Extreme Income Variance Signaled Record Levels of Financial Stress in 2017,
Ultimately Foreshadowing Severe Economic and Stock-Market Turmoil

Headline All-Time High in Real 2017 Household Income Was Nonsense

Consistently Surveyed and Reported, Real Annual Median Household Income
Has Yet to Recover Its High Levels of 1999 and 2000

Still, July 2018 Monthly Real Median Household Income
Showed Its Fourth Consecutive Monthly Gain

August Household-Survey Employed Dropped by 423,000 (-423,000), while the
Headline August Payroll Gain of 201,000 Was 151,000, Net of Revisions

August U.3 Unemployment Edged Lower to 3.85%, from 3.87% in July;
Broader U.6 Unemployment Fell to 7.39% from 7.54%. On Top of U.6,
ShadowStats-Alternate Unemployment Declined to 21.2% from 21.3%

Sharply Intensifying Labor-Market Stresses Remained Consistent with
Headline Unemployment Closer to a Record High than Just Off a Record Low