If you look at CNBC or most of the mainstream investment periodicals, you'll see all kinds of comments about the happy-go-lucky bull market
@Broadway - I wouldn't call this a "media conspiracy".
It's just that many of the people talking about markets in the media have a lot of time to fill. And it seems to me, they are often still talking after they've reached the point where they don't really have anything more to say.
This doesn't mean there is a conspiracy, but it does mean that we're wise not to put too much stock in someone on TV saying things like "we've talked the Greek debt crisis to death, its time to move on."
PC
The gold trade is pretty simple: Do you think they will stop quantitative easing and other inflationary programs and let the markets settle where they should? Or will they continue to reflate on any market weakness.
It seems to me given the actions and words from central bankers around the world that the answer is that latter. That will be good for gold.
Re: Falling Real Wages
Dex
4/22/2012 11:12:40 AM
There's a good argument to be made for natural resources. Apple can make more iPads but there is a finite amount of commodities like oil.
Re: Falling Real Wages
AskAsa
4/22/2012 10:58:13 AM
I'm leaning toward natural resources -- Energy, Agriculture and Minerals -- as well as the gold we've already mentioned.
Re: Falling Real Wages
cat tail
4/22/2012 10:42:29 AM
From a practical perspective, how do we respond to this information and protect ourselves? Obviously include some gold in the portfolio. But what other strategies are worth considering given the state of things?
Re: Falling Real Wages
Tenacious
4/22/2012 1:29:20 AM
The fact that wages have failed to keep up with true costs of living explains the malaise and frustration so many people seem to feel. What's the solution?
Re: Falling Real Wages
driven
4/22/2012 1:18:22 AM
One step forward, two steps back. Something has to give.
Re: Falling Real Wages
Dex
4/22/2012 1:14:56 AM
That is not a very uplifting graph. But it explains the feeling of running in place.
Going all the way back to 1980, you can see there was basically only a few years when wages increased more than inflation (and that's using the Fed definition of inflation).
Let's try to find out. We can start by going back to 2000, based on data from SentierResearch.com.
The median annual household income in February 2012 can be put into broader perspective by a comparison with previous levels of household income dating back to the start of the last decade. The February 2012 median annual household income of $50,065 was 5.7 percent lower than the median of $53,085 in June 2009, the end of the recent recession and beginning of the "economic recovery."
The February 2012 median was 8.1 percent lower than the median of $54,481 in December 2007, the beginning month of the recession that occurred just over four years ago. And the February 2012 median was 9.0 percent lower than the median of $55,031 in January 2000, the beginning of this statistical series.
These comparisons demonstrate how significantly real median annual household income has fallen over the past decade, and how much ground needs to be recovered to return to income levels that existed in earlier years.
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