It’s nice of Snow to notice

August 9, 2005

John Snow went surprisingly off-message yesterday and acknowledged something Republicans usually insist that we ignore: the class gap.

Treasury Secretary John W. Snow acknowledged yesterday that the fruits of strong economic growth are not spreading equally to less educated Americans, as he and the rest of President Bush’s economic team prepared to meet today to discuss wages and income distribution in an otherwise surging economy.

The White House is reportedly confused about why economic expansion is not producing stronger support for Bush’s policies. Apparently, the Bush gang doesn’t realize the limited scope of the expansion.

Incomes are growing smartly for the first time in years, spurring unexpectedly robust spending by consumers. The revival, however, is mainly among top earners who receive stocks, bonuses and other income in addition to wages.

The nearly 80 percent of Americans who rely mostly on hourly wages barely maintained their purchasing power, according to the Labor Department. Raises have been meager, averaging about 2.7 percent in the past year — a tad above the 2.5 percent inflation rate.

Incomes are up a more robust 7.5 percent when bonuses, stock compensation, commissions and other wage supplements are added, according to the Commerce Department. Most of the boost, though, is felt by those at the top end of the income scale.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan expressed concern in testimony earlier this month about the disparity between wage-earners and high-income executives and professionals, which by some measures is the biggest in the United States since the Roaring ’20s. (emphasis added)

Don’t worry, the Republicans have a plan. They’ll eliminate the Estate Tax and multi-millionaires and billionaires will be even better off. Oh wait, that won’t address the problem at all. Never mind.

Good Lord, CB, we’re not going to get into
class warfare, are we? We all know what
a loser that’s been. Might as well as talk
about national health insurance.

  • we’re not going to get into class warfare, are we?

    Well, Bush’s Treasury Secretary did bring it up…

  • Bush’s attitude seems almost naively childlike and patronizing. Also somewhat medieval in a lot of ways.

    “Of course the wealthy are entitled to prosper more. Are they not ordained by God Himself to hold sway over all the land? The serfs and peasants should be grateful they are not put to the sword altogether but are graciously allowed to exist and serve the great and mighty. It’s for their own good and in accordance with the natural order of things. Why can they not understand this? What more could they possibly desire?”

    Just makes you want to throw up, doesn’t it?

  • Biggest since the roaring 20’s? Hmmm, how did that end… the 30’s… yeah, that was a fun decade. I can tell you I’m looking forward to the next few years… yessiree.

  • What’s even more depressing is that the nuevo aristocracy will be as ignorant, shallow, and bellicose as the aristocracy circa 700AD. It might not be so bad if the aristos had sure taste and good manners, but instead we get Paris Hilton and GW Bush. Feh.

  • Of course all the good news in the world don’t mean s**t if people don’t feel it has any relevance to their situation and doesn’t reflect in any way their life.

    I have a nice job, a house, make a nice wage, save for retirement, don’t carry a lot of debt – and I feel like my situation is precarious. I can only imagine what people without what I have feel on a day to day basis.

  • “. . . in an otherwise surging economy.”

    Er, how’s that again? This is one of the
    most anemic recoveries on record, is
    it not? Job growth since some time in
    2003 has been only 152,000 a month
    on average, barely keeping up with
    the increase in the labor market.

    The GDP is hardly surging. Growing at
    a respectable rate, but nothing fantastic.

    And when we factor in the surge in
    petroleum prices (why do all the other fuels
    follow along?), it’s not looking very good
    at all.

    Usually, when crude prices spike, we hear
    lots of summer stories about the poor
    folks who use heating oil, and how are
    they going to manage? But with this
    super-mega-spike (or is it permanent?)
    I don’t recall a single story about
    the hardships winter will bring.

    In Idaho, our major natural gas distributor
    has asked for a 27.4% rate hike. The
    other major heating fuel, propane, has gone
    up about 25% over last year. Idaho is one
    of the nation’s poorest states, and the
    people are really going to be hurt by this.

    The middle-middle class and downward
    are getting especially hard hit by this
    administration’s policies.

  • ET’s point—that it’s not facts, but daily experience, that shapes people’s perceptions regarding the state of the country—carries over to policy issues as well. Hark makes a good point about how certain tactics have fared (and failed) in the past, but don’t blame the ideas, blame the delivery.

    By making the delivery convincing and the rhetoric believable, Republicans have managed to win back control of the country while relying on policies that have historically proven, in some cases more than once, to be total disasters. Meanwhile, Democrats bat about decent (or at least, well meaning) policy and get crucified because they don’t have the ability to connect. It’s no coincidence that con men make a better living than social workers.

    The good news, in my opinion, is that there is an opportunity to re-connect the Democrats with real people, while also letting go of some outmoded ideas. Guns are OK, as long as we have an education system that doesn’t systematically fail our poorest children. We can admit that abortion isn’t a “right� as much as it is a necessary process, one that we can work to reduce the need for, but never eliminate. And for God’s sake, we can be OK with mass consumption as long as we invest in better technology to deal with waste. The opportunity to shape the future with practical policy is quickly becoming a reality, in no small part because BushCo got to stick around for 8 years.

  • We (the working and middle class) have been barely keeping up with inflation since the 1970s. OUR economic growth has been stagnant since the oil embargo. Instead of numbers that are meaningless to most of us I wish the economists and the news articles would talk about OUR economic growth.

    Also, Eadie’s got some good ideas there. I’d love to see some more discussion on Democratic policies.

  • Here’s what the article says Snow says:

    “Treasury Secretary John W. Snow acknowledged yesterday that the fruits of strong economic growth are not spreading equally to less educated Americans.”

    “Less educated?” Excuse me, it’s everyone in the bottom
    90% that isn’t sharing equally. Why does he focus on
    education? Just like they say job retraining is the solution
    for good jobs going overseas (what the hell are they going
    to retrain for? Cleaning latrines?), now they’re going to tell
    the bottom 90% to go back to school?

    This is pathetic. These guys can’t tell the truth.

  • I can only imagine what people without what I have feel on a day to day basis.

    !) They are planning on winning the lottery of course.

    !!) And when they do they will rise out of their rags and buy a house next to SchwartznGatsby, and maybe own 5 hummers too.

    Hope is not a thing with feathers.

    Hope is an opiate that keeps people clinging to the wings of a broken dream.

  • Right after the election last year, the analysis seemed to show that Bush was most popular among the less-educated and less-affluent. Seems like everyone was voting against their own economic self-interest. The Bushies have won the Class War by persuading the enemy to fall on their swords.

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