Quote Originally Posted by nynco View Post
Honestly, I don't trust that chart because the inflation index has been messed with to hide the buying power loss to the general public. The most glaring example is the cost of a house today in relation to average income. That number today is far worse than it was in 1979.
The cost of a house today - even after the bubble collapsed - is "higher" because people expect to live in larger houses with more amenities. And to do so with smaller household sizes. You are the one that are comparing gilded apples to skinny oranges and don't realize it.

Also here is a chart to the metric I was talking about. You will see that wages kept up with productivity increases all the way till Reagan... then wages stagnated.
http://www.zompist.com/lib2.jpg
And then you give us a chart that is inflation indexed itself. And has absolutely nothing to do with living standards or anything. It only compared GDP growth per capita to median income. It does nothing to establish your points but is a non sequitur as I pointed out earlier.