We have been known to cover AdSense earnings complaints and earnings polls over the years. Most of the threads I see on AdSense are complaints that the publishers are not earning enough money. Truth be told, I skip 99% of them.
So instead of covering a complaint thread on low AdSense earnings, let me cover a thread that complains about all the complaints.
A WebmasterWorld thread named "Fallacy of AdSense Failing" has one publisher talking about how many people are making a killing through Google AdSense. He chalks it up to a small but loud percent of those who post in the forums are the ones who are not doing well and thus have time to complain (or desire to complain). incrediBILL explained:
People are constantly saying AdSense is failing, going down the toilet, and of course everyone claims absolutely everyone is having these problems. The only thing is "everyone" is just the limited finite group of usual complainers constantly complaining which assumes the AdSense universe is only comprised of all of their complaining peers.
He then goes on to share stories of publishers making millions with AdSense. These publishers don't talk big because of (1) Google doesn't want them to and (2) there is a lot of competition out there.
I suspect most of AdSense publishers don't earn all that much but real businesses with good strategies can make a nice amount using AdSense.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.