patrick.net

>* median anything is useless if you don't think about what the median even represents and the deviation

I agree. but the mean is even less important.

SFace says

* median anything is useless if you don't think about what the median even represents and the deviation (25%, 75% tile).

I don't understand this. The median definitely doesn't tell the whole picture, but it's pretty useful for giving a sense of what the typical person / family earns. It's a lot more robust to skewed distributions (like the super rich, or the recently unemployed) than the mean. And for relative comparisons over time it does a fairly good job of showing trends...unless the distribution is changing drastically. Am I missing something?

SFace says

In 2013, we may very well see income growth to meet in

Where is income growth going to come from in this globalized economy?? The Chinese are seeing income growth-in double digits-not us.

Here's a good article on the subject (at mybudget360.com):

How much do Americans earn? What is the average US income and other income figures. Fiscal cliff talks only useful in context of incomes.

http://www.mybudget360.com/how-much-do-americans-earn-what-is-the-average-us-income/

This needs to be considered when there is all this talk of "recovery". Recovery for who..the top 10%?

Yeah, what does recovery mean for the bottom 90%? It means they have temporarily convinced us that we are still free to live the "American Dream" keep buying their junk and going to their movies and sporting events, and quit planning for the cannibal anarchy for a little while.

Good advice, like Zombies, it is not good to attract cannibals, that is why I don't go to casinos or banks if I can avoid it.

The Professor says

Vaticanus says

and quit planning for the cannibal anarchy for a little while.

I disagree. You should always be prepared. Make sure you have plenty of yams and arrows. Unless you can afford a gatling gun and a couple million rounds per AF's teachings, arrows will kill silently whereas gunfire will attract more cannibals.

Better stock up on claymores too

http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/12/news/economy/median-income-poverty/index.html

This came out a few months earlier, but is quite informative.

Looking for more data...