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Of course, just because Bush and the Republicans have been in charge during the last few years has nothing to do with this.
Here’s a handy map showing how far median incomes have dropped over the past six years. And it’s good news for most of you: Compared to Michigan and North Carolina you’re not doing so badly after all. So stop your sniveling.
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Well, the illegal aliens are doing quite well, so you taxpaying Americans had better suck it up and work harder to make up for your sliding income! The illegals need more food stamps, more subsidized rent, more free education, more free hospital visits, more free dentistry, and all the rest of the wonderful bounty of living in AMERICA.
I hope you can still afford to live in a gated community, since eveyone else is going to be living in the barrio. Viva Bush!
Does this mean that salaries went down or less people are working? I’m confused……..interesting though that DC’s went up…..hmmmmmmm………and what’s up with Rhode Island?
Weren’t we in a deflationary period a while back?
I’m waiting for the List’s neocons to blame Clinton.
I am going to have to vote for Pepe on this one. I think Illegals have a big stake in this. Why pay a union man $21.00 per hour to build a house when an illegal will do it for $7.50.
San Diego Union Tribune had interesting articles for the past couple of days on the economics of “undocumented workers”
I think a further contribution to this is deep discount mega stores like Walmart and Frys that only hire part time and at or near minimum wage.
it’s ironic that common wisdom seems to suggest that the economy is in better hands with a republican president but the fact is that hasn’t been the truth since TR was president….. we had resessions under ike, nixon/ ford, and reagan/ bush era has been a boom for those sending jobs over seas… truth is, the last thing corporations want is a healthy FAIR economy with FAIR competition with FAIR wages… a sick economy where the rich get richer seems to suit them best….
Look at Texas!
Does it seem that the red states were hit hardest?
Oh, let’s do random correlations! Let’s see…
How does a state’s low median income correlation to a low median…
Median income going down, while median home prices are going up. Weird.
Hmm, average wages rising but household incomes dropping. 2 explanations: The rich are making so much more they’re boosting the average by themselves. Fewer women working sending the household averages down.
I’d guess it’s both since there are so many indicators that the economy is growing quite nicely. The poverty and extreme poverty numbers are steady or better according to Mickey Kaus. So American families are wealthy enough that women are quitting work and living off just one income. Of course, you guys just go off standard media and won’t hear of economic growth unless there’s a Democrat President.
Uncle dave showing his Democrat colors again. How about after tax income. None of you low lifes pay any tax anymore. Us rich guys get stuck with the whole bill.
Just remember, politics and religion are handled by the same area of the brain apparently. It doesn’t have to make sense, as long as you believe it.
So, just close your eyes, click your heels together twice and say “Bill Clinton was responsible for the prosperity of the 90’s. Remember now, you have to believe real hard!
Politics is religion to the far left, and religion is politics to the far right.
>> None of you low lifes pay any tax anymore. Us rich guys
>> get stuck with the whole bill.
Tee hee! This is satire, right? Or have you been on Uranus for the past six years??
#10: I’m not a Democrat and I paid a hell of a lot of taxes last year without being wealthy. Guess that kills the rest of your rant. (FYI, not a Republican either)
This is also a comparison of how much GOODS have gone up.
curb the cost of living, DONT raise the min wage…
#10: I’m not a Democrat and I paid a hell of a lot of taxes last year without being wealthy. Guess that kills the rest of your rant. (FYI, not a Republican either)
Comment by Uncle Dave — 9/5/2006 @ 12:32 pm
OH, right, I am so dead. You said it so it must be true.
This reminds me of the old Clinton days of “it’s the economy stupid”. The economy was fine then and getting better but they sold it to a lot of gullible people.
What is missing now is Old Silver Tongued Bill to sell the line and Ross Perot to water down the vote. But it does not keep politicians from trying it again. I’m not saying that this hardship line won’t gain traction. People seem to fall for the same crap again and again.
Poor Dave, lower income and high taxes. Things are tough all around. And not rich, not Republican, not Democrat. You would think such an independent thinker could earn more money. I guess independent thought isn’t worth much any more.
Syngensmyth … ranting away.
#14 –
Minimum wage is 5.15 per hour which yields 206 dollars weekly for a 40 hour week. That’s $824 a month (a tad over 10K a year) before deductions for withholding, FICA, etc… Now, my single bedroom unit is quite modest and costs $500 a month. I’ll let you do the math for utilities, food, gas, clothing, and god forbid there be a kid to take care of…
Yes. Curb the cost of living. But that isn’t even starting to address the abysmally, criminally low minimum wage. Bob Cratchet probably lived better. I know plenty of armchair pundits have heartless suggestions for the poor, and they all boil down to “buck up and deal with it” or “I got mine, screw you”. The fact is that keeping the minimum wage as abysmally low as it is is just one of many ways that America collectively shits on the poorest 20% of our population.
Numbers to what so many of us felt but didn’t understand. After all, for a couple of years now Bush has been “creating” new jobs.
Sigh – I live in Michigan
I don’t know why
#17
Had the same thought… I get a feeling that a lot of the created jobs are lowpay jobs in the fastfood industry and among the low-price retailers.
#16 “The fact is that keeping the minimum wage as abysmally low as it is is just one of many ways that America collectively shits on the poorest 20% of our population.”
Are you saying that the 20% of Americans earn only the minimum wage? Or are you saying that 20% of Americans live in a household where somebody earns only the minimum wage? Either way, I call bullshit.
syngensmyth
You must be stuck in the wannabe wealth category. That is why you pay so much in tax. lol Being a Republican isn’t they way to wealth. You bought into the Horacio Alvarez myth that the Republican party has been using to control fools like you. “Sure vote us into office and we will let you join the boys club”. lol It will never happen so quit you complaining and moronic right wing nonsense.
#20 –
Probably – I was typing away and 20% is number I recall hearing in the past few days and now that I think about it’s probably someone’s number for below the poverty line or some similar stat …
So yea… I guess it is bullshit as I have the wrong figure there…
But let’s face one clear and indisputable fact – If you are earning minimum wage, you are living well below the poverty line.
By the way – what is the government calling the poverty line these days? I bet its a helluva lot lower than it should be.
Forget Orwell and Huxley, for me the world is becoming more like Kornbluth and Pohl’s The Space Merchants (and the sequel).
I have a question. Isn’t the US gov’t running a record deficit? Every year spending more money than it takes in? If the money isn’t going into pockets as income, could it be finding its way into stock portfolios as equity?
If you add the annual lost income ($100 billion?) to the annual gov’t deficit, isn’t that quite a chunk of new annual equity?
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/threshld/thresh05.html
Do you people really believe bush or clinton is responsable for your income? I have been in charge of my own income all my life I did not realize you just call the president. Is there a office or phone # so I can get with them to let them know where to send the check?
OK, go look it up on the BLS web site… BLs= bureau of labor and statistics.
If you want the last guess…
its that 60% of the USA, gets Min or LESS wages…If you really want to know.
AND…What happens when min wage Raises??
Cost of food goes up as Every store has to pay more wages.
Cost of Gas goes up as Those folks are min wage also.
Cost of ALMOST everything goes UP ALSO…
In the END, you aint getting very far. And the Corps get MORE money BECAUSE they dont want you working past 32 hours, THEn they have to pay Benefits…DUH…
PS, I live on $700 per month, on Social security..In the last 7 years I have seen the cost of my utilities go up OVER 1/3…Home taxes DOUBLE, Insurance?? WHAT stinking INSURANCE. And myy cost of living is based on Clerical workers BASIC wages(IT IS).
We need to go BACK and start curtailing profit margins, as BEFORE Nixon.. CUT those TOP wages IF those corps want to DEAL in the USA. anyone making OVER $100,000 per year can FEND for themselves, NO pensions, NO Social security, NO Benefits, UNLESS they PAY for them. PERIOD…
The middle class in America is almost gone. Our borders are wide open. allowing illegals to infest the US. If you aren’t calling your congressmen weekly to kindly let them know your going to vote them out, please dont gripe.
Just wait until your house is only worth what someone can pay for it…………..that should get your attention!
The sad thing is it’s already to late. This party’s over!
ECA has completely lost his mind. 60% of employed workers most certainly do not earn only the minimum wage. The 2nd Quarter median weekly wages for 2006 were $659, which come to $16.47 an hour for a 40 hr week.
Only 2.5% of hourly wage worker earned at or below the minimum wage in 2005.
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat44.txt
But guess what? That’s only a total of 75,609,000 people. The entire employed labor force average for 2005 was 141,730,000. So of the entire employed labor force, 1.3% earned at or below the federal minimum wage.
But I suppose I shouldn’t expect much from somebody who doesn’t even know the correct name of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
5 I think a further contribution to this is deep discount mega stores like Walmart and Frys that only hire part time and at or near minimum wage.
As long as people don’t get the idea that a few large chains are the only stores doing that.
ECA – by your “facts” paying nothing would yield free food and gas, right?