Millionaire J. Sid McSame and his millionaire best buddy and unofficial advisor, Phil Gramm, don't believe in economic justice for all and dismiss the reality of economic inequality and support and promote the rich getting richer and corporations making mucho money any way they can.

 

Gramm, of course, sneaked a provision into legislation when he was in the Senate, that allowed the Enron's of the US to rob and defraud consumers and unregulated financial predators to cause the mortgage meltdown.

 

Both these dangerous idiots believe the economy is doing quite well, because they are in the upper 1% that is making money hand over fist. 

 

As Jonathan Tasini wrote: "The robbery of our country by a small elite has continued, unabated, for the past eight years. That may sound like a radical statement. But, it is simply a fact--a fact reported today by that radical, left-wing publication, The Wall Street Journal...

Meanwhile, here is what's happening to regular, hardworking Americans that McSame and Gramm consider sheep to be shorn, aka, suckers.

 

From the NYTimes: "The nation's employers eliminated 51,000 jobs in July, the seventh consecutive contraction in the labor market, as the unemployment rate reached a four-year high, signs that the pressure on business owners and consumers was likely to continue.

 

 

 

 

And this from the Economic Policy Institute: "Jobs declined for the seventh month in a row in July, down 51,000, for a total of 463,000 jobs lost so far this year, according to today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate rose from 5.5% in June to 5.7% in July, its highest rate since March 2004 and a full point over its year-ago level. Over the past year, 1.6 million persons have been added to the jobless rolls. Underemployment, a more comprehensive measure of the extent of labor market weakness, rose to 10.3%, its highest level since 2003 and two points above its July 2007 level.

"On average this year, payrolls have contracted by 66,000 per month. Job loss in the private sector has occurred more quickly, however, dropping an average of 83,000 jobs a month since it peaked in November 2007. Private sector payrolls are down 665,000 since then, including the loss of 76,000 last month. Since government employment is less sensitive to the business cycle, the private sector losses are more indicative of the full extent of labor market weakness.

"This persistent and deepening slack in the job market, in tandem with accelerated inflation, is leading to significant real wage and benefit losses for most workers. Weekly hours slipped slightly last month to 33.6 hours per week, the lowest level since November 2003. This put downward pressure on weekly earnings, which rose 2.8%, before inflation in July, the same rate as the previous month and the slowest pace of weekly earnings since September 2005. With inflation running between 4-5%, the buying power of weekly paychecks is dropping sharply.

"In a related release yesterday, the BLS reported that the Employer Cost Index ”a comprehensive measure of average wages and benefits ”fell 1.8% in real terms in June 2008 compared to June 2007. That is the largest real decline in this data series history (dating back to the early 1980s).

"The combination of fewer jobs and diminished hours per week is leading total hours in the economy to decline fairly sharply, down 0.7% over the past year, an indicator of weaker macroeconomic times ahead. If working families cannot find the jobs and hours they need, incomes are likely to fall, driving consumption ”70% of the economy” down as well. In this regard, policy makers need to actively plan for a second stimulus package to help strapped families and offset the headwinds holding the economy, and particularly the job market, back."

So the richest 1%, like Sid and Cindy, get richer while typical working Americans struggle and continue to lose their jobs because of the criminal Bush regime's economic policies, and McSame and Gramm thinks that's OK.