My friend Jeff sent me these pretty striking statistics on the US economy since 2000. This is of course what any reasonable election in any reasonable country should be about. What’s particularly striking to me is that productivity during the Bush years has gone up by 19% whereas median income has gone down by 1%. Back in the olden days this used to be called “exploitation.” Remember: you work harder and better all the time, but someone else is reaping the profits.
The below gives more wage data, but from a longer time series. Incomes do indeed go up over time, but not nearly as much as Americans tend to believe. The gain over thirty years is only $4,000 — and incomes today are actually no higher than 20 years ago. And look at how badly the Bush family has served Americans: during Bush I wages were in a free-fall and during Bush II wages first fell dramatically and then stagnated. Compare this with the wage surge during the Clinton administration.
