Are you better off?
Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan’s book, “Take This Job and Ship It” points out: “Moving jobs to China and running profits through the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes undermines American workers and threatens out future.”
The concentration of great wealth in the hands of a very few is evidenced by the fact that after adjusting for inflation, the median income for households in America has decreased by $1,345 from 1999 to 2005. During this same period, the Forbes 400 gained 100 billionaires. Changes to the tax structure has allowed these very wealthy individuals to pay less than their fair share, while everyone else picks up the slack.
Bush claims: “Productivity is high. People are better off. Things are working.” However, there is no relief for this country's struggling middle class. The Labor Department reports the economy added only 121,000 jobs in June, but of new jobs created, 31,000 were government jobs. Most of the new jobs require no skills and these new jobs don't pay enough to support a middle class family.
Most of the jobs that are being created are in the service sector areas, which often pay minimum wage or slightly above, and usually they have limited or no health benefits and pension plans.
The average hourly wage now stands at $16.70 an hour, but inflation is giving wages strong competition, because it is up 4.2 percent between May of 2005 and May of 2006. We have seen the wages of CEOs go through the roof over the last few years, but the wages of typical workers have not increased relative to inflation over the last five or six years. Although, workers' paychecks are larger, the cost of everything has gone up due to fuel costs.
Over the past five years, real wages for the people who work for a living have seen their wages declined. Job growth still lags behind historical norms of an economic recovery.
The concentration of great wealth in the hands of a very few is evidenced by the fact that after adjusting for inflation, the median income for households in America has decreased by $1,345 from 1999 to 2005. During this same period, the Forbes 400 gained 100 billionaires. Changes to the tax structure has allowed these very wealthy individuals to pay less than their fair share, while everyone else picks up the slack.
Bush claims: “Productivity is high. People are better off. Things are working.” However, there is no relief for this country's struggling middle class. The Labor Department reports the economy added only 121,000 jobs in June, but of new jobs created, 31,000 were government jobs. Most of the new jobs require no skills and these new jobs don't pay enough to support a middle class family.
Most of the jobs that are being created are in the service sector areas, which often pay minimum wage or slightly above, and usually they have limited or no health benefits and pension plans.
The average hourly wage now stands at $16.70 an hour, but inflation is giving wages strong competition, because it is up 4.2 percent between May of 2005 and May of 2006. We have seen the wages of CEOs go through the roof over the last few years, but the wages of typical workers have not increased relative to inflation over the last five or six years. Although, workers' paychecks are larger, the cost of everything has gone up due to fuel costs.
Over the past five years, real wages for the people who work for a living have seen their wages declined. Job growth still lags behind historical norms of an economic recovery.
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