[Porsche-O-Phile]

Haven't seen any hard numbers on this but if an opinion counts for anything (probably not) I'd suspect that "real dollar" wages have in fact risen - although not nearly as much as one would think. I also agree with Dantilla. Most people in this country seem absolutely hell-bent on consuming anything and everything they can get their hands on. Savings and investing are foreign concepts to most people.

Some statistics I HAVE seen hard numbers on are (1) rates of personal savings (lowest in history), (2) household debt (both $ and % of gross income, also highest in history), (3) housing prices (highest in history, although starting to collapse.

I suspect a fair hypothesis at this point would be "Americans earn more than ever before, spend more than ever before, and own less than ever before". Banks own most of everything out there - not individuals. The notion of an "ownership society" in this country is misleading at best, a calculated sham at worst.

Some stats I'd LOVE to see:

1. What's the average amount of equity (both in $ and % of gross household income) that people have in their homes? The one we're constantly fed is "look at how many people own their homes", which is ridiculous - the banks own the homes, not the people.

2. What's the real dollar portion of household income that goes to taxes and other government services - plotted over time for the last 100-or-so years. I'd suspect it's higher than ever before when one considers taxes, fees, surcharges, etc. I'd also be interesting to see today's # (whatever it is) compared to several foreign countries. I suspect the results would be a bit shocking to some.

3. % of household income spent on "necessities" like housing, clothing, food, transportation, etc.

4. What are the exact numbers regarding worker productivity, numbers of hours worked per week and raw numbers of days off per worker per year over the past 100-or-so years (we keep hearing reports of "productivity is up" but simultaneously hear that "people are trying harder than ever before to balance work/family life. . . I'd like to know which one is correct).

Knowing those (and a few others) would help to prove (or perhaps disprove) my hypothesis that America is all about consumption by people that are on "financial treadmills" - in a frenzy of consumerism but never really "owning" much at all.