|
Post by redwolf on Sept 11, 2007 21:10:16 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by unlawflcombatnt on Sept 12, 2007 3:25:22 GMT -6
This is an interesting article. It also provides article links to both the monthly employment report from the BLS, along with Consumer Spending guesstimates from 2005 and earlier. The most recent Household Employment Report showed an employment DECLINE of -316,000 from July to August. It's interesting how the media only discusses the Payroll Employment Report, which showed a decline of only -4,000. The Consumer Spending reports are somewhat dubious. Comparing the reports from 1999 and 2005, a nearly identical fraction of income was spent on Housing: 32.6% in 1999 vs. 32.7% in 2005. This is very hard to believe. Mortgage payments are generally thought to be a higher fraction of spending than they were in 1999. A much higher fraction. The unlikely housing numbers undercut the credibility of the remainder of the Consumer Spending reports. It was interesting to compare the "quintile" reports from 1997 and 2005. According to the reports, the top 20% accounted for 39.1% of consumer spending in 2005, while accounting for only 37.4% of consumer spending in 1997. It appears the rich contributed more to spending in 2005 than in 1997, from 37.4% up to 39.1%.
|
|
|
Post by blueneck on Sept 12, 2007 4:49:36 GMT -6
This is prime example of the bifurcated economy. The problem with this is that the wealthy are so insulated from the day to day struggles of us unwashed that they have absolutely no clue about the economic conditions for the 97% of us that are not among the uber wealthy.
The whole presumption (and fallacy) of supply side economics is that somehow the increased wealth will "trickle down" to the rest of us, but the fact is that it doesn't - it gets squirreled away in offshore accounts and other tax havens.
At best, increased spending by the wealthy can only provide temporary and unsustainable relief to the consumer driven economy, as evidenced by the recent running out of gas due to the housing bust, credit crunch and job losses.
|
|