Why the Bush Economy Sucks

Bonddad at DEMBloggers has this to say regarding the economy Bush is busily touting: "According to the Census Bureau, median household income has decreased for the last 4 years (2000-2004), from $45,065 in 2000 to $44,398 in 2004 (in 2004 dollars). The mean (average) income has dropped as well, from $62,114 to $60,528. Over the same time, the poverty rate has increased from 11.7% to 12.7%. The three year rolling average of the number of families in poverty has increase from 32,907,000 to 36,997,000." [...] "In the last 4 years, we have seen two large areas of US business slowly slide into economic oblivion - airlines and auto companies. GM recently announced they would lay-off 30,000 employees and undertake a corporate restructuring. Ford just announced they would lay off 7500 workers and close 8 plants. The airlines are facing similar problems. 5 airlines are currently in bankruptcy. The industry faces losses this year of 10 billion dollars. These two industries employee over 1 million people." [...] "The Bureau of Labor Services breaks the job market down into 15 sub-areas. Since January of 2001, only 5 of these areas has shown an increase in the number of jobs" [...] "Inflation adjusted wages are near stagnant for the last 5 years. After inflation, non-supervisory wages have increased a scant .5% since January 2001. This represents the salary of between 70%-80% of the workforce. In other words, most people aren't making any more money than they were 5 years ago." [...] "Median and Average incomes are down; poverty is up. Most wages are stagnant after inflation. Headline grabbing news of big US business being bankrupt or downsizing is prominent. Job Growth is limited to a few select economic areas. No wonder people are concerned about the economy - they have every reason to be."