FALLING INTO THE GAP

American Progress Report

April 15.2008

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2008/04/pr20080415

" In January's State of the Union address, Bush claimed, "In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth."

He has also repeatedly attempted to tie his tax cuts and the Iraq war to economic growth. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll released this tax day finds that seven in 10 Americans "now give negative ratings to the president's stewardship of the sinking U.S. economy."

American families are facing a "perfect storm" of "massive amounts of debt, falling house prices, disappearing jobs, flat wages, lower benefits, and skyrocketing costs for the most important consumer items." This devastating economic situation has been exacerbated by the Bush administration's policies.

A recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that the "gap between the richest and poorest families, and between the richest and middle-income families, grew significantly in most states over the past two decades."

Average income fell by 2.5 percent for people in the bottom fifth of income earners and 1.3 percent for those in the middle fifth but rose nine percent for people in the top fifth.

Seventy-nine percent of respondents in a new Pew Research Center poll say "it is more difficult now than five years ago for people in the middle class to maintain their standard of living."
 

As for what is John McCain's econimic agenda ~ it's more of the same Bush ' strong economic underpinnings '   rubbish but with no surplus to work with ~ as George W Bush originally had. 

The American Prospect asked the same question recently and here's an excerpt of their answer~ http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=what_is_mccains_economic_agenda