Bush Throws a Bone to Working Families

Posted by Bob Geiger at 7:12 AM on December 20, 2006.

Here's a snippet from George W. Bush's weekly radio address on Saturday in which he tries to tell hourly workers that there's cause for economic joy this holiday season:

"America's working families also received another bit of holiday cheer this week: We learned that real hourly wages rose by 2.3 percent over the past year. That may not sound like a lot, but for the typical family of four with both parents working, it means an extra $1,350 for this year. At the same time, our growing economy continues to create jobs and that has brought unemployment down to just 4.5 percent. These numbers give all Americans a reason to celebrate: More people are working than ever before, and paychecks are going further than they used to."

It's a good thing the Hypocrite-in-Chief used a relative phrase like "…paychecks going farther than they used to" or he would be lying yet again. The fact is, the buying power of the minimum wage is at its lowest point in 50 years and no amount of out-of-touch, presidential spin will change that.

And, on the subject of the minimum wage, I wonder if Bush thinks much about how much more "holiday cheer" would exist among today's working families if he had shown some leadership and insisted that his rubber-stampers in the Republican Congress support a hike in the minimum wage instead of rejected it three times in just the last two years.

But I guess that would require Bush to realize that people tend to have greater feelings of holiday joy when they're not working 40 hours a week to live in poverty.

Tagged as: bush

Bob Geiger is a writer, activist and Democratic District Leader in Westchester County, NY. You can reach Bob at geiger.bob@gmail.com and read more from him at BobGeiger.com.