Mephisto
Philosopher
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2005
- Messages
- 6,064
Concentrating on what they think they've done best (which USED to be the WOT, but events the world over have proven that wrong), the Bush administration is concentrating on the economy which has shown signs of revival.
My question is, are Americans really better off because large corporations are making more money?
Bush to shift message to healthy economy
POSTED: 9:12 p.m. EDT, October 22, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, who gets higher marks for handling the economy than running the Iraq war, is spending two days this week trying to convince voters Republicans are the best stewards of matters affecting the wallet.
White House advisers said Sunday that Bush is not trying to change the subject from a deteriorating situation in Iraq, and that he will continue to talk about Iraq and the war on terrorism as the November 7 election nears. Bush advisers said they think the president should get more credit for recent positive economic news.
Overall, the economy grew at a 2.6 percent pace from April through June, compared with a 5.6 percent pace over the first three months of the year, which was the strongest spurt in 2½ years. Still, voters remain uneasy even though gasoline prices have started dropping, the stock market is hitting record highs, and interest rates on credit cards and adjustable mortgages are leveling off.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush intends to mention how optimism about the economy and rising hopes for strong third-quarter earnings lifted the Dow Jones industrial average past 12,000 for the first time on Wednesday. The Conference Board's index of U.S. leading economic indicators rose last month, and the government reported last week that consumer prices fell in September by the largest amount in 10 months.
America's voters care deeply about pocketbook issues. Eighty-eight percent of likely voters say the economy is an important issue -- on par with the percentage of people who view the situation in Iraq and terrorism as crucial matters, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.
The AP-Ipsos poll this month found that 37 percent of likely voters say they approve of Bush's handling of Iraq overall. Forty-two percent approve of his handling of the economy.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/22/bush.economy.ap/index.html
________________
Are Americans really doing better financially just because Halliburton, Merck, etc. are doing great? Apparently not . . .
Global Outsourcing and the Disappearing Middle Class
by
William Raynor
The State University of New York
Dr. Raynor is a Professor of Finance at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Delhi, and, during the summer, is a visiting professor at Universidad Catholica Santo Toribio De Mogrovejo in Peru. He has had broad professional experience in both academic settings and the private sector, as well as extensive international experience in Peru, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and China. He has special interest in Latin American economic and trade issues.
How adversely impacted is the middle-class in the United States when jobs are sent abroad? During the past 18 months, the dramatic increase in outsourcing professional jobs overseas (offshoring) has been well documented. No doubt, this has contributed to the limited number of jobs being created domestically during the current economic recovery. Many of the white-collar professional jobs--engineering, accounting, architecture, etc.--are gone forever. Yes, GDP, productivity, and other economic indicators have substantially improved, but domestic employment expectations fall short in at least two ways:
1. Number of jobs: "American employers hired far fewer workers than expected in November... The number of workers on U.S. payrolls outside the farm sector last month edged up by 57,000... far lower than economists' forecasts of a 150,000-job gain..." (Willard, 2003).
2. Quality of jobs: According to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, "Only a few of the 116,000 private sector jobs created in October provide good incomes... the remainder of the 116,000 new jobs consist of temps, retail trade, telephone marketing, and fund raising, administrative and waste services, and private education and health services." (Roberts, 11/12/03).
Of course not all of the disappointing job news is from outsourcing, and a significant portion of domestic output can be attributed to productivity gains. Because of technology advances and new ways of working, firms can produce more with fewer people. "Productivity of U.S. companies rocketed at a 9.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the best showing in 20 years..." (Aversa, 2003).
On the other hand, productivity numbers can be very misleading, as Dr. Roberts points out: "Pundits tend to associate "productivity" with factories and assume the high number means manufacturing is prospering." (Roberts, 12/9/03). But manufacturing is where many jobs have been lost, and distortions can occur when productivity comparisons are made to other sectors of the economy.
http://www.newwork.com/Pages/Opinion/Raynor/Middle Class.html
_____________
And an article from 2003 that saw (in advance) the problems created by the economy
The Collapse of the Middle Class
A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Rep. Bernie Sanders
The corporate media doesn't talk about it much, but the United States is rapidly on its way to becoming three separate nations.
First, there are a small number of incredibly wealthy people who own and control more and more of our country. Second, there is a shrinking middle class in which ordinary people are, in most instances, working longer hours for lower wages and benefits. Third, an increasing number of Americans are living in abject poverty -- going hungry and sleeping out on the streets.
There has always been a wealthy elite in this country, and there has always been a gap between the rich and the poor. But the disparities in wealth and income that currently exist in this country have not been seen in over a hundred years. Today, the richest 1 percent own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent, and the CEOs of large corporations earn more than 500 times what their average employees make. The nation's 13,000 wealthiest families, 1/100th of one percent of the population, receive almost as much income as the poorest 20 million families in America.
While the rich get richer and receive huge tax breaks from the White House, the middle class is struggling to keep its head above water. The unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, 2003. There are now 9.4 million unemployed, up more than 3 million since just before Bush became President. Since March, 2001, we have lost over 2.7 million jobs in the private sector, including two million decent-paying manufacturing jobs -- ten percent of our manufacturing sector. Frighteningly, the hemorrhaging of decent paying jobs is now moving into the white-collar sector. Forrester Research Inc. predicts that at least 3.3 million information technology jobs will be lost to low-wage countries by 2015 with the expansion of digitization, the internet and high-speed data networks.
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/09/04_sanders.html
My question is, are Americans really better off because large corporations are making more money?
Bush to shift message to healthy economy
POSTED: 9:12 p.m. EDT, October 22, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, who gets higher marks for handling the economy than running the Iraq war, is spending two days this week trying to convince voters Republicans are the best stewards of matters affecting the wallet.
White House advisers said Sunday that Bush is not trying to change the subject from a deteriorating situation in Iraq, and that he will continue to talk about Iraq and the war on terrorism as the November 7 election nears. Bush advisers said they think the president should get more credit for recent positive economic news.
Overall, the economy grew at a 2.6 percent pace from April through June, compared with a 5.6 percent pace over the first three months of the year, which was the strongest spurt in 2½ years. Still, voters remain uneasy even though gasoline prices have started dropping, the stock market is hitting record highs, and interest rates on credit cards and adjustable mortgages are leveling off.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush intends to mention how optimism about the economy and rising hopes for strong third-quarter earnings lifted the Dow Jones industrial average past 12,000 for the first time on Wednesday. The Conference Board's index of U.S. leading economic indicators rose last month, and the government reported last week that consumer prices fell in September by the largest amount in 10 months.
America's voters care deeply about pocketbook issues. Eighty-eight percent of likely voters say the economy is an important issue -- on par with the percentage of people who view the situation in Iraq and terrorism as crucial matters, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.
The AP-Ipsos poll this month found that 37 percent of likely voters say they approve of Bush's handling of Iraq overall. Forty-two percent approve of his handling of the economy.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/22/bush.economy.ap/index.html
________________
Are Americans really doing better financially just because Halliburton, Merck, etc. are doing great? Apparently not . . .
Global Outsourcing and the Disappearing Middle Class
by
William Raynor
The State University of New York
Dr. Raynor is a Professor of Finance at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Delhi, and, during the summer, is a visiting professor at Universidad Catholica Santo Toribio De Mogrovejo in Peru. He has had broad professional experience in both academic settings and the private sector, as well as extensive international experience in Peru, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and China. He has special interest in Latin American economic and trade issues.
How adversely impacted is the middle-class in the United States when jobs are sent abroad? During the past 18 months, the dramatic increase in outsourcing professional jobs overseas (offshoring) has been well documented. No doubt, this has contributed to the limited number of jobs being created domestically during the current economic recovery. Many of the white-collar professional jobs--engineering, accounting, architecture, etc.--are gone forever. Yes, GDP, productivity, and other economic indicators have substantially improved, but domestic employment expectations fall short in at least two ways:
1. Number of jobs: "American employers hired far fewer workers than expected in November... The number of workers on U.S. payrolls outside the farm sector last month edged up by 57,000... far lower than economists' forecasts of a 150,000-job gain..." (Willard, 2003).
2. Quality of jobs: According to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, "Only a few of the 116,000 private sector jobs created in October provide good incomes... the remainder of the 116,000 new jobs consist of temps, retail trade, telephone marketing, and fund raising, administrative and waste services, and private education and health services." (Roberts, 11/12/03).
Of course not all of the disappointing job news is from outsourcing, and a significant portion of domestic output can be attributed to productivity gains. Because of technology advances and new ways of working, firms can produce more with fewer people. "Productivity of U.S. companies rocketed at a 9.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the best showing in 20 years..." (Aversa, 2003).
On the other hand, productivity numbers can be very misleading, as Dr. Roberts points out: "Pundits tend to associate "productivity" with factories and assume the high number means manufacturing is prospering." (Roberts, 12/9/03). But manufacturing is where many jobs have been lost, and distortions can occur when productivity comparisons are made to other sectors of the economy.
http://www.newwork.com/Pages/Opinion/Raynor/Middle Class.html
_____________
And an article from 2003 that saw (in advance) the problems created by the economy
The Collapse of the Middle Class
A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Rep. Bernie Sanders
The corporate media doesn't talk about it much, but the United States is rapidly on its way to becoming three separate nations.
First, there are a small number of incredibly wealthy people who own and control more and more of our country. Second, there is a shrinking middle class in which ordinary people are, in most instances, working longer hours for lower wages and benefits. Third, an increasing number of Americans are living in abject poverty -- going hungry and sleeping out on the streets.
There has always been a wealthy elite in this country, and there has always been a gap between the rich and the poor. But the disparities in wealth and income that currently exist in this country have not been seen in over a hundred years. Today, the richest 1 percent own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent, and the CEOs of large corporations earn more than 500 times what their average employees make. The nation's 13,000 wealthiest families, 1/100th of one percent of the population, receive almost as much income as the poorest 20 million families in America.
While the rich get richer and receive huge tax breaks from the White House, the middle class is struggling to keep its head above water. The unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, 2003. There are now 9.4 million unemployed, up more than 3 million since just before Bush became President. Since March, 2001, we have lost over 2.7 million jobs in the private sector, including two million decent-paying manufacturing jobs -- ten percent of our manufacturing sector. Frighteningly, the hemorrhaging of decent paying jobs is now moving into the white-collar sector. Forrester Research Inc. predicts that at least 3.3 million information technology jobs will be lost to low-wage countries by 2015 with the expansion of digitization, the internet and high-speed data networks.
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/09/04_sanders.html
