The election and the economy

Economist Jared Bernstein over at the Economic Policy Institute points out how the Republicans are now desperately trying to spin the latest economic news to their party's electoral favor. He analyzes Treasury Secretary Paulson and head of OMB Portman's claims that the economy is great for middle class Americans and demonstrates how ridiculous they are.

According to Paulson, the economy is great but the news just isn't getting through to working Americans. But Bernstein notes that, for example, the inflation-adjusted income of the typical working-age household is down $3000 since 2000. Further, the buying power of the typical, full-time worker's weekly paycheck is down 3% since late 2001, when the Bush economic "recovery" began.

Bernstein frames the administration's economic PR job with a helpful analogy: "It's not that these officials are wrong about some impressive aspects of the current economy. Productivity growth, a vital indicator of our increased efficiency in producing goods and services, has been quite stellar in recent years. But put that together with these wage and income trends, and you see the problem: These officials are praising the bigger and better pie baked by the American work force, but they're missing the fact that the bakers are walking away with smaller slices."