Democratic Underground - Tossing the Good Economy Theory Out the Window

Tossing the Good Economy Theory Out the Window
August 30th, 2006 @ 8:01 pm

I’ve said here in the past that it was my opinion that the economy sucks. As a small business owner, I’ve seen the effects of the economic downturn first hand, that the Bush administration repeatedly has refused to acknowledge.

The new Census report sheds light on what many of us know but some refuse to acknowledge. An editorial about the census report in today’s NY Times says aptly on the state of the economy, “If you’re still harboring the notion that the economy is “good,” prepare to be disabused.”

On Monday, the NY Times reported that “the median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation.”

Not only has the median income dropped, but the “number of Americans living in poverty in 2005 — 37 million — was the same as in 2004.”

This is the first time the number has not risen since 2000. But the share of the population now in poverty — 12.6 percent — is still higher than at the trough of the last recession, when it was 11.7 percent. And among the poor, 43 percent were living below half the poverty line in 2005 — $7,800 for a family of three. That’s the highest percentage of people in “deep poverty” since the government started keeping track of those numbers in 1975.

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4038#more-4038

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