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Someone1234yesterday at 3:52 PM2 repliesview on HN

> US real median household income has been steadily rising[1] for the last 40+ years.

Compare it to the Consumer Price Index:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SA0R


Replies

ch4s3yesterday at 3:55 PM

REAL income is adjusted for inflation. If real median income is increasing then it is outpacing inflation by definition.

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rustcleaneryesterday at 7:08 PM

I think CPI is a poor measure, because it's a moving meter stick that understates inflation. When beef is overpriced, hamburger switches into the basket. When hamburger is a luxury, then chicken swaps into it instead. It understates inflation.

M2 change is a much better measure in my opinion. Using M2 is literally comparing supply of item to supply of cash which could immediately buy it. When scaling SPX or GC1! by M2SL[0]/M2SL, you get a surprisingly flat time series over decades, which reads to me that the effects of the change in M2 are being filtered out of an otherwise exponential price curve.