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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion June 4, 2004
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Bush Ignores Wage Crisis Hitting Middle Class



Over the last month, the Bush administration has cited recent jobs numbers to claim that average workers' paychecks are increasing. Vice President Cheney said, "real incomes and wages are growing."1 But as new studies show, wages have actually decreased for the average worker, even as corporate profits and CEO pay have exploded.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, while corporate profits have risen by more than 62%, workers' take home pay has dropped by .6%.2 This follows an earlier report which shows that industries currently adding jobs pay 21% less3 than industries that are slashing jobs. Despite this wage crisis, President Bush is pushing to cut off an estimated 8 million workers from overtime pay protections,4 and supports efforts to outsource even more well-paid American jobs.5 Meanwhile, he refuses to raise the minimum wage, despite new research showing a minimum wage hike would not adversely affect businesses or consumers.6

The story, of course, is different for the president's wealthy campaign donors. A recent study shows CEO pay exploded by 27% in just one year,7 all while the President lavished more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks on the richest 1% of the population. To put the contrast into dollars, the average worker takes home $517 a week8 and will receive about $400 in tax breaks from President Bush. At the same time, the average CEO takes home $155,769 a week9 and this year alone received well over $50,000 in new tax breaks from Bush.10

Sources:
  1. Vice Presidential Speech, White House Website, 5/21/04.
  2. "Economic Snapshots: When do Workers Get their Share?" Economic Policy Institute, 5/27/04.
  3. "Economic Snapshots: Jobs shift from higher-paying to lower-paying industries," Economic Policy Institute, 1/21/04.
  4. "8 Million White-Collar Workers Could Lose Overtime Pay Under Bush Plan," AFL-CIO, 6/26/03.
  5. "Exporting American Jobs," ABCNews.com, 2/13/04.
  6. "Economist: Minimum wage boost could add a dime to meal tab," Associated Press, 6/4/04.
  7. "U.S. CEO pay rose 27 pct in 2003 -- study," Reuters, 5/12/04.
  8. "Ratio of CEO Pay to Average Worker Pay Reaches 301 in 2003," United for a Fair Economy, 4/14/04.
  9. Ibid.
  10. "Details on the Bush Tax Cuts so far (as of fall 2003)," Citizens for Tax Justice, Fall 2003.



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