflation adjusted.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#16

Post by xiphias »

malandrew wrote: post #8
zappo2938 wrote: post #2

What happens when the US needs to start paying off the trillions in debt? I remember the last time things were good. It stopped being good quite rapidly. I don't know much about monetary and economic policy but I'm optimistically cautious. I can't imagine the US borrowing several trillion dollars to keep credit from freezing again.

My understanding is that most US debt is held by US citizens or US organizations.

And the Chinese government which is building a massive army for totally unknown reasons /s

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#17

Post by 0xbear »

tootie wrote: post #10
zappo2938 wrote: post #2

What happens when the US needs to start paying off the trillions in debt? I remember the last time things were good. It stopped being good quite rapidly. I don't know much about monetary and economic policy but I'm optimistically cautious. I can't imagine the US borrowing several trillion dollars to keep credit from freezing again.

We pay off our debt constantly.

We just pay it off with borrowed money.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#18

Post by jdavis703 »

electrograv wrote: post #9

How is "all time high" income surprising, given that inflation essentially guarantees perpetually increasing dollar amounts of everything?

The increase is measured in "real terms" which means things like CPI are taken in to account. Further this number does decrease, for example during the last recession, so household median income is not directly correlated with inflation -- especially in this era of low inflation (compared to the mid-to-late 20th century inflation) that we've been in for a while.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#19

Post by tehlike »

McBlorker wrote: post #4

I'm curious: is anyone at a point where they're pulling out of equities at all? I feel like things are getting a bit too good to be true in the markets. The Shiller P/E ratio is at a 2nd-time high - the only other higher time being the dot-com boom and bust: multpl.com/shiller-pe/

Potentially melt up before melt down.

Re: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2016

#20

Post by devrandomguy »

zappo2938 wrote: post #2

What happens when the US needs to start paying off the trillions in debt? I remember the last time things were good. It stopped being good quite rapidly. I don't know much about monetary and economic policy but I'm optimistically cautious. I can't imagine the US borrowing several trillion dollars to keep credit from freezing again.

A CEO once told me, "If you owe someone $1 million, then they own you. If you owe someone $1 billion, then you own them." I think that the orgs who are owed by US are primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo, rather than gutting the golden goose.
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