The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2012, real median household income and the poverty rate were not statistically different from the previous year. The 88-page report (found here [5]) contains a plethora of statistical data, slicing and dicing income and poverty data by race, gender, and so on but in order to see through the haze, the following three charts sum it all up perfectly (sadly). The poverty rate in the US is stable at 15% - practically the highest since the mid 1960s and real household incomes are stagnant at 1997 levels. Spot the cyclical recovery...
Obviously the population has grown but it is perhaps worth noting that at 46.5 million people, the number in poverty is now 15% higher than it was in 1960...
[6]
and perhaps more crucially, the key 18-64 year old cohort has never seen a higher level of poverty...
[7]
[8]
Welcome to the recovery...
(h/t @Not_Jim_Cramer)