300,000,000 Americans, soaking the poor, and today's items

Just in case you're going into a Malthusian funk, read this: The Average American: 1967 And Today

As the U.S. population crosses the 300 million mark sometime around 7:40 p.m. Tuesday (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), the typical family is doing a whole lot better than their grandparents were in 1967, the year the population first surpassed 200 million.

Mr. and Mrs. Median's $46,326 in annual income is 32% more than their mid-'60s counterparts, even when adjusted for inflation, and 13% more than those at the median in the economic boom year of 1985. And thanks to ballooning real estate values, median household net worth has increased even faster. The typical American household has a net worth of $465,970, up 83% from 1965, 60% from 1985 and 35% from 1995.

Throw in the low inflation of the past 20 years, a deregulated airline industry that's made travel much cheaper, plus technological progress that's provided the middle class with not only better cars and televisions, but every gadget from DVD players to iPods, all at lower and lower prices, and it's obvious that Mr. and Mrs. Median are living the life of Riley compared to their parents and grandparents.

Envy is bad economics

I don't believe people earning average incomes are as envious of the rich as media commentary supposes. The kind of relativity people care about is that their incomes rise, their assets are greater than their parents' and their children do even better than they've done.

Such progress is certainly taking place, especially in countries like the U.S. and Britain that run relatively unshackled market economies. In the Oct. 2 issue of FORBES I learned that in the five years since the attack on the Twin Towers, America's GDP has increased by $3 trillion. This increase alone is roughly equivalent to the entire output of the world's fastest-growing economy, China. Clearly, scores of millions of Americans are doing better than ever before.

Nancy Pelosi et al have promised to cut back the Bush tax cuts. Nancy should read this:Soak The Poor

Tax Policy: The myth lives on: Bush's tax cuts boosted the rich and gypped the poor and middle class. So let's see how the poor and middle class fare without them.

The Treasury Department issued a news release last week that clearly shows that the very people the Democrats and the mainstream media purport to be so concerned about in their opposition to tax relief will see their tax bills go up if the tax cuts are not made permanent.

"More than 5 million low-income individuals and couples will no longer be exempt from individual income tax," said the release.

HOW TO GET PRESS COVERAGE OF THE BOOMING ECONOMY

Heh

Dr Sowell asks, Can we talk?

"Fairness" here, as in so many other contexts, means nothing more and nothing less than the exercise of arbitrary power by third parties, since everyone has a different definition of what "fairness" means.

Free speech is not a luxury but a necessity if we are to hear the various sides of issues before we decide what to do.

Today's articles from Maria
It's Not a Klimt, but the Eastern European TV Venture Is Sweet
To Be Married Means to Be Outnumbered
An Alzheimer’s Treatment Debunked
A Dangerous Fat and Its Risky Alternatives; forget transfats, just pass me the butter.
I'm looking forward to this show: One of Florence's Renaissance Prizes to Go on U.S. Tour

At the blogs, via Larwyn
YouTube, Google, and the Liberal Bias Virus
Bag ladies. Speaking of which, Smile!
Are you a 'Defeatocrat'?
Army Strong

ACLU Hoping For Democrat Control Of Congress To Kill NSA Surveillance Bill
Lterrorist supporting jihad lawyer Lynne Stewart recieved the light sentence of 28 months; George Soros paid for her defense.

Today's video: