After 1979 gross in per person total income for the non-rich continued,as did the wealth, and the consumption of the non-rich. The income gains slowed (but have not flatlined), but I think even the measured slow down has something to do with distortion of inflation in the 70s. The 70s were generally a poor time economically, worse than the 80s (at least the 80s after the recession that cured the inflation problem of the 70s) and the 90s, not a good time.
More generally inflation adjustments are inherently problematic. Even if you stick to commonly accepted inflation adjustments, a number of them like the GDP deflator, and the personal consumption index deflator, show a better record of income results than the CPI. Also such things such as immigration, changing demographics, and different rates of inflation on different types of goods (there is some evidence that inflation is lower on common consumer goods, then on higher end goods, which if taken to account would decrease measured inequality, and also increase the absolute real rate of income and consumption growth for the non-rich). To the extent your counting the poor, increases in government benefits for them are generally not counted but they are income. That's just a start there are a lot of other problems with these measurements. |
