a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by steve
steve  ·  2956 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Everyone in America is More Broke Than You Think - What About You, Hubski?

If this data is accurate I feel simultaneously fortunate and terrified.





WanderingEng  ·  2956 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This succinctly says what I didn't have the words for. My income is good, but I'm constantly a little worried about how bad it could all go wrong. A loss of income for any reason (corporate restructuring, medical) would completely reverse that, and there isn't much I could do. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for someone on the lower end of income.

_refugee_  ·  2956 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Dude, I clicked through to the sources, and either I don't know enough to interpret them correctly, or it is. I even checked the 2014 page too. I think things are actually maybe even...worse.

So we need someone smarter to get in here and tell us if there is anything wrong with what I am seeing.

user-inactivated  ·  2956 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I will look later; I'm curious. These sorts of headlines are rarely if ever as true as they seem. There are many different kinds of income -- 37 million Americans did not make less than 10k last year, total. No way.

EDIT: I see the inimitable wasoxygen was here before me.

user-inactivated  ·  2956 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
Isherwood  ·  2956 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I find it interesting that you make over:

170,000, you're more likely to make 200,000.

350,000, you're more likely to make 500,000

3.5 million, you're more likely to make 5 million

It seems indicative of a social system where people demand a certain amount as a show of social value. The 200K, 500K, and 5M marks seem to be the social plateaus that tell people they have value.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#(4)

This is also interesting data in that the median compensation curve is pretty reasonable, capping out at 250K.