Must-Read: I must say, I am struck anew by how great a disaster the 5-4 2000 election and what followed was, in terms of changing the socio-economic trajectory of America from the generally-hopeful and positive 1990s:

Elise Gould and Tanyell Cooke: By the Numbers: Income and Poverty, 2014: "Median [real] earnings for men working full time fell 0.7 percent from 2000 to 2013...

...In 2014 men’s earnings fell 0.9 percent, to $50,383. Median earnings for women working full time rose 5.4 percent from 2000 to 2013. In 2014 women’s earnings rose 0.5 percent, to $39,621.... Median non-elderly household income fell 11.2 percent from 2000 to 2013. In 2014 household income fell 1.3 percent, to $60,462.... Median income for African American households fell 13.8 percent from 2000 to 2013. In 2014 it fell 1.4 percent, to $35,398.... The poverty rate rose 3.2 percentage points between 2000 and 2013. In 2014 it remained unchanged at 14.8 percent. The child poverty rate rose 3.7 percentage points between 2000 and 2013. In 2014 it fell 0.2 percentage points, to 21.1 percent.... The African American poverty rate rose 4.7 percentage points between 2000 and 2013. In 2014 it rose 1.0 percentage point, to 26.2 percent.... The number of people without health insurance fell 2.9 percentage points from 2013 to 2014. In 2014, 10.4 percent of the population was uninsured....

Social Security kept 25.9 million people out of poverty in 2014. Food stamps (SNAP) kept 4.7 million people out of poverty in 2014. Unemployment insurance kept just under 1 million people out of poverty in 2014.

Thank you--non-ironically--Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Barack Hussein Obama, and company.

Thank you--ironically--Ralph Nader, William Rehnquist, Nino Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Anthony Kennedy.

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