Forgive me for being a bit skeptical here. I have no doubt that there is increasing economic pressure on the middle class. However, whenever I see graphs or statistics presented along with a particular point of view, I question just how much "cooking" of the numbers has occurred. For instance, (i) are these data in constant $s and bench-marked to what year?, (ii) when incomes are calculated does the income include employer contributions to 401Ks, health-care insurance, and the like?, (iii) in the case of union v non-union wages are these for the same job? what region of the country was the sampling taken? what percentage of all manufacturing jobs does this represent? Is the data weighted for this sort of bias?
I could go on and on, wrt to each graph, but you get my point. I would take this presentation with a large grain of salt and a gross oversimplification to make a political point. Not that I disagree with political point, just that I think this sort of presentation discredits a very real issue and a valid point.
Just my $0.02 and that is in 2013 $ so its not worth much
