Household saw the gains last year. We also want to hear how you think these new numbers might impact of the campaign 2016 debate over the Economic Health of the u. S. We have split our phone lines by income level this morning. If you make under 25,000 a year, 2027488000 this morning. If you make between 25,000 and 50,000, 2027488001 is your number. Between 50,000 a year and 100,000 a year, 2027488002. If you make over 100,000 a year, 2027488003. You can also tweet us and find us on facebook. A very good wednesday morning to you. Heres how the Census Bureau numbers played out on several of the front pages of major newspapers around the country. Heres the front page of the wall street journal this morning. The u. S. Got its first race last year since 2007. Last years ands 2007. Since 2007. Put it john is an economic correspondent with npr. Thank you for joining us today. Take us through the topline numbers and a general sense that these are good numbers, but how good are they . Caller by all measures, it is a very good report. The broad measures of wellbeing for americans come income, level of poverty, health care coverage, all of them improved. Income, the income right at the middle of the income to 56,516 in. 2 2015. The largest increase, the largest percentage increase in the history of this data. On poverty, poverty fell, tied the largest drop ever in the 1. 2 . Y rate, down one down to 13. 5 . Tying the largest drop in the history of the state appeared history of this data. It is a good report. Did some people do better than others . Was a different among racial lines was it different among racial lines . One of the other good things about this report, it is broadbased. Gains and income were broadbased. There was only one Demographic Group that stayed the same. A very broadbased everyone gained. Folks at the bottom did a bit better than folks at the top. People down in the 20 percentile of income got a bit larger raise than folks at the top. Thats going against the grain of whats happened in our economy over the last couple of decades. Ort is there when policy program that being pointed to as making the biggest difference in these numbers . A big driver of these numbers is the economy and job creation. Forave had job creation now a period since the recovery after month of job creation and we continue to have strong job creation seven years into the recovery. People tting more raising the number of people who have incomes. Households will see rises in their incomes. You have a tightening of the labor market. There are fewer workers to choose from. So, employers need to begin to raise wages. There have been some policy changes. Seen across the country some cities and states raising the minimum wage. Some of those went into effect in 2015. So they also contributed. StillHousehold Income below the prerecession levels from back in 2007. Is the reason for that the depth forhe recession or a blame the slowness in the recovery or is that framing the political debate around this report . Caller a bit of both. Recessionhe worst since the great depression. It was the nature of this recession and how we got into it. We got in through a financial crisis. A crisis in the institutions that make the economy work. Ofovering from that kind financial crisis takes a long time. Partly because people do so much confidence. That lose so much confidence. People lose confidence in the institutions. The institutions are much more careful. They are hesitant to lend money. People are hesitant to borrow money. Wherehad this long period its taken a long time for banks to become confident to lend. For businesses to decide its time to borrow and meet the demand out there and people because they lack confidence. Stew has made in this time of growth slower and the recovery slower than from previous recessions. That has kept Income Growth down. Host we will hear from viewers about how it impacted them. John, thank you for your time this morning. You can read his work at npr. Org. Have a great day. Caller thanks, john. Host we have split our phone lines by income level. We want to hear first from chris and atlanta, georgia on that line for those who make between 25,000 a year and 50,000 a year. Caller good morning. Up . did your paycheck go caller no, it did not. It is not bad generally , what effect it will have on the election. I remember the last election. The unemployment number went down just before the election itself. The number was a false number. Left the attempt to even get a job anymore or work anymore and that was wasnt factored in. This has a prop to it. The amount of welfare, food stamps and things like that and the increase in minimum wage. That also props things up for a fall. As it is pushed harder, they will lay more people off. I think it will break again. Host would you agree with this take on the numbers from angela from the American Enterprise institute . Here is her column from the Boston Herald about it. Is that more your position . Its like treading water. You have a floater to prop you up. You are floating, not breaking ahead. If the prop breaks, you will sink. Obamacare is going to break next year. How Many Companies are getting out of it now . Break, the costs will go up. Those economists have also said that because these props, if they fail, we will have another recession. Anybody is saying dont get excited because if any of these props break, we will receive again. De again. Host bob on the line for those who make between 50,000 and 100,000. Caller all these numbers are being skewed anyway the white house wants them to be skewed. They want them to look good so we can get Hillary Clinton in office. Eight years mr. Obama has been the president of this country. We are twice the level of debt that mr. Bush left us in. That is incredible. The economysay is improving when we are 20 trillion in the hole . Pretty soon, we will all be working to pay that debt. That is a problem. Host heres a bit of what he had to say. [video clip] president obama there was a new report out just today showing age,last year across every every race in america, incomes rose and the poverty rate fell. [applause] obama the typical Household Income of americans rose by 2800, the single biggest oneyear increase on record. [applause] obama we lifted 3. 5 Million People out of poverty. That is the largest oneyear drop in poverty since 1968. [applause] president obama the uninsured rate is the lowest it has been since they kept record. The pay gap between men and women shrank to the lowest level ever. [applause] obama republicans dont like to hear good news right now. More americans are working from incomes are rising, poverty is and gas is two dollars a gallon. Thank you for reminding me. Hanks, obama [laughter] [applause] president obama the steps weve been taking over these years have been paying off. We shown that progress is possible. Host president obama yesterday in philadelphia. Here is one of the republicans on capitol hill, kevin brady, republican from texas, heres his take on the report. We want to hear your take on that report that came out yesterday. Some of the reaction we will show you over the course of our next half hour. Michael is in webster, massachusetts on the line for those who make under 25,000 year. Caller i just heard the and one of the things he is doing as he is living in the past. This is 2016 and my mother and i are both on Social Security. It didnt help us any. Host do you work . Caller no, i dont. I suppose maybe i will have to get a job. I have a mother that has dementia. Work, she haso to to go to a nursing home and that is going to kill her. This increase in wealth is not something youd seen in your part of massachusetts. Caller no. In maryland on the line for those who make between 50,000 a year and 100,000 a year. Caller good morning. It isng in because at arst year, i got hired job at three times what ever made in my life. I just graduated from college. I actually relied on some state aid at one point. I did lose my job and i got unemployment, went back to school fulltime, got my degree and here i am. I definitely believe the economy is working out. It is definitely working out for me. Are you seeing that discussion about the economy and how you view the economy in the political debate right now . Caller would you please elaborate . Host how do you think this discussion about the economy whether it is in a good place or bad place, how do you see that point out on the campaign trail . Caller i definitely understand why it would seem like politically motivated for somebody to want to see more depressing news, more positive news depending on who you want elected. When bush junior left, the economy was in bad shape. People were thinking that john mccain had a better chance of if the economy tanks again, people might want more of a change. If the economy improves, people might want to stay the course. Ron is in new jersey on the line for those who make between 25,000 a year and 50,000 a year. Situation is similar to michaels. He was talking about his mother and being on a fixed income. Theres a lot of people in this country who are on a fixed income. Dependent on age. Schoolteacher and i receive a pension and i received Social Security. No matter how the economy fluctuates, up or down, my income remains the same. Dont really see any benefit of a growing economy. Another significant way it affects people like us, you have certain federal programs, entitlements where the different or different hud agencies that give assistance to people, they have hard salaries. 49,000cut of his , you areet 49,000. 50 ineligible. That doesnt mean you dont need assistance. Topica few tweets on this several editorials talking about these numbers today. Heres the Editorial Board of the washington post. We want to hear your thoughts. Ted in florida on the line for 51,000o make between and 100,000 a year. Caller the one thing i wanted that is pertinent to the situation is when you compare us to other countries now, thee, right United States as a whole, we are probably in the top five for average income. All thosee have safeties that can help people in poverty. That censuseve what says that 43 billion people are 43 Million People are not in poverty. Were talking 25 Million People in poverty host that is the Census Bureau number that came out yesterday. With 43. 1 Million People in poverty. Caller the Poverty Level is what, 22 million . Host the poverty threshold for a family of four. Caller do you realize that india can with workingclass india,ake 25 a week the workingclass there make 25 a week . If you compare all the other countries around the world, our income compared to our demographic population, we are far above any nation and our consumer rate is 10 trillion a year. Growth is almost 19 trillion. This country is the greatest country in the world, but you have all these negative people going around saying we are doing so bad, president obama has pulled us out of the situation and people are doing a lot better. Right now come on the books, theres almost 5 million jobs available. For people to go to work. Host mark in michigan on the line for those who make under 25,000 year. Good morning. I been disabled since 1990. I had to go on Social Security. My Social Security is 8,400 a year. And 50 a month food stamps. That is it. Its hard to live on. Host has that changed much . It is fixed income. I get 700 a month. Three quarters of that pays my rent. I get 50 a month for food stamps. You see how far it goes. Im out of money before the month is over. Im out of money before the second week of the month. Host does it frustrate you caller yes. With my knowledge and work skills, but because of my disability, i cannot get work. Im a licensed master mechanic, a licensed heating and cooling , commercial,cal industrial i have all this knowledge but i cannot get work because im disabled. You, we want to update yesterday, several primaries happening. We are wrapping up the primary season here in september. A couple of stories from yesterday from new hampshire, frank guve inta has a narrow lead. Elsewhere in the state, ayotte heads into a general election against a democrat and one of the most closely watched contests in the country. A story closer to capitol hill, this from the Washington Examiner overnight. Democrats demanding a vote on gun control on the house floor. Making their second such protest in two months. We will be watching for that today. We can ask one of our guests on , a democrattoday from texas who is involved in that first house for protest. We can ask him about that report. Phones, talking about this and Census Bureau report about Household Income being up in 2015 poverty down. Carol in ohio on our line for those who make between 50,000 and 100,000 a year. Wrong one the we are in the 25,000 a year and 50,000 a year. We are on Social Security, we get 26,000 a year or more, little bit more. My husband had a really good job. Thats what we get. The slowness of this recession is the republicanss fault. They blocked every job bill and everything that would help the economy in congress. We would have been doing a lot better if they hadnt done that. I dont think anybody ought to be voting republican. Theyre not doing what is right for the people. Michelle is up next in tennessee on the line for those who make between 25,000 a year and 50,000 a year. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you. The teacher from new jersey that is retired pretty well said what i wanted to say. I also am a retired teacher. I make around 40,000. It is fixed. Increase, there was no. Food prices have risen. Terribly. Seniors. Crease for do you feel that same frustration that he said he felt when these numbers come out saying the economic strength of america is on the rise . Caller i think it is going downhill in a hurry. The people, the baby boomers i was born in 1944, so im not considered a baby boomer. We were called the silent generation. 2007, i wased in doing a lot better financially. 2016. Am right now in seniorsunderstand how can go into a Doctors Office just on medicare with no supplement. I will not mention the name of the company. When i first retired, it was 90 a month. For my supplement. Times were good. Went upe supplement 231 a month last year. So, dont tell me its getting better. I have copd, i tried to get medication with the assistance of the company. Was 36,000. Aroundher, i made 37,000. So, i did not get it. Up next inis williamston, North Carolina on the line for those in make those who make under 25,000 year. Caller being on fixed income in 2008, it seems every election year, they flow of these numbers. Flub these numbers. Gas prices going down, the birds are singing, everything is going well. What used to cost 25 in the 1990s now costs over 100. I have to admit, trump is right, it is fixed. You are playing with the loaded gun. Its just a matter of time when it crashes, we all fail. Host you dont believe the Census Bureau numbers that came out . Caller no. Ts the government the clintons have been up there too long. Showing thembers sharpest drop in poverty rates in nearly 50 years. Are using that in williamston . Caller no. You come down here and live nuc where and you see where big prices come to the little town. That dirty word, inflation, it when ite tire out cost 20 inr what the 1990s, there is a problem. Foration is a dirty word all politicians. They never confronted, they never want to talk about it. It is a daily thing. When you are on fixed income, sooner or later, you are broke. Usa today talking about Household Income. It jumped 5. 2 in 2015. The chart showing the peak from the Census Bureau numbers back in 1999. You can see that break in the chart to explain that. Raymond is ind clinton, pennsylvania on the line for those making between 25,000 a year and 50,000 a year. Caller you had the gentleman hes trained in airconditioning and so forth but he is disabled. He cannot find work because he is disabled. He is not working, but hes not one of the people covered for government obama hasnt done a darn thing. You count all the people on Social Security disability, about 13 Million People today, it has doubled since obama took over. They changed the rules for that also. If you count all the people who cant find work, it totals over 20 something percent. You had a woman on there from c . Retirement people aar aarp. In 2025, you want to take a 25 cut in Social Security benefits. The government says no, you are not. The government is in deficit spending mode. Theyre spending more than what they taken. You are not going to get any more of living increase on Social Security for your Pension Plans. Costofliving increases on Social Security or your Pension Plans. They traded away our jobs. You dont trade jobs. They killed 5 million jobs and the clintons are responsible. This is craziness. These people dont want to listen. In a neighborhood around pittsburgh, the steelworkers are gone. They dont understand how the dynamic has changed and they still hold that lever no matter who runs. In pennsylvania on that line for those who make over 100,000 a year. Caller good morning. Is that a net income or gross income . Npr i wish i had john from to dig into that for you. Go ahead with your comment. I will look around the report to try to get an answer as you go. Caller that is probably the biggest thing that everybody is saying here. You might say the numbers are ok, but the numbers are not really telling the truth. Not in the real world. Thats what i think is the problem here. They are always fixed, always just saying what the current ,andidates running have said like the president said yesterday in philadelphia here. It is a lie. You skew the numb