What's New With AdSense Publishers?

There is a useful WebmasterWorld thread that has summarized some of the larger issues that have rose to the top discussions in the various forums on AdSense. They point out three main topics disturbing publishers:

1. A number of publishers complaining about making less money.
2. Some publishers reporting a general increase in average EPC
3. Lots of noise on the AdWords board about advertiser accounts being shut down by Google

I have honestly seen threads contradicting the average EPC discussion but in any event, this is the bulk of the complaints these days on Google AdSense.

What publishers are doing now is trying to figure out if any of the above correlate to each other. Would accounts being banned have a direct impact on the remaining publishers making less money? I can see how AdWords account bans, which have been on the rise, do have an impact - but AdSense accounts? Maybe I am not thinking hard enough - due to the early hour.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.