Bush brags that the economy is just “fine” and that tax cuts will help improve the standard of living for Americans, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index (ECI) paints a different picture of where we are at after five years of GOP control of the federal government:
“On average, nominal wages rose 2.4% in 2005, the lowest annual result on record for this series, which began in 1982. With average inflation up 3.4% for the year, real wages fell 0.9%.
After rising 1.1% in real terms for full-year 2004, real compensation for 2005 was essentially unchanged—down 0.2% and the worst year on record.”
Bush’s claims of job growth are flat-out outrageous when one considers just how sluggish job growth has been in the past five years.
I guess for Bush, it doesn’t matter that it’s getting harder and harder for working Americans to make ends meet due to softening relative wages, corporate-written trade deals like CAFTA, the Bankruptcy Bill and exacerbated by expected budget cuts for social welfare programs like Medicaid and food stamps. All that matter for Bush, apparantly, is that his six-figure campaign contributors get their tax cuts, and that thesr tax cuts are made permanent.
That’s right, never mind the decreasing quality of life for working Americans who are having more and more difficulty buying a house or paying for health insurance, or the fact that the federal budget deficit skyrocketing under this “conservative” president will have to be financed with future cuts in domestic spending.
No wonder the GOP will be running on security issues, and not pocketbook issues this November.
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