The party of the middle class; they say so themselves
August 29, 2007
Census Shows a Modest Rise in U.S. Income, also known as missing the lede:
The nation’s median household income grew modestly in 2006, the Census Bureau reported yesterday, even as the percentage of people without health insurance hit a high.
Experts said the rise in income was mainly a reflection of an increase in the number of family members entering the workplace or working longer hours. Average wages for men and women actually declined for the third consecutive year…
Some Republicans seized on the new data as evidence that Bush administration policies had been good for people’s pocketbooks. In a statement, President Bush said the news was a sign that Congress should not raise taxes. The data, he said, confirmed “that more of our citizens are doing better in this economy, with continued rising incomes and more Americans pulling themselves out of poverty.”
Opinions vary on the source(s) of the problem. Should we make sure workers have the bargaining power to help themselves, or should we blame immigrants? Guess which party chose which option:
Mr. Bernstein [a liberal quote-guy from EPI] attributed the drop in wages to the waning bargaining power of workers, and said it was disappointing, given that 2006 was the fifth year of economic recovery since the recession of 2001.
But Mr. Besharov [a conservative quote-guy from AEI] said immigration could be to blame. “Wages are pretty weak,” he said, “not the least because we have a lot of immigrants in this country willing to work a little more than everyone else.”