Prices Up, Wages Down

   The good news this week was that household income rose 5.2 percent.
   The bad news is, that was last year. This year, wages are down while prices are rising.
   That's an oversimplification, of course. Last year's numbers reflected a nationwide trend, led by strong growth in major metro areas. In the rest of the country, things declined.
   Now, monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show a drop of 0.1  percent in "real average hourly earnings for all employees" from July to August. There was actually a rise in earnings of 0.1 percent, but that was offset by a jump in prices of 0.2 percent.
   Net result, costs are up and income is down. Not by much, but that's no consolation to Mr. and Mrs. Average American, who are essentially no better than they were two years ago.
   Data drones and political pollyannas will rattle on at great length about how good things are compared to what was, and that's easy to do when you select the data points that are most helpful to support what you want to say.
   That works two ways, however, for those out of political office as well as those in, who will claim credit for good times and blame bad news on their predecessors.

   Mark Twain famously said, "Figures don't lie, but liars do figure." Then there are those who ignore the figures entirely and enhance their sales pitch with even more outlandish claims.
   But if you really want to put yourself in danger of brain freeze from a cascade of numbers, go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics web page, bls.gov, for more data than you can possibly imagine, plus variations on each data set. There you can pick and choose the stuff you need to amaze and astonish your friends.
   Then they will either praise your expertise of they will shun you.
   Finally, whether you believe the economy is doing well or not depends partially on whether you have a job. Check an earlier posting on this site titled "Maybe Moving Up." Then again, maybe not.