Middle Class Is Overdue For Pay Raise

Despite the robust economic recovery, the steep decline in unemployment, a surging stock market, rising investment and plummeting gas prices, wages have hardly budged. After briefly dipping during the great recession which began in late 2007, income inequality has reached levels not seen since the 1920's, while the gap between middle and upper income families is, according to the Pew Research Center, now "the widest on record." [source]

Two Americas

Here's a couple of telling graphs from an informative article by Jon Perr.

How Jobs Are Lost

As Jon Perr makes clear, the last thing we need is more politicians that want to run government like a business.

"Ten years ago, George W. Bush was sworn in as America's first MBA President. Now, Mitt Romney wants to be the second. Two years after President Bush completed the worst economic record since Herbert Hoover, Romney the perpetual White House hopeful declared, "I spent my career in the private sector. I know how jobs are created and how jobs are lost." Especially, it turns out, the part about how jobs are lost."

State & Local Shrinkage

More good reporting from Jon Perr:

• The USA net fiscal stimulus was modest relative to peers, despite being the epicenter of the crisis.
• Once you take state and local cutbacks into account, there was no surge in government spending.
• Local governments are cutting jobs at the fastest rate in almost 30 years.
• State and local governments has shed 407,000 jobs since August 2008.

Republican Ryan Eyes

Jon Perr has a great column on the Paul Ryan Roadmap.

The Debt Ceiling

Jon Perr gives some much needed perspective and insight into the completely manufactured debt ceiling issue with which the Republicans are trying to blackmail the Democrats.

Republicans, during the George W. Bush administration, raised the debt ceiling 75 percent. Thus far, under Barack Obama, the debt ceiling has only been raised roughly 18 percent.

For Further Reading:

GOP's Bluff On The Debt Ceiling