Bush Ignores Wage Crisis Hitting the Middle Class

 Over the last month, the Bush administration has cited recent jobs numbers to claim that average workers' paychecks are increasing. Vice President  Cheney said, "real incomes and wages are growing."[1] But as new studies  show, wages have actually decreased for the average worker, even as  corporate profits and CEO pay have exploded.

 According to the Economic Policy Institute, while corporate profits have  risen by more than 62%, workers' take home pay has dropped by 0.6%.[2] This  follows an earlier report which shows that industries currently adding jobs  pay 21% less[3] than industries that are slashing jobs. Despite this wage  crisis, President Bush is pushing to cut off an estimated 8 million workers  from overtime pay protections,[4] and supports efforts to outsource even  more well-paid American jobs.[5] Meanwhile, he refuses to raise the minimum  wage, despite new research showing a minimum wage hike would not adversely  affect businesses or consumers.[6]

 The story, of course, is different for the president's wealthy campaign
 donors. A recent study shows CEO pay exploded by 27% in just one year,[7]
 all while the President lavished more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks
on  the richest 1% of the population. To put the contrast into dollars, the
 average worker takes home $517 a week[8] and will receive about $400 per year in
tax  breaks from President Bush. At the same time, the average CEO takes home
 $155,769 a week[9] and this year alone received well over $50,000 in new
tax  breaks from Bush.[10]

 Sources:

 1. Vice Presidential Speech, White House Website, 5/21/04.
 2. "Economic Snapshots: When do Workers Get their Share?" Economic Policy
 Institute, 5/27/04.
 3. "Economic Snapshots: Jobs shift from higher-paying to lower-paying
 industries," Economic Policy Institute, 1/21/04.
 4. "8 Million White-Collar Workers Could Lose Overtime Pay Under Bush
Plan,"
 AFL-CIO, 6/26/03.
 5. "Exporting American Jobs," ABCNews.com, 2/13/04.
 6. "Economist: Minimum wage boost could add a dime to meal tab,"
Associated
 Press, 6/4/04.
 7. "U.S. CEO pay rose 27 pct in 2003 -- study," Reuters, 5/12/04.
 8. "Ratio of CEO Pay to Average Worker Pay Reaches 301 in 2003," United
for
 a Fair Economy, 4/14/04.
 9. Ibid.
 10. "Details on the Bush Tax Cuts so far (as of fall 2003)," Citizens for
 Tax Justice, Fall 2003.