Economy: Are You Better Off? « Thread Started on Jun 15, 2004, 7:15pm »--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Economy: Are You Better Off? This is the only article in this thread View: Original Format Newsgroups: alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater, alt.current-events.wtc.bush-knew, alt.impeach.bush, alt.politics, alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.liberalism, alt.society.liberalism, talk.politics.miscDate: 2004-06-15 11:55:35 PST http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp ... ECONOMYAre You Better Off?Twenty-four years ago, Ronald Reagan famously asked the nation, "Are youbetter off today than you were four years ago?" (Hear the audio of thespeech at NPR's site). The answers, unfortunately, are not encouraging. Fromunemployment to poverty to bankruptcies, Americans are increasinglyconcerned about the direction of the country. As a recent CBS News pollshowed, "65% of Americans said the country was on the wrong track" - thelowest level in a decade. In conjunction with its cover story on thesubject, Mother Jones Magazine and American Progress will release a nationalpoll analyzing "whether Americans think things have gotten better or worsesince the 2000 presidential election, who they think have been the winnersand losers since then, and how they feel about where the country is headedover the next four years."UNEMPLOYMENT: There are more people unable to find work than four years ago.The current unemployment rate is 5.6 percent. Four years ago, the nationalunemployment average was 4.0 percent. Since the recession began in March2001, "1.3 million jobs have disappeared, representing a 1.0% contraction."WAGES: The growth in wages fell dramatically over the past four years. In2000, median weekly wages grew by 4.9%. This fell to a mere 2.0 percent in2003. Adjusted for inflation that means "that wages fell slightly in realterms in 2003 for the first time since 1996." For those who have found work,the recovery is of questionable value in an "upside down" economy whereprofits have soared yet families' benefits are nullified by the rapidlyrising costs of housing, education, and medical care - all of which jumpedat double digit rates.DEFICITS: For the fiscal year 2000, the U.S. government had a surplus of $23billion, which brought the total budget surplus to $176 billion. This pastJanuary, the Congressional Budget office estimated the government will be$477 billion in the red this year.POVERTY: According to the most recent data from the Census Bureau, for thefirst time in 13 years, the poverty rate grew two years in a row, jumpingnearly a percentage point from 2000 to 2002 (from 11.3 percent to 12.1percent). The number of poor grew to 34.6 million people in 2002, including12.1 million children.BANKRUPTCIES: Personal bankruptcies are at an all-time high. AP reports,"Personal bankruptcies rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months ending March 31,"with 1,618,062 new bankruptcy filings.GAS PRICES: Americans are paying more for their gas since 2000. According toa report by the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union,"Domestic petroleum companies have stuck U.S. gasoline and natural gasconsumers with about $250 billion in price hikes since January 2000."