George:
Just finished reading your book "Men and Marriage" -a brilliant exposition of the profound sexual differences of men and women. To myself, the previous title "Sexual Suicide" still would be the preferred one, but one assumes it wouldn't be fashionable in our "PC" society of today. In any case, it should be required reading for all!
However,I must disagree with you on the income changes of the the last 20 years. The average take-home pay for males , and especially for white males , (and make note of take-home pay, ie, what the family has to spend), has fallen every year since 1973. All the government statistics correct for inflation, but they do not consider increases in withholding for taxes, especially FICA, and increases in withholding for benefits. These deductions from gross pay have been astronomical.
The lowest quintile's income is much higher than stated because of government transfer payments and under-reported income, I would agree, but the middle three quintiles are only barely maintaining their total spendable income,and only because the wife has gone to work to increase the male's vastly diminished spendable income. Now, in the past two to three years in these three quintiles, even with both the husband and wife working, they have not been able to maintain their standard of living.These problem are, of course, especially severe with families with children. The taxes have been a devastation. A simple example, the exemption for each child, which was $500.00 in 1950, would have to be over $7500 today, not $2600, to be commensurate.
This information is accesable from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Monthly Statistics.
and, of course, the Internal Revenue Service.
Very best wishes.... |
