Americans' Median Income Increased 5.2% In 2015

(graphic via CNN)

For the first time since 2007, the year before the Great Recession, the median household income increased to $56,516, up 5.2% from the previous year, according to data released by the Census Bureau today.

The 5.2% represents one of the largest annual increases since the Census Bureau began tracking such data.

Expect the good news to become campaign trail talking points for both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

Trump has regularly made the point that household incomes are $4,000 lower than in 2000. And that would be true if we were talking 2014 data; Trump often uses the 2014  numbers as if they are current.

Look for Clinton to point to the news as evidence that the economy is improving.

Additionally, the poverty rate dropped 1.3% to 13.5% in 2015.

So what constitutes for the big jump in median income? 3.3 million more Americans were working full-time. Data shows 1.4 million more men and 1 million more women had jobs last year.

(source)

Fox News Pundit Says Publishing CEO Pay Is Like "Slut Shaming"

As the Securities and Exchange Commission considers a new "pay ratio rule" which would require public companies to publish the ratio of CEO compensation to the median pay of employees, Fox News pundit Kennedy calls the idea akin to "slut shaming."

From Media Matters:

How much do women lose over a lifetime of earning less than men?

Click pic to enlarge

By age 65, the average woman will have lost $431,000 over her working lifetime because of the earnings gap.

It's very simple - Women deserve equal pay for equal work.

Come on Congress, fix this.

Unemployment high while CEOs income increases 18%

A USA TODAY analysis of corporate filings through early July shows CEOs reaping huge 2011 payouts.

"Some of the gains are humongous," says Paul Hodgson, a compensation expert for GovernanceMetrics, who expects more executives to reap big 2011 payouts.

Wall Street's 2½-year bull market is fueling mega-paydays across a swath of corporate America, from aging industrial giants to young dotcom firms. Yet it also is highlighting the growing wage divide between executive suites and rank-and-file employees.

• U.S. workers averaged $46,742 in 2010, up 2.6% from 2009.

• A June GovernanceMetrics analysis found average compensation among S&P 500 CEOs rose to $12 million in 2010, up 18% from 2009 — and that's not counting the potential multimillion-dollar value of stock or stock options, which are granted at set prices and provide holders profits as stock values rise.

How is it that CEOs are making more and more - showing corporations have money to hire more workers - but unemployment stays so high?