Better Off Than 4 Years Ago? Nation Is Divided

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-betteroff30aug30.story

Better Off Than 4 Years Ago? Nation Is Divided
By Warren Vieth
Times Staff Writer

August 30, 2004

WASHINGTON — <snip>Just as all politics is local, perhaps most economics is personal...What matters, Ellis observed, "is what's happening in my neighborhood, like the man next door who was out of work for almost two years…. Things aren't exactly average in everybody's neighborhood."<snip>

"It depends on where you sit," said Kim Wallace, chief political analyst at Lehman Bros. "If you've got a college degree and a job that's paying $70,000 or better, your answer almost invariably has to be yes…. Everybody doing less well than that, on both the education and economic front, is probably going to answer no."<snip>

Luke Williams, a 54-year-old cattle trader in Greeley, Colo., hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976, but he's about to switch his allegiance from Bush to Kerry in this year's election. The war in Iraq is the main reason, but Bush's economic policies and Williams' own financial situation figure into the equation.

"I don't think I'm better off," Williams said. "Everything I see costs more, and I'm not making any more, bottom line. I don't know that government's the answer, but something needs to start working better."

Analysts say that in strictly economic terms, the nation appears to be slightly less well off today than it was when Bush took office. Jared Bernstein, director of the living standards program at the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington, said the three-year decline in median household income made it clear that there had been more economic losers than winners since Bush took office.<snip>

Yet even if the nation as a whole is slightly worse off, analysts say, there may be a more even split between winners and losers than there was in the late 1970s, when high inflation sapped the financial strength of rich and poor alike.<snip>



From Economy.com... since January 2001:

• Gross domestic product has expanded at an average annual rate of 2.5% after adjusting for inflation, one of the weakest performances during any presidential term since World War II.

• Despite the addition of 1.5 million jobs in 11 months, payroll employment remains 1.1 million below the January 2001 level. Bush stands to become the first post-Depression president to end his term with a net job loss.

• Unemployment has remained relatively low, averaging 5.5% despite the downturn. But it would have averaged 6.5% if many discouraged workers had not dropped out of the labor force. And the average duration of unemployment has been long.

• Inflation-adjusted median household income has fallen. Last week's census figures pegged the three-year decline at $1,535, with the losses concentrated in 2001 and 2002.

• Homeownership has increased steadily during Bush's presidency, thanks in large part to the lowest interest rates in 40 years. Yet mortgage foreclosures are near record highs, along with personal bankruptcies and auto repossessions.

• Household net worth has fallen after adjusting for inflation. Although housing prices have risen sharply in some areas, stock portfolios have shrunk and household debt has grown.

• Inflation has remained tame. Consumer prices are up just over 2% a year, compared with more than 10% during Carter's term in the late 1970s.<snip>

[napi21]

1. I think this is very true. I suspect there are more people who aren't

doing better than the ones who are. I guess if you have several kids, and a good job that you aren't afraid of losing soon, you're probably doing better now than 4 years ago. I doubt the majority of Americans make $70,000+ per year, and many like me who didn't get a tax cut. Even those who did get a tax cut should remember what Howard Dean said "You may have gotten a cut in your Fed taxes, but did your real estate taxes go up? Did your kids tuition go up? Is your grocery bill higher than ever before? Is your health insurance premium and copay higher? Now think again. Did you really get a tax cut, or were those costs just shifted somewhere else?"

[hadrons]

2. and then we have numbnuts like Gloria Smith ....

Voters such as Gloria Smith explain this political dynamic. While Smith's husband, who works for American Airlines, recently took an $800 monthly pay cut, the homemaker from Sand Springs, Okla., just changed her voter registration from Democrat to Republican.

Smith said her family was "better off" than it was four years ago, "because we've learned to live within our means."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-oklahoma29aug29,1,4761299.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[freesqueeze]

3. Rich Are Richer ... no Doubt

My company is dependent on Ford Dealerships selling cars. Over the last three years, this company has completely eliminated medical and dental benefits and put us through TWO pay cuts.

I have an uncle in Tennessee who owns a few high-end shoe stores and he tells me that business is BETTER THAN EVER.

So for the middle class that might want to buy a Ford, life is tougher. But for those that are willing to pay $300.00 for a pair of Italian shoes. The Bush administration has been all gravy.

The Bush legacy is more poor, more homeless and more idle rich.

[Skittles]

4. a lot of those people with degrees making $70,000+

are worried about their jobs being outsourced, and they should be