Median Household Income Fell During Bush

by Steve Soto

As I said last night, I think that Team Obama should allow Bill Clinton to take the gloves off Wednesday night and stray from the evening’s national security theme to after the Bush/GOP economic record this decade. Clinton is more effective than any other Democrat in making these types of arguments, and he’ll have plenty of material, some of which came from Bush’s own administration this week.

In a story where the Wall Street Journal and the AP attempted to put a good spin on the number of Americans who lack health insurance, the Census Bureau revealed that while the actual number of uninsured Americans dropped from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 million in 2007, the increase was the result of individuals being shifted from private employer-based coverage to government health care (Medicaid and Medicare), at a time when Corporate America was making solid profits. Worse yet, median household income has actually fallen during the Bush Administration, and yet McCain wants to continue and expand these same policies.

Census said 45.7 million people -- 15.3% of the population -- were uninsured in 2007. That is down 3% from 47 million in 2006. The number of people with health insurance increased to 253.4 million in 2007, compared to 249.8 million in 2006.

The number of people covered by private health insurance, 202 million, didn't change appreciably from 2006. However, the number of people covered by government health insurance increased to 83 million, compared to 80.3 million in 2006.

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The welcome news on health insurance coverage was tempered by the fact that private coverage continued to erode. Government programs -- such as Medicaid for the poor -- picked up the slack, resulting in the overall reduction in people without health insurance.

"A lot of the fall is due to the increase in public coverage," said David Johnson, who oversees the Census division that produced the statistics. The number of uninsured children also fell in 2007, after an increase in 2006 that had interrupted years of progress in getting more kids covered.

And what has the Bush/Cheney economy done for the nation’s median household income between 2000 and 2007? Six years into an economy generated by policies John McCain pledges fully to continue, the Bureau tells us that median household income has actually fallen, and yet McCain wants four more years of the same.

"The gains that occurred last year were welcome, but unfortunately, they are too little, too late," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington. "The median household is no better off now than they were back in 2000, despite their deep contribution to the nation's economic growth during this period."

For example, after adjusting for inflation, last year's median household income of $50,233 was not significantly different from the figure for the year 2000, which was $50,557. "The American work force is baking a bigger economic pie, but the slices haven't grown at all," said Mr. Bernstein.

Well, actually the slices for the wealthy and Corporate America have grown just fine these last seven years, but it's come at the expense of Main Street and working class America. Bill Clinton should be able to put his record in the 1990’s up against that and score a few points tomorrow night.