50% of All Workers Made Less than $26,000 in 2010
So reads the title of this post at The Atlantic that went up mid-morning on Friday. It is based on Wage Statistics for 2010 from the Social Security Administration, a report whose official release is today. The title of Derek Johnson's post is not quite accurate, as the real median wage is $26,364, which means "the typical wage is at its lowest level since 1999, after adjusting for inflation." That is one of the key points Johnson borrows from the analysis of David Cay Johnston, to which he also links. The other two are that the number of millionaires increased by 20% since 2007, while simultaneously we have lost about 10,000,000 workers, a figure derived by noting the number of jobs lost and the number of additional people who should have entered the workforce since 2007.
Johnson (Atlantic editor, not the economist) notes
October 22, 1811
saw the birth of the great pianist and composer Franz Liszt, perhaps the first real "rock star" of the musical world.
Most know Liszt for his piano music, whether it is fiery technical brilliance of his better known works or the meditative sounds of his later Années de Pèlerinage, although the body of his work was vast, he anticipated aspects of Impressionism, and as a teacher founded a tradition of piano performance that lasted well into the 20th Century.
I am and have always been fond of Liszt, and not because I was a pianist.
I spent 8 summers at National Music Camp as it was then called, at Interlochen Michigan, 1954-60 and 1962. Each camp season ended with a performance of a symphony, usually one of the four by Brahms, although one