[pphysch]

Americans have among the highest incomes, yes, but we also have ridiculous cost of living amid a highly predatory financial system.

Housing, healthcare, education and other living expenses are astronomical. We can't just look at the high incomes.

Successful for the elite, yes. Not for the median American.

[0xDEAFBEAD]

The stats I linked are adjusted for cost of living. As stated on the "Chart" tab: "This data is adjusted for inflation and for differences in the cost of living between countries."

People who earn the median income are hardly elite.

[pphysch]

The data you linked only goes to 2019. That's cherry-picking, if anything. Bad economics.

Median income earners will never own a home in current conditions. That's a significant downgrade from past generations. We are not better off.

[0xDEAFBEAD]

If you toggle the year to 2021, you'll see that US data on that page ends in 2019. No cherry-picking, I just chose 10 most recent years which had US data easily available.

House prices in the US are high, but not remarkably so. (E.g. Canada's house prices are higher.) I'd argue that expensive US houses have more to do with NIMBYism than the overall health of the US economy.

Focusing on housing in particular is itself a form of cherry-picking a single statistic. The median income data I linked is adjusted for cost of living, which includes housing and other stuff.

[pphysch]

It's like saying the US economy is doing great in 2010 by using data that ends in 2006.

The last 3-4 years have been awful for the median American. The "prosperity" of 201X-2019 was funded by loose financial conditions: it's basically just debt. Purely debt-driven "growth" should not be mistaken for a healthy economy. And we are feeling the consequences of that debt-driven growth now, with high inflation, recession conditions, and a global sidle away from the dollar.

[datavirtue]

When their current car dies they won't own one of those either. Shit storm is brewing for the poors in America. Hardly anyone is taking advantage of our very inexpensive training programs that train in the trades (easily transitionable to engineering). Half the people who do show up are having it paid by their employer and barely put in any effort. Apartment complexes are looking good as an investment.