You Can't Squeeze 4 Decades Into 2 Years, No Matter How Hard You Try!

There has been a lot of talk this week as a result of published reports that more Americans are living in poverty than since "forever"!, or, since these type of statistics began being compiled...What's missing from this story is any type of real analysis---the fact that more Americans are impoverished is not a shock considering that we are currently experiencing the "worst financial crisis in a generation", but what's even more telling (to me at least) is that this process has been in the works for some time now....At least for the last 4 decades according to this article from The New Yorker.  I have actually been saying this for a awhile---real wages have been stagnant for some time (the situation is even worse for African-Americans, although I don't have the figures handy).  For a number of reasons, including access to easy credit and faulty memories, many people seem to believe that this all started in January 20, 2009...I am not trying to give President Obama a pass---I think that the stimulus bill from 2009 should have been more aggressive, but, I have this nagging tendency to focus on facts...that tells the real story.  And, honestly, given the performance of the Republicans over the last 2 years, I don't expect the situation to improve any time soon.  As they have shown repeatedly throughout this calamity, "politics before country" will be their guiding principle.  I hope that people take the President's call seriously and bombard their "representatives" to pass [the President's] jobs bill...