Managing Your Money : SMALL CHANGE : Feeling Poorer? Perhaps Your Family Is Typical

The Tax Foundation says the typical American family lost spending power during the last decade despite a healthy salary increase. The average two-income family earns $53,984 now, up from $33,392 in 1982. But after you subtract the amount they pay in state, federal and local income taxes and then account for inflation, they actually lost $214 in spending power.