Bonddad is an excellent economic wonk at Kos. Here is a nice complilation of facts and figures that show how Republican policies have hurt the middle class in the last few years. (Follow the main link above if you want more links to these statistics.)
JOBS
Although Bush loves to talk about his jobs numbers, his record stinks. The Bush's compound annual growth rate in establishment employment is .6%, the lowest of the last 40 years. In addition, the jobs market has lost 2.8 million manufacturing jobs and 550,000 information service jobs - jobs that helped to create and sustain a middle class. The top ten areas of job growth for 2003-2005 pay $9000 less than the top ten areas of job loss during 2001-2003.
More importantly, the jobs market is slowly resembling a barbell, with low-paying and high-paying jobs and little in between.
WAGES
In January 2001, non-supervisory wages - which represent the wages of 80% of the workforce - were $14.28. These wages were $16.49 in March 2006 for an increase of 15.47%. Over the same time, the nation's inflation index increased from 175.1 to 199.8, for an increase of 14.10%. That means the average person has seen their pay increase 1.37% in 5 years or a compound annual growth rate of .26%. I don't know about you - but that would thrill me to no end.
According to the Census Bureau, median national income was unchanged from 2002-2004. According to the same report, the poverty rate increased each year for the last 4 years.
It's not as though corporations don't have the money to give bigger wages. According to the Federal Reserve's Flow of Funds, undistributed corporate profits were 192 billion in 2001 and 418 billion in the third quarter of 2005. Corporate profits now account for the largest percentage of national income in the last 40 years.
HEALTH CARE
This is a huge expense that is increasing and taking a larger percentage of income. According to Kaiser Health the average annual payment for a single person is $3695 and a family is $9950. According to the Census Bureau, median household income in 2004 was $44,389, making average premiums for a single family 8.32% of annual income for a single person and 22.41% for a family. Employer and employee typically share this expense. However, as companies look to increase profits, expect them to continually increase employees' contribution to health care.
According to the same Kaiser Health report, health insurance premiums have increased between 2 and 5 times faster than inflation for the last 5 years.
The total number of the uninsured has increased from 40.9 million in 2001 to 45.5 million in 2005.
Of the people who don't have insurance, 70% state the primary reason is cost.
EDUCATION
Suppose you want to improve your chances of getting a better job by going to college. The chances are you will graduate with a ton of debt, which will prevent you from bettering your financial position.
The average one-year cost of instructional expenses at state school in 1999-2000 was $11,917. Educational costs have increased since this report.
Students are increasing their debt load to pay for college. A 2003 Nellie Mae report titled College on Credit, documented that the average amount of debt in 2002 for an undergraduate degree was $18,900 while the median amount was $16,500. Payments on these figures comprised an average of 9% of after-college income and a median of 6% of after-college income.
Graduate school loans are a larger burden. The average total debt was $91,000 for law and medical students, and their payment comprised 18% of their income. The average debt for business degrees was $39,500 and their payments comprised 8% of income. The same numbers for education degrees was $32,200 and 11% respectively.
The primary reason for this increased use of debt to finance education is states have decreased their funding for state schools. Between 1988 and 1998, the average annual state-sponsored school tuition increase was 4.1%. Over the same period, state appropriations -- which comprise 33.4% of total state school revenues -- decreased 1% annually. As a result, tuition as a percentage of total state school revenue increased from 22.7% to 31.1% from 1988 - 1998. In other words, the cost of state education is falling more and more on students as opposed to the state governments.
I would add the rising energy costs to this also- just this morning there was a story about how gas prices are affecting the poor, although from the amount of traffic I saw on the streets and highways between Detroit, Brighton, Lansing and Grand Rapids on my whirlwind tour yesterday, you would think they were giving the stuff away. The high prices aren't stopping the Escalade owners from roaring down I-96 at 90 miles an hour- but eventually this will hurt the economy.
Keep rattling that saber at Iran, Georgie.
Recent government and industry data show that America's consumption of gasoline is not rising as rapidly as it was this time last year, and analysts say families living on fixed or modest incomes usually are the first to cut back. If prices continue to rise, other demographic groups expected to trim their gasoline consumption are young adults, who tend to have less pocket change than their elders, and people living in rural parts of Texas and Wyoming, where long drives are a routine part of life.
Wachovia Corp. economist Jason Schenker said he expects the most price-sensitive Americans to continue cutting back on gasoline where they can, and that their spending on other goods is also likely taper off. However, this should only be felt at the margins of total economic growth, which will remain steady at about 3.5 percent in 2006, he said, because employment and wages are rising.
"What happens in those lower quintiles is not indicative of what happens in aggregate," Schenker said.
Yeah, who cares about the "lower quintiles" anyway, huh? But as evidenced above, wages aren't growing for most people.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer, warned earlier this week that it expected reduced sales throughout 2006 from its least wealthy customers, and the company highlighted its strategy to market more higher-end goods to maintain growth.
Wal-Mart will become a luxury store. There's an idea. Get everyone hooked on those low low prices, drive the Mom and Pops out of business, and then make a switch to higher end stuff. Heh.
Of course, for many families it is their wallets, not their fuel tanks, that are in real danger of running on empty.
The effect of rising gasoline prices shouldn't be viewed in isolation, said Carol Clements, chair of the National Fuels Fund Network, which provides emergency financial assistance to poor families that cannot pay their electricity or home-heating bills. "All of these energy costs are having a compounding effect," she said. "We're seeing more people bumped from middle and working class to low-income and poverty situations."
Down the road we go...