President Cheney and his evil minions assert the health of the US economy, with Cheney even saying the economy has weathered having oil at all time high prices and ignoring choices people must make: choosing between milk for kids or gas to get to work.
Meanwhile, Jr still believes his tax cuts for the rich have increased the economy, ignoring historic deficits (In the entire history of the United States, only the Cheney administration cut taxes in the midst of a war.) and the greates disparity in income since thee 1920's. Sure, income has gone up but the top levels shot up while the income of the middle class remained stagnant. Of course the bottom stayed at 0.
[In the newest OECD Economic Outlook, the average annual wage in the total economy of the United States was $45,563 for 2005. That's exceeded only by Luxembourg, a wealthy banking duchy, with $50,634. Britain, Ireland and Australia are not far behind the United States with incomes above $40,000.
The problem is that this is a measure of total wages, not just the middle class, and it includes the richest Americans whose incomes have risen enormously in recent years. Outside of Hungary, the United States has the most extreme income inequality in the OECD.]
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/ReportSaysAmericansGettingPoorer.aspx?page=2
So the rich get richer while the middle class gets crunched. As 1 comedian somewhere observed about Reagan's "trickle down theory of economics," it feels warm and wet and smells like piss.
MSNBC multimedia seies on middle class crunch
All the while, the Cheney administration has no clue whatsoever. Just read the quotes below, admin first followed by experts, to see for yourselves the tenuous connection to reality the people who run our country have.
January 7, 2007
BUSH ECONOMIC POLICIES FAILING AMERICA’S FAMILIES:
Working Americans Struggling to Make Ends Meet – Families Need a New Direction
PRESIDENT BUSH:
“And [my economic] plan worked. If you think about where we were coming out of 2001 and where we are today, you can’t help but say the plan worked; cutting taxes helped stimulate economic growth.” [12/17/07]
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON TONY FRATTO:
“I don’t know of anyone predicting a recession.” [1/7/08]
COMMERCE SECRETARY CARLOS M. GUTIERREZ:
“Whenever someone loses a job, it is tough on them and their family. So we are not complacent and firmly believe it’s important that we continue to promote pro-growth policies such as making the tax cuts permanent…” [1/4/08]
FROM THE EXPERTS
Martin Feldstein, Harvard University economist:
“We are now talking about more likely than not [for a recession]…I have been saying about 50 percent. This now pushes it up a bit above that.” [1/7/08]
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com:
“This is unambiguously negative…The economy is on the edge of recession, if we’re not already engulfed in one.” [1/5/08]
Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group, Inc.:
“There’s nothing heartwarming about this report…It confirms what economists have been worried about, which is a broad-based economic slowdown.” [1/5/08]
Russ Koesterich, senior fund manager at Barclays Global Investors:
“The odds of a recession have gone up dramatically.” [1/5/08]
Nigel Gault, economist at Global Insight:
“If there’s going to be a recession, it’s entirely possible that we are in it — or just beginning it now.” [1/4/07]
Victor Shum, energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz:
“Many economists in the U.S. have talked about the potential of the U.S. getting into a recession…This latest government report … has added to the concerns about the economy.” [1/7/08]
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1031
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