| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
05 Sep 2006 08:42:28 AM |
| Object: |
Wages Stagnant and Debt Growing. |
Since 2003, the inflation-adjusted median hourly wage of most workers
has fallen by 2 percent, according to the Labor Department.
And this summer marked the first time since 1991 that the annual
inflation rate exceeded 4 percent for three consecutive months, driven
partly by $3-per-gallon gasoline.
Then there is debt.
According to a study by the Federal Reserve Board, the ratio of
financial obligations -- primarily mortgage and consumer debt -- to
disposable personal income rose to a modern record of 18.7 percent
earlier this year.
The amount of mortgage debt alone has more than doubled since 2000, to
nearly $9 trillion.
And in July, for the 16th consecutive month, consumers in the
aggregate spent all of their disposable income and dipped into savings
or borrowed to finance the things they bought.
Among the most exposed are those who bought into one of the great fads
in mortgage lending in recent years -- adjustable rates.
Next year, $1 trillion worth of adjustable-rate mortgages -- about 11
percent of all outstanding mortgage debt -- is scheduled to readjust
to a higher interest rate for the first time, according to
LoanPerformance, a research company.
This will come after more than $400 billion of readjustments this
year.
That means millions of homeowners will either have to refinance or
shoulder an increase of perhaps 25 percent in their monthly payments.
The political implications of these trends are obvious.
"A large number of voters have a definite foreboding about the
economy, and that isn't good news for incumbents," said Gregory S.
Casey, chief executive of the Business Industry Political Action
Committee, a nonpartisan electoral analysis organization.
"They feel disappointed in government institutions that they think
have let them down."
"Republicans are worried," added R. Bruce Josten, an executive vice
president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a significant backer of
pro-business -- and therefore predominantly Republican --
congressional candidates.
"You have a portion of the middle class that doesn't believe it's
benefiting from good economic news, and, in fact, it's not. . . . All
the blame doesn't go to Congress, but voters are going to take it out
on Congress anyway."
Republicans in Congress have tried to show sympathy for hard-pressed
workers by pushing to pass an increase in the minimum wage.
That effort foundered in the Senate because it was tied to a cut in
the estate tax, which would have benefited wealthy individuals.
From The Washington Post, 9/5/06:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401108.html
'Mortgage Moms' May Star in Midterm Vote
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 5, 2006; Page A01
BURLINGTON, Ky. --
Life is cramped at the Condit household.
Dale and Sharon Condit and their two young sons need more room but
can't seem to sell their current home -- on the market now for three
months.
In a year when politics is being roiled by angry debates over the Iraq
war and immigration, it might seem odd to imagine the midterm
elections being waged over square footage and closet space.
But these are parts of a lifestyle that Sharon Condit, a deputy clerk
of court, describes as dogged by a sense of limits:
"We have dreams of this future, but we can't get it right now."
This gap in expectations, a source of anxiety for the Condits, is a
source of opportunity for former representative Ken Lucas, a Democrat
who is trying to win back Kentucky's 4th Congressional District from
incumbent Republican Geoff Davis.
Attitudes about the economy -- "People are being pushed up against a
ceiling," said Lucas.
"They feel trapped" -- are part of the reason the Democrat is in a
neck-and-neck race in a district President Bush won by 27 percentage
points in 2004.
___________________________________________________________
Money pressures
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/09/05/GR2006090500037.gif
George Carlin's take on things
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14837.htm
Harry
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| User: "Taylor" |
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| Title: Re: Wages Stagnant and Debt Growing. |
05 Sep 2006 08:54:20 AM |
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<drivel snipped>
But this neglects a broader measure called total compensation, which
includes tax-free retirement and health benefits. Across the 2000-05 period,
inflation-adjusted total compensation has increased 13.1 percent, and over
ten years has advanced 31.8 percent, in line with the productivity rise.
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| User: "ouroboros rex" |
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| Title: Re: Wages Stagnant and Debt Growing. |
05 Sep 2006 09:26:03 AM |
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"Taylor" <123@456.com> wrote in message
news:gkfLg.12649$dl.7147@tornado.texas.rr.com...
<drivel snipped>
But this neglects a broader measure called total compensation, which
includes tax-free retirement and health benefits. Across the 2000-05
period, inflation-adjusted total compensation has increased 13.1 percent,
and over ten years has advanced 31.8 percent, in line with the
productivity rise.
No cite = unsubstantiated *****
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| User: "Taylor" |
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| Title: Re: Wages Stagnant and Debt Growing. |
05 Sep 2006 01:56:42 PM |
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"ouroboros rex" <c-bee1@NOSPUMMYitg.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:edk1ds$8ha$1@news.ks.uiuc.edu...
"Taylor" <123@456.com> wrote in message
news:gkfLg.12649$dl.7147@tornado.texas.rr.com...
<drivel snipped>
But this neglects a broader measure called total compensation, which
includes tax-free retirement and health benefits. Across the 2000-05
period, inflation-adjusted total compensation has increased 13.1 percent,
and over ten years has advanced 31.8 percent, in line with the
productivity rise.
No cite = unsubstantiated *****
Look it up yourself.
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| User: "Chuck Feney" |
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| Title: Re: Wages Stagnant and Debt Growing. |
05 Sep 2006 09:56:15 AM |
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"Taylor" <123@456.com> wrote:
<drivel snipped>
But this neglects a broader measure called total compensation, which
includes tax-free retirement and health benefits. Across the 2000-05 period,
inflation-adjusted total compensation has increased 13.1 percent, and over
ten years has advanced 31.8 percent, in line with the productivity rise.
Bush's Point Woman, Labor Secretary Chao-McConnell appears to
disagree...
"The average level of compensation in 2005 was 7 percent higher than
in 2000. "
I also had a chuckle from this, as she had to go back to pappy Bush 's
recession to find numbers to make junior Bush's look good:
:
"In 2005, real hourly wages were 1.9 percent higher than in 2000,
compared to the 1.1 percent rise in wages between 1990 and 1995. This
means that wages are increasing at a rate that's more than 1½ times
faster than that of the early '90s."
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