Today’s chart comes from David Rosenberg, the chief economist at Gluskin Sheff and Associates in Toronto. It shows the real (seasonally adjusted) peak in income dating back to the 1970s.

Rosenberg thinks that the focus on income inequality and on the top 1 percent is distracting everyone from actual improvements. Contrary to conventional wisdom, nominal wage trends are now running at their fastest growth pace in almost five years.

Beyond the data, there are lots of anecdotes to slap down the negativity. For example, car sales are booming and confidence measures are back to pre-crisis highs.

David Fuller's view

The US economic recover is slowly and somewhat erratically improving.  I maintain that it is just about where it should be, five and a half years following a severe credit crisis recession.