Making less in the US? You're not alone

[Krisken]

Tax study discovers that 1 in 34 earners from 2008 made NO money in 2009.

Total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined, but at the very top, salaries grew more than fivefold.

However, the most interesting bit came at the end of the article-

The number of Americans making $50 million or more, the top income category in the data, fell from 131 in 2008 to 74 last year. But that’s only part of the story.

The average wage in this top category increased from $91.2 million in 2008 to an astonishing $518.8 million in 2009. That’s nearly $10 million in weekly pay!

I wish I could be surprised by this, but really, I'm not. A friend got seriously angry with me two weeks ago when I put forth that upward mobility isn't as widespread as we are led to believe.

 

[Adam]

Wait a sex, the number of Americans making $50M nearly halved, and you're surprised that the average wage increased? I wouldn't say that's surprising. It would be more surprising if it went down.

All that said, the bastards making that much money are not doing anything to earn it. Honestly, how is Zuckerberg worth billions for Facebook? It doesn't actually produce anything! If there's any indication that the economy of the world is F'ed, it's the people on the worlds' richest list. At least the Waltons MAKE something...

 

[AshburnerX]

Wait a sex, the number of Americans making $50M nearly halved, and you're surprised that the average wage increased? I wouldn't say that's surprising. It would be more surprising if it went down.

All that said, the bastards making that much money are not doing anything to earn it. Honestly, how is Zuckerberg worth billions for Facebook? It doesn't actually produce anything! If there's any indication that the economy of the world is F'ed, it's the people on the worlds' richest list. At least the Waltons MAKE something...

Facebook makes almost all of it's money from selling public information to marketing experts. Legally, anything you post up there belongs to them. It also gets a cut from all of Zynga's revenue from their games.

 

[Adam]

Wait a sex, the number of Americans making $50M nearly halved, and you're surprised that the average wage increased? I wouldn't say that's surprising. It would be more surprising if it went down.

All that said, the bastards making that much money are not doing anything to earn it. Honestly, how is Zuckerberg worth billions for Facebook? It doesn't actually produce anything! If there's any indication that the economy of the world is F'ed, it's the people on the worlds' richest list. At least the Waltons MAKE something...

Facebook makes almost all of it's money from selling public information to marketing experts. Legally, anything you post up there belongs to them. It also gets a cut from all of Zynga's revenue from their games.[/QUOTE]

Like I said, nothing of value. As for the selling of public information, that's only worth billions of dollars to idiot marketers.

 

[AshburnerX]

Like I said, nothing of value. As for the selling of public information, that's only worth billions of dollars to idiot marketers.

Real time, up to date notifications of what THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE INTERNET likes and dislikes isn't valuable? That's a marketing team's wet dream.

 

[Adam]

Like I said, nothing of value. As for the selling of public information, that's only worth billions of dollars to idiot marketers.

Real time, up to date notifications of what THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE INTERNET likes and dislikes isn't valuable? That's a marketing team's wet dream.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, 'likes and dislikes' don't represent reality, otherwise we'd all drive weiner-mobiles

 

[Adam]

I'm glad you brought him up.

The Old Spice Guy. We’re buying him, but not Old Spice Body Wash.

Tl;dr version: people like ad, but not buying product. Had a long discussion about this last week at work.

I suppose that in can be spun the other way too:

http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2010/07/hey-old-spice-haters-sales-are-up-107.html

I would be more inclined to believe year over year sales changes as legitimate, not February versus July, but there you go. Two different facts that depend on the way you interpret them to gain a true understanding of what's happening with their brand.

 

[AshburnerX]

I think we're hitting the critical mass point of advertising: Advertising is necessary on some level, as not everyone is an avid follower of a product and may be unaware of new developments in it. On the other hand, because advertising is so pervasive in our culture these days, people have begun to notice when they are being shilled to and now usually shun products that push too hard, and that's only when we're not simply removing advertisements ourselves through piracy or Tivo.

 

[Necronic]

If the market research gained from Facebook does have a correlation to what people want, then it has incredible value. Not just to the marketing teams, but to the industries they represent as well as the world at large. When a new product is introduced there is a risk that it will not be accepted by the population, and if someone invests money into a product and it fails, that is value lost. Also, understanding the market saturation limits of an existing product allows companies to reduce waste in their manufacturing streams, which is value added.

Basically it all comes down to efficiency. Making just enough product to meet demand, no more, no less. That is business operating at its perfect level.

Oh yeah, and to the OP, interesting numbers. I don't know if american's at large are making less. *I* just got a raise. Screw main street.