Good Governance Is More Than CYA

Christy at FDL has some economic information she got from Nancy Pelosi's office which she characterizes as Bush's Economic Legacy thus far. Heck of a job, Bushie!

Health care, gas, housing and college costs have risen since President Bush took office as the purchasing power of paychecks drop.

Median family income has dropped every year of the Bush Administration. [Census, BLS]

The typical family is paying $1,200 more a year for health insurance. [KFF, 2005]

College tuition has gone up about 40 percent in real terms. [College Board, 2005]

Gas prices have doubled to nearly $3.00 a gallon. [Energy Information Administration, 5/06]

Housing is the least affordable it has been in 14 years. [U.S. Census]

Real wages have been flat since 2001, while the cost of families’ big-ticket items (medical care, housing, food, cars and household operations) rose 11 percent. [Center for American Progress, 5/06]

Young families face huge challenges – college debt, jobs without good benefits, and rising interest rates.

The typical student graduates from college with $17,500 in debt. [College Board, 9/05]

Median household debt has climbed 34 percent to $55,300 in 2004. [Federal Reserve Board, 2/06]

The Federal Reserve interest rate has climbed to the highest level in five years – pinching the pocketbooks of families with credit card debt, car loans, and adjustable rate mortgages.

The number of people in employer-sponsored retirement plans dropped from 50 percent to 48 percent from 2001 to 2004, and about 3.7 million employees have lost employer-provided health insurance since 2000. [Congressional Research Service, 5/06; CPS, 8/05]

Republicans’ record budget deficits are out of control and driving our country deeper into debt to foreign investors and governments, as more American jobs are being shipped overseas.

Republicans have turned President Clinton’s projected 10-year $5.6 billion surplus into a $3.2 trillion deficit.

America has accumulated more debt to foreigners, nearly $1.1 trillion, than this country had accumulated in its first 224 years. [Treasury Department, 12/05]

Interest payments are growing faster than all other items in the Bush Administration budget. America’s total debt has climbed by nearly 50 percent to nearly $9 trillion.

Republicans voted to protect more than $5 billion in oil industry giveaways.

In most recent Republican tax bill, most middle-class families will receive less than $30 from any tax relief, while the average tax cut for millionaires is about $43,000.

Under President Clinton, all families prospered; they saw their income grow, opportunities for good-paying jobs increase, and a better standard of living:

In the Clinton years, nearly 23 million new jobs were created (or 237,000 per month).

In the Clinton years, nearly 23 million new jobs were created (or 237,000 per month).

Only 42,000 jobs per month have been created and 2.9 million manufacturing jobs lost under the Bush Administration

In the Clinton years, America had five years of real wage growth, and middle-income families saw their incomes grow 10 percent in real terms.

The income for middle-class families has dropped $1,669 or nearly 4 percent under the Bush Administration.