Krugman ("The Joyless Economy") asks why Americans aren't happier with an economy that's said to be so good. His answer: the rich are getting richer, but most people aren't. "Americans don't feel good about the economy because it hasn't been good for them. Never mind the G.D.P. numbers: most people are falling behind.

"It's much harder to explain why. The disconnect between G.D.P. growth and the economic fortunes of most American families can't be dismissed as a normal occurrence. Wages and median family income often lag behind profits in the early stages of an economic expansion, but not this far behind, and not for so long. Nor, I should say, is there any easy way to place more than a small fraction of the blame on Bush administration policies. At this point the joylessness of the economic expansion for most Americans is a mystery."

(Atrios has some thoughts on the subject.)

Herbert ("A Black Hole") ledes with the father of a Marine killed in Iraq to make this point: "The coverage fluctuates, but the suffering and dying of young American troops in this hellish meat grinder of a war goes on day by day, without end."

He quotes the dad, Paul Shroeder: "'My son told us two weeks before he died that he felt the war was not worth it,' Mr. Shroeder said. 'His complaint was about having to go back repeatedly into the same towns, to sweep the same insurgents, or other insurgents, out of these same towns without being able to hold them, secure them. It just was not working, and that's what he wanted to get across.'

"Mr. Shroeder dismissed the idea that criticism of the administration and the war was evidence of a lack of support for the men and women fighting in Iraq. 'You can support the troops and be critical of the policy that put them there,' he said."

Herbert also points to a non-profit group founded by the Shroeders, Families of the Fallen for Change.

Comments

[John Sterling]

Ed, It's great to see that topic in the paper of record, since the MSM is culpable in causing the disconnect between economic performance and public perception. American household wealth is now trillions of dollars greater than it was during the height of the dotcom boom. In the past year, the increase in U.S. GDP was 3 times greater than the growth in China. (In absolute terms, not percentages.) To use a technical econometric term, the U.S. economy is blowin' and goin'. If John Forbes Kerry occupied the Oval Office, the phrase "economic miracle" would grace the NYT headlines. That's not just my crackpot theory, check out this scholarly submission from our right wing propaganda boiler room.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=588453

[A Christian Prophet]

The Holy Spirit's message on The Christian Prophet blog seems to say infinite prosperity is possible if government gets out of the way and people start thinking positively instead of negatively.

[Roch101]

"The Holy Spirit's message on The Christian Prophet blog.."

The Holy Spirit is blogging? Ed, shouldn't this be a headline?