Econoday was expecting readings of +0.4% and +0.6%, respectively.

BEA Release:

http://bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/....

PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS, FEBRUARY 2012
Personal income increased $28.2 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)
increased $18.9 billion, or 0.2 percent, in February, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $86.0 billion, or 0.8 percent.  In January,
personal income increased $26.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, DPI increased $5.0 billion, or less than 0.1
percent, and PCE increased $40.9 billion, or 0.4 percent, based on revised estimates.

Real disposable income decreased 0.1 percent in February, compared with a decrease of 0.2
percent in January.  Real PCE increased 0.5 percent, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent.

                                        2011                                            2012
                                        Oct.            Nov.            Dec.            Jan.            Feb.
                                                       (Percent change from preceding month)
Personal income, current dollars        0.4             0.1             0.4             0.2             0.2
Disposable personal income:
 Current dollars                        0.3             0.0             0.4             0.0             0.2
 Chained (2005) dollars                 0.3            -0.1             0.3            -0.2            -0.1
Personal consumption expenditures:
 Current dollars                        0.2             0.0             0.2             0.4             0.8
 Chained (2005) dollars                 0.2             0.0             0.1             0.2             0.5

                                Compensation of employees

Private wage and salary disbursements increased $17.8 billion in February, compared with an increase of
$22.1 billion in January.  Goods-producing industries' payrolls increased $1.3 billion, compared with an
increase of $9.6 billion; manufacturing payrolls increased $1.5 billion, compared with an increase of $7.6 billion.
 Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $16.5 billion, compared with an increase of $12.4 billion.

Government wage and salary disbursements decreased $0.2 billion in February, in contrast to an increase of
$2.0 billion in January.  Pay raises for military personnel added $1.8 billion to government payrolls in January.

Employer contributions for employee pension and insurance funds increased $1.5 billion in February, compared
with an increase of $2.1 billion in January.

Employer contributions for government social insurance increased $1.1 billion in February, compared with an
increase of $5.8 billion in January.  The January change reflected an increase in the social security taxable wage
base (from $106,800 to $110,100) and in the tax rate paid by employers to state unemployment insurance; together,
these changes added $4.1 billion to January.  (Changes in employer contributions for government social insurance do
not affect personal income, because employer contributions for government social insurance are also included in
total contributions for government social insurance, which is a subtraction in the calculation of personal income.)

                                Other personal income

Proprietors' income increased $2.2 billion in February, compared with an increase of $1.3 billion in January.
Farm proprietors' income decreased $0.2 billion, compared with a decrease of $0.1 billion.  Nonfarm proprietors'
income increased $2.4 billion, compared with an increase of $1.5 billion.

Rental income of persons increased $3.5 billion in February, compared with an increase of $3.2 billion in January.
Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) increased $1.7 billion,
in contrast to a decrease of $2.3 billion.

Personal current transfer receipts increased $3.0 billion in February, compared with an increase of $1.6 billion
in January.  Within current transfer receipts, there were large, offsetting changes to government social benefit
programs.  “Other” government social benefits to persons increased $1.3 billion, in contrast to a decrease of
$15.8 billion; the January change was reduced $13.6 billion reflecting the expiration of the Making Work Pay refundable
tax credit.  Offsetting these changes, government social benefits for social security increased $2.9 billion in February,
compared to an increase of $20.3 billion in January; the January change was boosted by a 3.6-percent cost-of-living
adjustment (COLAs) to social security benefits.

Contributions for government social insurance -- a subtraction in calculating personal income -- increased $2.4 billion
in February, compared with an increase of $9.3 billion in January. The January increase reflected increases in both employer
and personal contributions for government social insurance.  As noted above, employer contributions were boosted $4.1 billion
in January by increases in unemployment-insurance tax rates and in the social security taxable wage base.  The January
increase in personal contributions for government social insurance reflected increases in the monthly premiums paid by
participants in the supplementary medical insurance program (Medicare B) and in the social security taxable wage base;
together, these changes added $1.6 billion to January.

                                Personal current taxes and disposable personal income

Personal current taxes increased $9.2 billion in February, compared with an increase of $21.6 billion in January.
Federal net nonwithheld income taxes (payments of estimated taxes plus final settlements less refunds) boosted January by
$11.8 billion, based on the Office of Tax Analysis projections of higher final settlements and higher refunds for 2012.
Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $18.9 billion, or 0.2 percent,
in February, compared with an increase of $5.0 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, in January.

                                Personal outlays and personal saving

Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- increased $89.8 billion in February,
compared with an increase of $44.8 billion in January.  PCE increased $86.0 billion, compared with an increase of $40.9 billion.

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $438.7 billion in February, compared with $509.5 billion in January.
The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable income -- was 3.7 percent in February, compared with
4.3 percent in January.  For a comparison of personal saving in BEA’s national income and product accounts with personal saving
in the Federal Reserve Board’s flow of funds accounts and data on changes in net worth, go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp.

                                Real DPI, real PCE and price index

Real DPI -- DPI adjusted to remove price changes -- decreased 0.1 percent in February, compared with a decrease of 0.2 percent
in January.

Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.5 percent in February, compared with an increase of 0.2
percent in January.  Purchases of durable goods increased 1.6 percent, compared with an increase of 1.4 percent.  Purchases of
motor vehicles and parts accounted for most of the increase in February.  Purchases of nondurable goods increased 0.1 percent
in February, compared with an increase of 0.3 percent in January.  Purchases of services increased 0.4 percent, in
contrast to a decrease of 0.1 percent.

PCE price index -- The price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent in February, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in January.  The
PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent.

                                2011 Personal Income and Outlays

Personal income increased 5.1 percent in 2011 (that is, from the 2010 annual level to the 2011 annual level), compared with an
increase of 3.7 percent in 2010.  DPI increased 3.8 percent, compared with an increase of 3.6 percent.  PCE increased 4.7 percent,
compared with an increase of 3.8 percent.

Real DPI increased 1.3 percent in 2011, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent in 2010.  Real PCE increased 2.2 percent, compared
with an increase of 2.0 percent.

                                Revisions

Estimates have been revised for October 2011 through January 2012.  Changes in personal income, current-dollar and
chained (2005) dollar DPI, and current-dollar and chained (2005) dollar PCE for December and January -- revised and
as published in last month's release -- are shown below.

                                                                Change from preceding month
                                        December                                  January
                                        Previous   Revised   Previous   Revised   Previous   Revised   Previous   Revised
                                       (Billions of dollars)      (Percent)      (Billions of dollars)      (Percent)
Personal Income:
 Current dollars                            60.2      55.6        0.5       0.4       37.4      26.5        0.3       0.2
Disposable personal income:
 Current dollars                            48.3      45.8        0.4       0.4       14.1       5.0        0.1       0.0
 Chained (2005) dollars                     35.5      33.0        0.3       0.3       -6.6     -18.8       -0.1      -0.2
Personal consumption expenditures:
 Current dollars                             3.2      19.2        0.0       0.2       23.2      40.9        0.2       0.4
 Chained (2005) dollars                     -3.4      10.2        0.0       0.1        2.7      14.3        0.0       0.2

BEA’s national, international, regional, and industry estimates; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases
are available without charge on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov.  By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to
receive free e-mail summaries of BEA releases and announcements.

Make less, spend more. Strong future.

Woooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

On BB Radio, UBS's Maury Harris says that this is "healthy." Banks lending in order to bridge the gap between income and spending is the way to go.

What kind of raises are private sector workers getting these days?

My husband's job has a salary freeze. My friend in GA lost his job and is now employed again at a lower wage with zero health insurance (construction mgmt job). My brother's $90k job in FL has been cut to "part-time TEMP". He's interviewing and trying to find something now, but obviously looking at massive pay cut.

Many of my other friends seem to be in "business as usual mode", esp those with engineer husbands(age 40-41 now, so career is established). Home renovations, summer trips planned, just returned from an island vacation, cruises, etc. I also hear that medical IT jobs are booming in Orlando.

Quote:

UBS's Maury Harris says that this is "healthy."

It is if your goal is to create money out of thin air to jack up asset prices so that the ordinary income stream from an individual's labor is used to only pay rents on these assets through one's lifetime rather than have the capability to eventually establish ownership. But that wouldn't be the goal, would it?

Federal Govt workers have been under a pay freeze for the 2nd year. Military have been getting paltry raises.