I see from some of the comments that there’s a widespread belief that the wage stagnation we’ve experienced under “modern capitalism” is some kind of illusion, that it would go away if we took benefits into account.

Nope:

Meta: if you think I’ve overlooked some crushingly obvious point, you might be right — but the odds are that you aren’t. I do know my way around these numbers.

And the same goes for intellectual stuff. I keep running into people who know, just know, that I’m an ignoramus who hasn’t thought through basic logical points, like how I can simultaneously say that we’re in a liquidity trap (conventional monetary policy has no effect) and call on Bernanke to do more (unconventional monetary policy may still have traction). But do try reading some of the links at the sidebar first.