Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Consumers, officials seek credit card reform
I don't mean to trivialize our economic difficulties, but we have to face a disconcerting fact: For years, that strange stimulus-crazed beast, the economy, has been going its own way, increasingly disconnected from the toils and troubles of ordinary Americans.
The economy has been expanding, at least until now, and growth is supposed to guarantee general well-being. As long as the gross domestic product grows, World Money Watch's Web site assures us, so will business, jobs and personal income.
But hellooo, we've had brisk growth for the past few years, as the president tirelessly has reminded us, only without those promised increases in personal income, at least not for the poor and the middle class. According to the Economic Policy Institute, real wages actually fell last year. read more