MSNBC on Economy: Shareholders & business owners winners; workers screwed

[Human Torch]

The Republican economy
A National Journal special report

By John Maggs
Updated: 2:12 p.m. MT Oct 13, 2006

WASHINGTON - Scandals -- and even wars -- come and go, but one constant in elections is the economy. As the House page scandal burns and public unhappiness over Iraq remains near its high, people still rate the economy as their top issue in the midterm elections, according to this week's ABC News/Washington Post poll.

On a long list of issues, including Iraq and "ethics/corruption," 23 percent cited the economy as their top concern, up from 17 percent in May. This may be good news for Republicans, who have been trumpeting a succession of positive economic reports as the main antidote to scandal and war. The Dow Jones industrial average finally surpassed its 2000 peak, gas prices have declined since August, and a surge in revenue has cut the deficit far below expectations.

Democrats are just as confident that slow job creation and lagging wages will spur Americans to vote for change. The economy began rebounding in early 2001, but it has been one of the slowest recoveries on record in terms of new jobs and has been the worst time for wage earners since another Bush was president.

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Income has also lagged under Bush, and this is crucial because polling experts say that sluggish growth in income is a key cause of an anti-incumbent mood in elections. By delving into income, one can see who the winners and losers have been in the Bush presidency. The details tend to support Bush critics who say that most working people have gotten a smaller piece of the pie. In general under Bush, being a shareholder or a business owner has been better than being a worker. Being a retiree has also been better than being a worker and, surprisingly for a conservative president, being a government worker has been better than being a private-sector employee.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15252903/

[ninkasi]

1. When rating the economy

what I look at are the jobs available to Americans, the salaries they are paid, and how they are doing over all. I am retired, and have a small IRA which is finally gaining some ground lost after 2001. I do not, however consider my personal finances as being indicative of how working people are doing. I can't enjoy my own finances, while forgetting, or not caring about, my fellow American's.

I am only one person, but I have immediate family, extended family, and friends. I always take into consideration how people as a whole are doing, because I don't live in a vacuum, and what weakens society will also weaken me, in the long run. I want all of us to have a living wage, or enough to live on in retirement. Why have the ultra rich living in palaces, and people at the other end, some who work extremely hard, stuck in slums? I can't separate my own feelings, and sense of well-being, from my fellow American's.