Jim,
> Oh, the standard of living in the USA is driving the world up. Actually, the "standard of living in the USA" has gone backwards each and every year of the last five years. According to the report 'Survey of Consumer Finances', recently released by the Federal Reserve, even though there was a 1.6% increase in the median income between 2001 and 2004, when inflation was factored in, the median wage actually fell 6.2% (Preliminary data from 2005 follows the same pattern). The drop in real before-tax family income between 2001 and 2004 stands in stark contrast to the gains for the preceding three-year period, as well as the three-year period before that. From 2001 through 2004, mean income fell 2.3 percent. Over the preceding three-year period, from 1998 to 2001, the mean income had increased 17.3 percent. ThatÂ’s about a 20% reversal. The change over the 2001-04 period was strongly influenced by a 6.2 percent decline in the overall median amount of wages measured in the survey and a 3.6 percent decline in the mean; as wages represent the largest share of family income. http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf Vince
