You are so right that the mainstream media is full of poopy-cock when it comes to discussing the "strong" economy/
Here are some excerpts from my letters files where I go after these miscreant bozos.
###########################################################
Subject: How Can A Collapsing Economy Be A Strong Economy?
To: letters@newsweek.com
"Bush can't get a break. The economy is a case in point. For the most part, economists say it's strong, and Bush should be enjoying the credit". Excerpt from "Bush Pops His Bubble", Newsweek 5/1/06 p. 26.
Huh? what economists are these? How can an economy be strong when real (i.e. inflation adjusted) wages have been falling for most Americans for 2 3/4 years?. One measure of this is the average real earnings of production and non-supervisory workers -- a category that covers over 80% of the labor force. See:
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?data_tool=latest_numbers&series_id=CES0500000049The poverty RATE has been going up every year since 2000 -- from 11.7% in 2000 to 12.7% in 2004 (almost the same level it was in 1970).
Real median household income has dropped for 5 years in a row, according to the Census Bureau. See:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h08.html5 years ago, 69% of employers provided health insurance to their workers, now only 60% do so, a 9 percentage point drop in just 5 years (Per the PBS Newshour 4/5/06). And per the Economic Policy Institute, nearly 3.7 million fewer people had employer-provided health insurance in 2004 than in 2000, even though the labor force has grown.
Pensions are being watered down or eliminated at an increasing rate. Since most of those are cuts in FUTURE income, most of these cuts don't show up in today's economic statistics. But it will show up as ever-increasing cuts to personal income over the next decades.
The economy is "strong" in a GDP sense only because of unsustainable run-away federal spending and federal and private borrowing from overseas. The nation's current account deficit with the rest of the world is well over $2 billion PER DAY. The current account deficit for 2005 was not only a staggering record dollar amount ($805 Billion), but also a record percentage of the nation's economy (6.4% of GDP).
The federal government debt has grown by 42% between March 31, 2001 and December 31, 2005. Relative to the size of the economy, it has grown from 58% of GDP to 64% of GDP during this period. It now stands at over $8.3 Trillion. See:
http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/gdplev.xls http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~www/opdpen.cgi14% (one seventh) of the US budget now goes just to paying interest on this debt.
So please, spare us the right-wing clap-trap about how Bush deserves credit for a strong economy. Thankfully, most Americans are better informed than that.
###########################################################
Some more examples of mainstream press crapola about the strong economy
##########################################################
Economy Posts Best Growth in 2 1/2 Years By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
Fri Apr 28, 6:54 PM ET
The above article paints a picture of a great fast-growing economy with inflation in check. The economy faced by the vast majority of Americans is far different.....
#############################################################
"Data show economy firing on all cylinders" By Victoria Thieberger , Reuters 5/3/06
##############################################################
Dear Newsweek,
I was surprised that Robert J. Samuelson characterized the American economy as a "strong economy" in his July 24, 2006 column.
...
###################################################################
That's it for my data-dump of garbage about the strong economy ...
Next: tax cuts stimulate the economy (sigh)
How about greed is good?
Progree