I've heard that data point too, but I've not seen it broken down. There was a flame war on rassf a year or so back with David Friedman who was claiming incomes were going up, and somebody else who was pointing out that while household incomes were up, it depended on how you measured them.
There are lot more two income households now than there were 30 years ago, and it's less and less likely you'll find people who can make ends meet well on a single salary.
You could also say that some of the economic development and "growth" we see is illusionary caused by a credit boom fueled by low interest rates and rising house prices.
Somebody was dissing Sweden and Norway a year or so ago in the NYT for having older cars and older things in their houses than Americans. However, the average household debt in Sweden and Norway is something like 5% of an average US household.
Debt isn't sustainable long term and I'm glad I've got to the point where the only debt I have that isn't voluntary[1] is on my mortgage.
[1] - we are currently running a couple of credit cards with thousand dollar-ish balances for a few months to establish a good credit rating in the US.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-08-09 11:33 pm (UTC)There are lot more two income households now than there were 30 years ago, and it's less and less likely you'll find people who can make ends meet well on a single salary.
You could also say that some of the economic development and "growth" we see is illusionary caused by a credit boom fueled by low interest rates and rising house prices.
Somebody was dissing Sweden and Norway a year or so ago in the NYT for having older cars and older things in their houses than Americans. However, the average household debt in Sweden and Norway is something like 5% of an average US household.
Debt isn't sustainable long term and I'm glad I've got to the point where the only debt I have that isn't voluntary[1] is on my mortgage.
[1] - we are currently running a couple of credit cards with thousand dollar-ish balances for a few months to establish a good credit rating in the US.