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August 06, 2005
Economic Issues Provide Great Political Issue
"Yet President Bush's economic approval ratings remain low, weighed down by anger over Iraq and concerns about lackluster wage increases and stubbornly high gasoline prices.
Yet a CBS News poll released this week found that 52 percent of respondents disapproved of Bush's handling of the economy, while 42 percent approved. Those numbers were worse than his overall approval rating, which split with 46 percent disapproving and 45 percent approving. Just 20 percent of those polled said the economy is improving; 32 percent said it is getting worse.
But Bush still may have a tough sell, said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. The good numbers, she said, don't match the experience of voters who continue to fret over the job market, fear global competition and struggle to keep up, especially as gasoline prices remain well above $2 a gallon and health care costs continue to rise."
Hello. Anybody listening? The American electorate is not feeling economically secure. They want to hear about better paying jobs. Here’s the first piece in the puzzle. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average earnings increase from 2000-2004 was 3.86%, 3.22%, 3.12%, 1.71% and 2.39% respectively. However wages have to be compared to inflation to determine the real rate of wage growth. For the same years, annual inflation was 3.4%, 2.8%, 1.6%, 2.3% and 2.7% respectively. When inflation is subtracted from wages, overall wage growth becomes .46%, .42%, 1.52%, -.59% and-.31% respectively for 2000-2004.
Part of the reason is health care. According to the Kaisar Foundation, the average annual inflation adjusted increases for insurance premiums for 2000-2004 were 5.9%, 8.5%, 9.1%, 6.1% and 5.5% respectively. Compare this increase with the after-inflation increase in wages for each of those years of .46%, .42%, 1.52%, -.59% and-.31% respectively.
Another reason for this concern is the price of oil, which has increased 51% since the beginning of the year. Just like health care, gasoline is a difficult expense to ration – people need to purchase the same amount of gas on a regular basis regardless of the cost. And this spike in oil prices is not going away. Global demand is currently projected to outstrip global supply for the remainder of this year and into next year, which will keep prices high.
Yesterday’s job report indicated that half of the jobs created are low-paying (retail and food service) or tied to the housing market. These are not solid jobs that provide economic security for voters. We can do better.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a great political issue. Jobs, health care and the economy as a whole.
Posted by Hale Stewart at August 6, 2005 09:18 AM | Permalink
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