Yesterday a "report by Sentier Research, a firm headed by two former Census Bureau officials," found that "[f]rom June 2009 to June 2012, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 4.8 percent," Michael A. Fletcher of the Washington Post reported today. What's more, the fall in median household income was much worse for blacks, "a staggering 11.1 percent drop." June 2009, you may recall, marks the end of the recession that began in December 2007.
Yet such news was shoved down to page A10 by Post editors, rather than placed on the paper's August 23 front page, which included, among other things, a large photo of a woman working on a large sand sculpture at a resort in Florida, a story about Mitt Romney's campaign 'Mad Men,' and a story about how Lance Armstrong "won't fight doping charges" anymore.
The Sentier Research survey also found that young Americans suffered a steeper hit than the average American, with those under 25 seeing a 6.1 percent drop in median income and those in the 25-34 bracket suffering an 8.9 percent drop. Given how well President Obama did with the youth vote, their economic suffering under his administration is certainly worthy of coverage and criticism.
If such data were discovered in a survey released just a week before the Democratic convention in 2004 or 2008, it most certainly would be front-page news as the media hit the Bush administration and Republicans for a soft economy and teed up the opposition party with a talking point to flog during the convention.
But alas, the media are too busy with more important things, like dutifully echoing Democratic talking points tarring the entire Republican Party with one Missouri congressman's offensive comments on rape.
