Bob Herbert: The Data and the Reality

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/opinion/28herbert.html?_r=1&hp

I keep hearing from the data zealots that holiday sales were impressive and the outlook for the economy in 2011 is not bad.

Maybe they’ve stumbled onto something in their windowless rooms. Maybe the economy really is gathering steam. But in the rough and tumble of the real world, where families have to feed themselves and pay their bills, there are an awful lot of Americans being left behind.

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The fact that so many Americans are out of work, or working at jobs that don’t pay well, undermines the prospects for a robust recovery. Jobless people don’t buy a lot of flat-screen TVs. What we’re really seeing is an erosion of standards of living for an enormous portion of the population, including a substantial segment of the once solid middle class.

Not only is this not being addressed, but the self-serving, rightward lurch in Washington is all but guaranteed to make matters worse for working people. The zealots reading the economic tea leaves see brighter days ahead. They can afford to be sanguine. They’re working.

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1. ...

'The zealots reading the economic tea leaves see brighter days ahead. They can afford to be sanguine. They’re working.'

[TacticalPeek]

2. an. erosion. of. standards. of. living. for. an. enormous. portion. of. the. population.

That is difficult to overemphasize, yet it is barely covered or reported at all.

Thank you, Mr. Herbert, and fuck you, corporate media sellouts.