What You Won't Hear in the State of the Union (Sperling/Bloomberg)

[swag]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_sperling&sid=afEwQxAXRHv4



Excerpts:

What the president will not be talking about, however, is exactly what most working families care the most about -- their wages. Hourly and weekly wages in inflation-adjusted terms have actually fallen slightly since the recession ended in November 2001.

While many Bush defenders seem to think it is unfair to talk about anything other than the past two years of the economy, the picture is just as bad during this oft-mentioned period after the capital gains and dividend taxes were cut.

To be precise, real average weekly earnings have fallen 0.9 percent (to $550.60 in December 2005 from $555.65 in December 2003), while real average hourly earnings have dropped further, down 1.2 percent (to $16.34 from $16.54).
. . .

The story on family incomes is just as disappointing. Both family and household incomes have fallen and poverty has risen every year under this administration, according to the annual census report on income and poverty. According to this official tally, median household income has declined $1,669 from 2000 through 2004, falling each year since the recession in 2001. The poverty rate jumped to 12.7 percent in 2004 from 11.3 percent in 2000.
. . .

The hope is that 4.6 million jobs sounds big enough that typical voters and lazy reporters will just accept it as a sign of strong job growth. But anyone who does the slightest bit of analysis will see otherwise.

This level of job growth is 2.5 million jobs below the average 2 1/2-year period under the Clinton Administration, and more significantly represents less than half the average rate of job growth in the similar periods of economic recoveries.

[Lasher]

1. Worst. President. Ever

"But the president should certainly not be allowed to use recent economic performance, which includes weak job and wage growth, as a justification for fiscal policies that have ignored our nation's critical investments in our future and led to the worst fiscal deterioration in our nation's history."

When Dubya crows tonight during the SOTU speech that unemployment is now at a wonderful 4.9%, I wonder if he will mention that it was at 3.8% when he took office.

[applegrove]

2. Thanks for posting.