cicerone imposter wrote:Lola, Bush's approval rating is going up because 1) all the financial pundits are saying our economy is growing (as proved by the stock market's new highs), 2) Saddam was caught, 3) the new drug benefit (that the insurance and drug companies will benefit while bankrupting medicare for the baby-boomers), 4) we haven't had a terrorist attack in the US since nine-eleven, and 5) all the democrats are fighting amongst themselves.
c.i.
Re #1 on your list:
From: 'Our So-Called Boom'
By Paul Krugman NYT 12-30-03
"...So if jobs are scarce and wages are flat, who's benefiting from the economy's expansion? The direct gains are going largely to corporate profits, which rose at an annual rate of more than 40 percent in the third quarter. Indirectly, that means that gains are going to stockholders, who are the ultimate owners of corporate profits. (That is, if the gains don't go to self-dealing executives, but let's save that topic for another day.)
Well, so what? Aren't we well on our way toward becoming what the administration and its reliable defenders call an "ownership society," in which everyone shares in stock market gains? Um, no. It's true that slightly more than half of American families participate in the stock market, either directly or through investment accounts. But most families own at most a few thousand dollars' worth of stocks.
A good indicator of the share of increased profits that goes to different income groups is the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the share of the corporate profits tax that falls, indirectly, on those groups. According to the most recent estimate, only 8 percent of corporate taxes were paid by the poorest 60 percent of families, while 67 percent were paid by the richest 5 percent, and 49 percent by the richest 1 percent. ("Class warfare!" the right shouts.) So a recovery that boosts profits but not wages delivers the bulk of its benefits to a small, affluent minority.
The bottom line, then, is that for most Americans, current economic growth is a form of reality TV, something interesting that is, however, happening to other people. This may change if serious job creation ever kicks in, but it hasn't so far.
The big question is whether a recovery that does so little for most Americans can really be sustained. Can an economy thrive on sales of luxury goods alone? We may soon find out."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/30/opinion/30KRUG.html
