Income Still Hasn’t Come Close to Recovering From the Great Recession

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Today’s announcement that incomes increased 5 percent in 2015 was genuinely good news. But it’s also worthwhile to put it in perspective. As most of you know, income growth was very high in the 50s and 60s but slowed down after that. However, it didn’t flatline. Income continued to grow, only at a slower rate. However, since 2007 we’ve fallen far behind even that anemic growth rate:

Even with last year’s spike, the effects of the Great Recession are still with us. If we’d continued growing at the rate of 1980-2007, median household income would be $4,500 higher than it is. That’s a big hit. There’s still plenty of work to do.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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