The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravage household budgets.
The wealthiest 10% of Americans — those making more than $138,000 a year — earned 11.4 times the $12,000 or so made by those living near or below the poverty line in 2008, according to newly released census figures. That ratio is an increase from 11.2 in 2007 and the previous high o11.22 in 2003.
Household income declined across all groups, but more sharply for middle-income and poor Americans. Median income fell last year from $52,163 to $50,303, wiping out a decade's worth of gains to hit the lowest level since 1997. the median is the midpoint — half of households made more, half less.
My thoughts: There's still a lot of hope out there, but little change. With the Government spending the way it is, just wait until the Bush tax cuts expire. President Obama will have no choice but to raise taxes on the middle class, thus widening the income gap even more.
I know liberals love to make the case of, "Give Obama time, he hasn't been President long enough to clean up Bush's mess." Let's not forget, the Democrats have controlled congress since 2006. And when is it okay to judge Obama's policies? We're going into the 10th month of his term. Obama himself said that if the stimulus package was passed, unemployment would not go above 8.5%. We now stand at 9.7% unemployment.
If the liberals had their way, they would still be asking us to be patient in year 4 of Obama's presidency -- "Just give him another 4 years."
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