SpearsofTruth

Bush: A Middle Class Report Card

Ronald Reagan used this key phrase in his campaign for the presidency in 1979, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” I would assume that he was blaming Jimmy Carter for the economic woes of the country and the middle class in the late ‘70s.

What if you are middle class and applied this same criteria to George W. Bush? As someone from the middle class, is your life better off than you were four years ago?

I put it to you that the middle class is worse off than they were four years ago.

To examine specifics, let’s break down some economic factors.

Wages: Real wages have dropped significantly in the past 5 years, down nearly 8%. The divide between the average worker and the CEO has widened even further. The average CEO of the top 100 U.S. company makes more than a $1000 an hour while the average worker makes just over $16 an hour.

Taxes: Yes, federal tax rates are down, but when you see the division of who benefited the most from these tax breaks and who was placated, you know that the middle class was the placated and the wealthy got wealthier. By 2006, 88% of all Americans will receive $100 or less from the Administration's latest tax cuts while the upper 20% income Americans will receive 48% of the tax breaks.

Health Care: While real wages have decreased during the last five years, the cost of health care premiums has risen alarmingly. Workers in the U.S. have seen their out of pocket cost for health care more than a $1000 a year than it was five years ago. From 2004 to 2005, the health care premium increase 9.2%.

And the percentage of companies that are offering health care coverage is down 9% from 2000 to 2005. So, the premium for many may be moot as they won’t have any health care.

Energy Costs: Whether it’s at the gas pump or heating your home, the cost of energy has increased dramatically in the past 5 years. The national average increase for the cost of heating homes across the U.S. is estimated to be up nearly 38% this winter. Anyone who has filled up their car has seen gas prices higher than $2.50 a gallon.

Price of Goods: While the prices of goods and services have remained stable for the most part, there has still been a slight increase here.

The Government Budget: Anyone who has paid attention will notice that we went from have balanced budget to building up a tremendous deficit. This has had a negative effect on the strength of the dollar and has

I am trying to saddle the Bush administration with the blame for all of this? No, that wouldn’t be fair, but if you used his role model’s criteria, certainly, most Americans would say they are not doing better than they were 5 years ago.

What could George Bush have done? He could have worked to find a way to decrease our dependence on foreign energy sources. He could have supported an increase in CAFÉ standards for cars and trucks (this decreasing usage and demand and hopefully decreasing prices). He could support meaningful health care reform. He could have skewed the tax cuts away from the wealthy and more towards those who really need it, the middle class. He could have decided to avoid a costly pre-emptive war in Iraq.

On the whole, the divide between the middle class and the wealthy in this country have increased during the Bush administration. As a member of the middle class, I have to examine how this administration has skewed its policy away from supporting the middle class and catered toward the wealthy.

Some might say that with the last couple statements that I’m inciting class warfare. Well, I would say that the war has begun and you need to decide which side you want to be on.

Make up your own report card and you judge for yourself.

Sources:

Kaiser Study

Money Magazine Article

Washington Post Story

posted by Random @ 2:14 PM