Department of Facts: Real Median Household Income

If you were just watching Fox News, you saw Simon discussing the Tea Parties. He pointed out that one key reason for anger with the government is that everyday Americans have seen their incomes decline over the last decade (which we've called a lost decade for everyday Americans). The show's host questioned Simon's facts on this point. Here's a graph, straight from Census Bureau data:

What it shows is that median household income in fact declined by more than $2000 during the Bush Presidency, from $52,500 in 2001 to $50,330 in 2008.

I know we want the government to keep it's hands off of our government statistics, but, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say: you're entitled to our own opinions, but not your own facts.