Yesterday's U.S. Census Bureau figures gave us a shocking dose of reality: Your family lost $7,000 from 2000 to 2012. 

Blogger Richard (R.J.) Eskow from Campaign for America's Future (CAF) pointed out that on average, most median income families lost even more than that: $7,490. 

He writes, "That’s $624 per month. $144 per week. $20 per day."

That money didn't just vanish, someone else has it. And that "person" is a corporation. 

Less money has been going to the average household in wages because more money is going into corporate profits. That in turn drives the personal income of the wealthy, who own more stock than average Americans and supercharges the income of the highly wealthy—CEOs, senior executives and high-net-worth individuals who invest heavily in stocks, hedge funds and the like.

That’s turning the United States into an economy of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Had households received their missing $7,000, it might have been spent on home improvements, consumer goods, other kinds of services. That’s the kind of spending that leads directly to increased employment—and therefore to better wages for everyone. But when it’s diverted into the pockets of the wealthy and ultra-wealthy, much less of it gets spent.

Read the rest of Your Household Lost $7,000. Where Did It Go? on the Campaign for America's Future blog.