XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: ooo@000.com   
      
   Happy days are not yet here again for American workers,   
   regardless of the cheering generated by the government’s latest   
   report on job creation.   
      
   The number of people collecting paychecks rose more than had   
   been expected and the tally of people counted as jobless fell,   
   placing the unemployment rate — 5.9% — at its lowest level since   
   2008.   
      
   While the trends are positive, they offer only distant hope to a   
   middle class that is taking home less pay than it used to and   
   can only watch as the wealthy enjoy ever greater prosperity.   
      
   It wasn’t supposed to be this way under President Obama, tribune   
   of ordinary folks who, as he likes to say, play by the rules.   
      
   Six years into his administration, five years after the end of   
   the Great Recession, the President is out talking up his   
   economic record to bolster Democrats’ chances in the November   
   congressional elections.   
      
   He stresses that U.S. businesses have created 10 million jobs   
   since 2009 in “the longest uninterrupted stretch of private-   
   sector job creation in our history.” All of which is true — and   
   far less than the full story.   
      
   If you’ve been looking for low-wage, part-time work, for   
   example, you’ve been a winner during Obama’s recovery.   
      
   The United States has roughly 3 million more part-time positions   
   today than at the start of the economic meltdown, according to   
   the Federal Reserve. Over that same period, the job growth   
   touted by Obama has left the country with 3 million fewer full-   
   time jobs.   
      
   More than 7 million people remain stuck in part-time positions   
   because they can’t find a job with a full work week. An   
   additional 2 million people have essentially given up hope and   
   dropped out of the labor force.   
      
   In September, the economy did a little better at creating more   
   full-time than part-time jobs, but almost half of the new   
   positions came in low-wage sectors like retail and hospitality.   
      
   Meanwhile, a spot on a payroll was hardly a ticket to paradise.   
      
   In 2013, the median income of American families was 4% lower   
   than at the end of the recession, and 7% less than before the   
   recession began in 2007. That year, a family right in the middle   
   pulled down $56,436, compared with $51,939 in 2013 — a dip of   
   roughly $4,500 in spending power.   
      
   Meanwhile, the very comfortable have done better than fine under   
   Obama.   
      
   With corporate profits at record highs, the stock market   
   enjoying the longest streak of gains in more than a decade and   
   home prices rising, the best off have enjoyed a nice rise in net   
   worth.   
      
   Many in the middle missed out on those pluses because they have   
   pulled out of stock market investing, including in retirement   
   accounts.   
      
   Still worse, businesses have chosen not to share the wealth as   
   they’ve raked in money. A Goldman Sachs study found that hourly   
   wages last year grew by only 2%, five times slower than   
   corporate profits.   
      
   Add it up: Obama’s economy has handsomely extended the long   
   winning streak of the rich.   
      
   America’s top 3% claimed 45% of the economy in 1989, 52% in 2007   
   and 54% last year. The bottom 90% saw their share of the   
   national wealth fall from 33% in 1989 to 25% last year.   
      
   Money moving steadily from those who need it most to those who   
   need it least is a record that is hardly a source of pride to   
   the President.   
      
   http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-obama-trickle-up-   
   economy-article-1.1962763   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)