The Wonk Room

Census Data: Most Americans Suffering Under Bush Economy»

Today’s new census numbers confirm the disproportionality of President Bush’s economic expansion. Unfortunately, the president’s economic policies — which were supposed to serve as “a rising tide that raised all boats” — have redistributed wealth to the richest Americans and left the middle and lower classes behind.

And while the new data “did show an uptick for 2007,” years of declining income and earnings outweigh this most recent growth.

Taking the new census numbers into account, most Americans lost money during the Bush expansion:

- Median household incomes down: 0.6% lower in 2007 than in 2000

- Men’s earnings down: 0.38% less in 2007 than in 1999

- Women’s earnings can’t keep up: continued upward swing but were unable to “overcome other drags on household income”

- More Americans in poverty: 5.7 million more people lived in poverty in 2007 than did in 2000

The Center for Policy and Budget Priorities notes, “never before on record has poverty been higher and median income for working-age households lower at the end of a multi-year economic expansion than at the beginning. The new data add to the mounting evidence that the gains from the 2001-2007 expansion were concentrated among high-income Americans.”

A new Center for American Progress report graphically presents the severity of the income redistribution: