Via Shaw Fremstad at Inclusionist, we read in the Wall Street Journal that even the highly educated have seen their real earnings decrease since 2000. The inflation-adjusted median salary for people with professional degrees [such as doctors and lawyers] was $89,602 in 2007, up about 3% from 2000, when the median salary was $87,158, according to the Census. Every other group, including those with college and doctorate degrees, saw income declines. The inflation-adjusted median salary for a person with a bachelor's degree fell about 3%, adjusted for inflation, to $47,240 last year from 2000. Median master's-degree salaries fell about 4%, to $56,707. Salaries for high school graduates fell about 3%, to $28,290. Given the faltering economy, it is unlikely that lower-earning Americans have made up ground this year. In 2007, the last year for which the Census income data are available, wages grew and unemployment averaged a low 4.6%. Since then, the country has lost about 600,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has risen to 6.1%. But I'm pretty sure this won't keep the WSJ's editorial page and its ilk from claiming that increasing inequality would go away if people would just go out and get a college degree already.