The Observation Deck

Per capita disposal personal income – a key indicator of the standard of living – peaked in the spring of 2008, at $33,794 (measured as after-tax income). As of the second quarter of 2011, it was $32,479 – almost a 4 percent drop. If per capita disposable income had continued to grow at its normal pace, it would have been more than $34,000 a year by now.

The so-called misery index, another measure of economic well-being of American households, echoes the finding on the slipping standard of living. The index, a combination of the unemployment rate and inflation, is now at its highest point since 1983, when the US economy was recovering from a short recession and from the energy price spikes after the Iranian revolution.

ryan costa wrote:which Nations are ahead of us in the Economic Freedom list cited?

it is not relevant to cite the growth of the debt this year against our entire history.
for the first 100 years or so we just had to keep doling out land. standing gold mines of timber and topsoil. the world powers were too far away to offer much of a threat. How does this years growth in debt compare to the last 30 years? the last 100?