L.A. Times: "A fair degree of discontent among middle-income people"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Low pubic approval for Bush despite "resurgent job growth"

"RESURGENT JOB GROWTH????"

Public Remains Anxious Over Economy, War
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-bushs-economy,1,168428.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

WASHINGTON -- The war in Iraq and the soaring price of gasoline are drowning out a succession of positive reports on the economy, putting President Bush on the defensive at a time when he could be basking in good economic news. Despite months of economic growth, tame inflation, resurgent job growth and an unemployment rate near a four-year low, public approval of Bush's handling of the economy is at the lowest levels of his presidency. That has left his supporters perplexed over why Bush hasn't gotten more credit for the improving economy.

"The economy is good, but it hasn't improved for everybody," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Economy.com, an economics research firm. "The gains have predominantly gone to higher-income and higher net-worth households. Lower net-worth households are still struggling."

"I'm pleased to say that the strategy is working," Bush said of his domestic initiatives, including a variety of tax cuts in his first term. He cited a string of recent upbeat economic reports, including creation of 207,000 jobs in July, the biggest jump in three months.

But pollster Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, said Americans are far more negative about their personal finances than the government data cited by Bush would suggest. Despite the job-creation figures and a relatively low unemployment rate of 5 percent, "people continue to tell us the job market in their local communities is not particularly good," Kohut said. "Since we know that unemployment is not very high, the only inference we can draw is that they are complaining about the quality of jobs that are available. There is a fair degree of discontent among middle-income people," he added.

[Missy M]

1. I guess we middle income people don't know what we are talking..

about. I just read an article about Ford firing salaried people and walking them out the door at the same time. They are doing this because of Ford's poor performance yet I keep reading about record sales for cars. Something is very wrong with the economic reports being put out and I feel Economy.com is full of s#$&.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. And the most notable thing about that Ford story...

...I read that they IMMEDIATELY went into damage control mode to assure the public, shareholders, etc. that there were no problems in "The Ford Family."

Just like the Bush administration...keep the illusion intact, no matter how many bombs are dropping.

[Missy M]

6. I guess that means Ford was firing and escorting the workers...

out the door just for the fun of it.

[verdalaven]

10. Same with GM employees

I have a friend whose husband works for Delphi(considered a GM employee)for 29 years. They are closing his plant soon and rumor is he will lose his pension. One of the actual offers from the company is to keep some employees but rollback hourly wage to $14 an hour.
First thing I thought was, "Isn't this a great scam?" Scare employees with unemployment so that they accept half their wage and a cut in benefits as a trade off. Meanwhile, the CEOS aren't taking a cut in pay.

Eh, this is bush's America.

[Bob3]

2. discontent - you ain't seen nothing yet

It's getting near the time to break out the tar and feathers.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. But, where else would the pubes be, if not low?

I'm confused...?

[teryang]

5. This article is rated at 2 1/2 stars!

it dared to point out the huge discrepancy between the propaganda machines version of the "good economy" and the public perception of their own experiences.

The standard of living in the US has been declining for over thirty years. The inequity in the distribution of income, wealth and taxes has reached a level not seen since 1928. The corporate rich have tapped the treasury and the laws of the nation for their own enrichment and shifted production to foreign markets. The tax burden of the super rich and corporations has been shifted to the middle class. The families of ordinary workers are being systematically destroyed.

Production has exported to foreign countries. We don't produce anything but we consume everything. It is paid for with debt as wages and salaries decline in real terms and taxes on the middle class increase. Published unemployment rates are simply false. Layoffs at major corporations continue unabated. Consumer prices are exploding and CPI figures are systematically falsified.

[RazzleCat]

9. notes from one at the bottom

Had a good job (middle class low 40's) lost it (fyi in the st louis region you can get a small home in a good neighborhood with good schools on that income, plus afford a vacation every year, cost of living very low here). Now working at around 30 per year, plus paying way more (over 200 per month more) for insurance. Have to tell you, the economy is not doing good at all for those of us at the near bottom. The people I work with are all cutting back every way they can. Taking in room mates/family (have two co-worker who have done this). Bringing their lunch (now just about every one at all sites). No new clothes (hey if its thursday its the blue shirt). Going one step lower on the economic ladder and its very scary. I work for a construction company, we used unskilled labor (aka, hard physical no brain work, bust out walls, off load trucks et al). These guys are truly getting ground up by this "great" economy. The wife of one of them asked me if she could place a flyer on our properties (we rent very expensive luxury apartments, you know, slate baths, whirlpools, granite kitchens), offering to do house work and or take in laundry (she works full time as a clerk for Walmart). Another guy has a second job, after doing physical labor for 9 odd hours a day for me, he goes and does his second job (dry wall, more hard labor) for 5 odd hours and is still not making the American dream. I know that we have two Americas, the rich (my tenants) and the downtrodden poor. I can see both side of it every day on the job, and the downtrodden are getting stomped on even more.

[blindpig]

7. Oh, yeah, what about the working class

aka, the working poor. The jobs situation for working class people sucks so bad it is unbelievable, for every decent paying job there're 10 mcjobs, factories and mills close like clockwork. Some people are moving back north for lack of work. An area can support only so many lawn services and detail shops. When it gets to the point that people canot pay $70 for lawn care or $40 for a car wash bottom will be reached.

[Eric J in MN]

8. The most popular article I ever wrote for my blog,

was one I wrote in June 2004 about how bogus the job figures are:

http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2004_06_07_fake_job_numbers_from_the_bush_administration.asp

The job numbers are based on speculation, not a direct count of how many employees are having their Soc. Sec. withheld.