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Salt was very valuable in ancient Rome.

Salt dried fish, and it fertilized crops.

It made wine last longer, and it cut the bitterness of greens.

It also, according to Pliny the Elder, was part of war.

The rummagos that soldiers were even paid in the white gold.

Salt, or salt, is the root of the word salary.

In 21st century America, there's a big debate about salaries.

For years, political campaigns have appealed to a squeezed middle class, and harkened back

to an era when raising a family on one income was possible.

But the data show a more complex picture.

What many Americans believe about what's been happening to their incomes over the past

few decades is flat wrong.

I'm John Prado, and this is checks and balance from the economist.

Each week, we take one big theme, shaping American politics, and explore it in depth.

Today, how are incomes changing?

Reports of the slow death of American incomes have been exaggerated.

Since the turn of the millennium, hourly earnings have grown steadily in real terms.

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