Personal Income Collapses in January
The Commerce Department reported Friday that personal income contracted a sharp 3.6% in January. In three of the last four months, personal income had showed modest gains. Economists had expected a more modest drop in income of 2.5%. This, and other numbers released Friday suggest worrying trends for the economy.
Wages and salaries declined in January, while personal disposable income dropped by 4%. Government wages and salaries, however, increased in January. Personal consumption was essentially unchanged, rising by 0.2%. The savings rate dipped from 6.4% in December to 2.4% in January.
The data released Friday is consistent with revised GDP figures from Thursday. GDP revisions found consumer spending weaker than expected or initially estimated. That trend seems to have carried over into January, with consumers saving less to maintain their level of spending. The drop in wages will likely drag consumer spending weaker in the 1st Quarter.
There is likely some noise in the data, due to expected changes in the tax code at the end of the year. Some people might have artificially boosted earnings in December to avoid increased taxes in the new year. While that no doubt is likely a factor, the totality of the data still point to a very weak economy and bleak outlook for earnings.
The economy is beginning the new year with a whimper.
– See more at: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/01/personal-income-collapses-in-january#sthash.Sfi4eTIf.dpuf
Publius Prime 
Taxes alone have stripped about the equivalent three mortgage payments out of our annual income, and that’s before you tally up the increases in food and gas. And we haven’t yet seen what the changes in health care premiums are going to be.
Just wait, the new Obamacare taxes kick in this time next year and those will be double the tax increases we got hit with this year, and that’s provided we don’t get hit with more between now and then.
Wait until Obamacare kicks in and we have four more years of malignant government growth and trillion dollar deficits. The Fed is printing funny money like it’s going out of style in an effort to stop a crash of the stock and bond markets, which is coming anyway. We have embraced all of the lies of liberalism/socialism and traded our freedom for dependency. Bad times are coming, and necessarily so. We have some lessons to learn as a people.
Citizens are hurting because of Obamas inept handling of the economy. The fact is that Obama is a hard line leftist and has no interest in helping the economy. He is far more interested in pushing his perverse agenda to the detriment of America. Either he is blinded by his ideology or he is ignorant of economic facts. He touts job creation as taking your tax money and hiring people to work for the government. That is not job creation but it is a way for him to grow the government and put a heavier burden on the taxpayer. Stimulus money doesn’t create jobs in the long run. The money runs out and has to be replenished, the money goes missing, the company goes bankrupt, political cronies get payoffs, etc. You get hardly any bang for your buck with stimulus funds.
The only way to really create jobs is by encouraging and helping businesses to grow. Throw off the crushing taxes and regulations that stifle business growth. As businesses grow and make more money they hire more people with the resultant increase in the tax base. Everyone wins. The employer gets rewarded for his investment of time, resources and money, the employee gets a job and the government gets more tax money as a result of the increased tax base.
Sound reasoning in economic matters is not a characteristic of the current Administration and this lack sound action whether it is malfeasance, misfeasance or non-feasance is hurting this country.