Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Can We Afford Three More Years of Bush?
The cenus figures for 2004 are out and the news isn't pretty. The New York Times summarizes them thusly, "Even as the economy was growing, income stagnated last year and the poverty rate rose, the Census Bureau reported today. This is the first time on record that household income has failed to increase for five straight years." Let that last bit sink in a bit. George Bush has been President roughly for five years and household inomces haven't increased in all that time. Yep. Despite his promise that tax cuts for his wealthy friends would drive the economy to new heights, the rest of us haven't seen much in terms of real improvement. I guess those of with jobs should just shut up and consider ourselves lucky despite the fact that
The cenus figures for 2004 are out and the news isn't pretty. The New York Times summarizes them thusly, "Even as the economy was growing, income stagnated last year and the poverty rate rose, the Census Bureau reported today. This is the first time on record that household income has failed to increase for five straight years." Let that last bit sink in a bit. George Bush has been President roughly for five years and household inomces haven't increased in all that time. Yep. Despite his promise that tax cuts for his wealthy friends would drive the economy to new heights, the rest of us haven't seen much in terms of real improvement. I guess those of with jobs should just shut up and consider ourselves lucky despite the fact that
Median pretax household income, at $44,389 last year, was at its lowest point since 1997, after accounting for inflation.Poverty also rose a tick from 12.5% to 12&%. People are working more hours just to keep from sinking like stones.
Bush & Co. reached into their Iraq bag of tricks and are telling reports that hope is just around the corner because the employment market has been "improving" since 2004. Problem is, there is no trickle down in this trickle down economy. Despite the mounting evidence that Bush "plan" (or giveaway) hasn't really improved the lives of oridinary Americans, Bush and the Rubber Stamp Congress will no doubt call for yet more tax cuts for the super rich. Maybe if the likes of Kenny Boy Lay buy another vacation home or invest in some sweat shops over seas with all those tax savings, we'll all get raises.