The Incredible Shrinking Recovery
Check out this nifty chart, and accompanying discussion, from the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute: When do workers get their share? It seems that the current much-ballyhooed “economic recovery” is off the charts in terms of conferring its benefits on corporate shareholders, rather than actual workers, when compared with other recent economic recoveries. All the benefits are coming in the form of corporate profits. Hardly any are coming in terms of labor compensation. And when you factor out the portion of the increases in labor compensation that are going to things like more-expensive healthcare benefits and pension payouts, workers are actually losing ground. Yikes. Guess what happens when the “recovery” finishes, and we get another economic contraction?
I realize the conventional wisdom is that the economy won’t be a factor in the upcoming election; people are more concerned about security and terrorism and suchlike. But when the Bush team tells you about the fabulous job they’ve done in ushering in the current recovery, remember the chart.
