The economy is certainly doing well - for the corporate sector...Since the last business cycle peak - the first quarter of 2001 - "the share of GDI going to corporate profits has risen by 3.9 percentage points, while the share going to labor compensation has fallen by 1.4 percentage points."Overall, the economy grew at a 1.7% pace in the fourth quarter [2005], but analysts estimate it picked up sharply in the first quarter to around a 5% growth rate. Whether this will translate to stronger growth in wages and benefits as the economic cycle continues is another story... "This strong productivity growth provides the potential to generate broad-based increases in American living standards, but, so far corporate profits have been the only clear winner."
This means that - unless your income is tied closely to corporate profits - the economic expansion is leaving you behind. It's precisely what should happen in a Republican era...tax burdens on big-money earners are lightened, services for low-earners are scaled back, and the scales do some tippin'.
