While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.That is the 2nd paragraph of this important article in today's New York Times whose title I have borrowed for this post.
And as the very next paragraph tells us
After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.The analysis is based on studies of 35 years worth of data.
We tend to look at median income data or mean data. The gaps in median are closing with other nations, and our mean data is distorted badly by the skewing of increased income towards those at the top of the income pyramid, while many Americans are actually seeing their income shrink.
As one key paragraph notes:
The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true.
The study on which the article is based
counts after-tax cash income from salaries, interest and stock dividends, among other sources, as well as direct government benefits such as tax credits.We should of course remember that those at the top of our income pyramid often have a The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest: