Another important mitigating factor is still missing, however. A much higher portion of the American household is now likely to be elderly than was the case in 1999. Again according to the Census Bureau records, the median age of the American householder has increased by almost five years between 1999 and 2014, from 46.6 to 51.2. The portion of householders who are elderly increased from 20.8% to 23.4% or an increase of 12.5%. Given that the elderly tend to have lower income than those in their peak earning years, the real per capital median income drop of less than five percent may well be explained by this factor.

The data used by the Daily News may also be a little outdated. More recent data shows that median household income in February of 2016 has hit $57,129, making the per capita household income $22,491, slightly above 1999 levels reported by the Daily News. (H/T to "derleider" in comments.)

The Daily News makes a similar blunder when it comes to income distribution. They recounted a "withering middle class" with Sanderesque charm.

Four decades ago, the backbone of the U.S.A. commanded almost two-thirds of the national income. Today, it clings to just 43% while the top tier has roared ahead to claiming almost half, along with wealth that is fully seven times larger than the holdings of the entire middle class.

The editors have taken the numbers from a Pew Research Center study showing that as of 2015, the middle class had lost its numerical majority - now only 49.9% of the US adult population while the lower and upper classes made up the other 50.1%, as well as that the share of the middle class' income had indeed dropped to 43% today from 62% in 1970.

A careful observer will note here that in 1970, when the middle class had 62% of the national income, the middle class also comprised a similar share (61%) of the US adult population (80 million out of a total adult population of 131.6 million). With the decline of the share of adults who are middle class to just below half, an income share of 43% is still a fall, but not one nearly as dire as the misleading measure of an almost 20-point reduction.

But wait a minute. Isn't the the fact that the middle class has gone from 61% of US adults to under 50% in and of itself bad news? It is, but not entirely.

What the Daily News editors fail to mention in their rush to bulldoze President Obama's record is the fact that at least part of this had happened because a greater share of the US adult population were in the upper class in 2015 than in 1970.