November 2005 | Hightower Lowdown
Economic Reality
By Jim Hightower
George W. continues to insist that the economy is booming and that prosperity for everyone is just around the corner. Of course, this is the same guy who claimed to see weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and who failed to notice for days that a devastating hurricane had hit New Orleans.
Actually, America’s economy is booming — but the personal economies of most Americans are in the ditch, with their incomes not even keeping up with inflation. This is not by accident. Yes, the economy under Bush is creating jobs, but those jobs don’t pay diddly. Yes, Bush slashed taxes, but the gains went to the richest people and failed to stimulate the prosperity that was promised for all.
For the first time on record, our household incomes have failed to increase for five straight years — which happen to be the Bush years. Yes, people are working, but last year alone the median pay of full-time workers dropped by some two percent. Meanwhile, more than a million Americans were added to the poverty rolls last year — in fact, 37 million Americans now live in poverty, an increase of six million on George’s watch.
But wait, cry the Bushites, we have statistics showing that overall employee compensation is up! Yes, you do — however, the sly trick you’re playing is to lump wage-workers with the CEOs, who get fat salaries, bonuses, and stock options. On average, it looks good, but it hides the fact that 80 percent of us haven’t gotten squat from Bush’s economy, while the millionaire class has made out like bandits.
Bush, of course, doesn’t notice reality and doesn’t care. However, even such corporate conservatives as Alan Greenspan are noticing … and worrying. Greenspan, our nation’s central bank chief, now says: “The income gap between the rich and the rest of the U.S. population has become so wide, and is growing so fast, that it might eventually threaten the stability of democratic capitalism itself.”
Jim Hightower is the best-selling author of “Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush,” from Viking Press. For more information, visit jimhightower.com.
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