Bush Economy = Middle-Class Depression

I always love how corporate media helps spin the conservative message that only upper management should get pay increases, lest inflation decimate the country.

Wage growth could fuel the bond bears: MarketWatch

"After rising 0.4% in December and January and 0.3% in February, hourly wages have now increased 3.5% in the past 12 months.
Economists are looking for another 0.3% increase in earnings in March, which would be enough to take the year-over-year gain to 3.6%.
Before we gather a mob, we should be reminded, Hoffman said, that earnings growth continues to lag behind inflation, which has increased 3.6% in the past year."

You can find a thousand articles just like this one in every finance section of every major newspaper in the country. "Please, Lord, keep job growth anemic and wages suppressed, lest inflation reign again."

Now, why are those of us in the middle class afraid of inflation? Because inflation means our paychecks buy less and less food, shelter, and entertainment. In the past, when inflation has gotten out of control, our paychecks saw "rapid growth" (nothing like CEO pay), but the goods we could purchase still shrank because the pace did not match inflation.

The neo-cons have a brand new paradigm: inflation still climbs, albeit more slowly, and pay actually drops over time due to anemic job growth or strong job loss. At the same time, CEO pay continues to skyrocket completely untethered to profits, stock price, or reality.

It's a Bush, bush World.