Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Poll Shows Many Are Still Struggling In Nation's Economy



Many politicians and right-wing economic pundits will tell you that this nation has recovered from the Bush Recession. That is true for the rich and for corporations, both of which are making more money than ever before. But it is not true for the public in general.

As the charts above show, 29% of the public (about 3 out of every 10 Americans) say they do not have the money to meet their daily financial needs (including a majority of those making less than $48,000 a year). That's a lot of people.

And it gets worse when asked if they have enough money to cover an unexpected need (such as a home repair, or other major need). About 48% (nearly half) of all Americans would be unable to do that. A major unexpected need would put them in financial trouble.

This is not something that's going to cure itself. While the rich get richer, the wages of most Americans are stagnant (and they lose buying power to inflation every year). The gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider, and more people are dropping out of the middle class every year.

This doesn't have to be. It was caused by the Republican "trickle-down" economic policy, and is sustained by the GOP's refusal to allow any change in that policy. They have tilted the economic playing field to favor the rich (and hurt everyone else). And they won't change that to a fairer system, because their true constituency is the rich and corporations (from whom they get most of their campaign money).

The economic policies must be changed -- changed back to policies that benefit all Americans. That won't happen as long as the GOP remains in power (i.e., controls Congress). This is why they must be voted out in 2016. A vote for Republicans is a vote for economic unfairness.

The charts above were made from information in a newly-released Gallup Poll. That survey was done between January 2nd and December 30th of 2015 with a random national sample of 44,500 adults, and because of the large sample has a margin of error of only 1 point.

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