Chamber Busts Economic Myths

Even with this article in hand, the majority of people I know will still believe whatever they want to believe. What else can we do to educate the people?

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If you lived in the state of Indiana, there is no way you would ever believe this article. Far too many good paying jobs have left our state. I.E.: Mr. Doe may not be unemployed. However, he used to make $21.00 an hour at GM. He now makes $11.00 an hour at a small machine shop. This is our reality here. I myself will be out of work at the beginning of next year and have no expectation of making the same or more than I do now. In fact, I expect to be earning much less. Further, just because your wages went up last year does not mean you earn a living wage. $7.00 an hour is better than $6.25, sure. But, let's not forget that everything from gasoline to groceries is costing more now, too. Sorry. It is what it is for the people "in the trenches". There's no good spin to put on it and I am being educated daily.

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These are great numbers. They make a nice argument. What they don't do is address the millions of middle class workers and business owners who are slowly sliding backward economically. Our houses, if they can be sold at all, are worth substantially less -- and they're out primary investments. Our incomes aren't keeping up with rising costs. Skilled workers are being unceremoniously evicted from the good jobs they once held. Our government is either too corrupt or too inept -- or both -- to do anything about it.

That's our reality. That's why we can't be "educated." Until you can deal with what we're up against, your numbers won't be worth spit.

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Here is your quote from above: "Nevertheless, the deficit is expected to climb in future years unless Medicare and Social Security are fundamentally reformed." Let's fix it now!!! How can we start a 90 day campaign to mandate that Congress fix Social Security and Medicare? The idea being to have a citizen lead push that will require the next congress to come up with a reasonable fix, not perfect, just reasonably acceptable to the majority. If this fix is not in place by October 2008, a class action lawsuit or some other legal vehicle could be used to allow tax payers to stop paying-in starting 2009; this would alow us to put the withheld dollars in a IRA, etc. to take care of our needs. We need a fix now, not waiting until 2017 when the crisis intensifies. Those legislators who do not positively participate and vote for the reasonbal fix can be voted out of office in their re-election cycle.

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I'm sorry but even after reading this article, I'm not convinced of this "rosy" picture. Statistics can be manipulated to suit any point of view. I believe what I see every day and that's falling house prices (where we stand to lose a big portion of our investment if we decide to move) and rising prices on everything from produce to gas. The economy may be good for big business but it's tough out here when you are a small mom and pop business.

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This is worse than delusional. You might have gotten away with this tripe before the internet but no more.

There's no point in engaging in the easy exercise of debunking each of these selectively misleading "statistics".

They're only intended to cover up a predetemined agenda that hurts small business, the middle class, and in the long run even the tiny minority that actually benefits from this trickledown mentality.

Keep trying.

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I can't believe that this organization would engage in this kind of propaganda. Anyone who is buying this should watch the interview with Warren Buffet. You know, the second richest man in the world. He just did a study of 20 people working in his office, from the receptionist on up to himself. What he found; his receptionist is paying 32% of income to taxes while he pays an average of half of that. How do your figures above show that? Where are your statistics that show billionaires paying 16% of income to taxes while the middle class pays double? Mr. Buffet is speaking out about it, why haven't you heard?

I own a business and I will never give another dime to the Chamber of Commerce for membership because I am so disgusted with this Republican hype. Anyone who believes the so-called "myth busters" above, has to be a Republican wearing blinders, as most are these days.

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The top 1% pay 38%of Federal taxes. However you omit that the top 1% (excluding their home or homes worth) is 50% of all US wealth.

? What is wealth and how is it different from income?
Wealth is private assets (such as savings and property) minus debts. It is what you own minus what you owe. In other words, it is net assets. Income, on the other hand, refers to wages, salary, interest that you earn, Social Security benefits, etc.

About 20% of Americans have negative wealth after debt is accounted for.In other words their debts are larger than their assets.

How has wealth concentration changed during the last 20 years?
In the 22 years between 1976 and 1998, the share of the nation's private wealth held by the top 1% nearly doubled, going from 22% to 38%. During those two decades, the size of the overall "wealth pie" grew, but the ownership of that wealth is now more concentrated than at any time since the 1920s.

The distribution of wealth is much more unequal than the distribution of income, especially when focussing on the bottom 60% of all households. The bottom 60% of households possess only 4% of the nation's wealth while it earns 26.8% of all income. Wealth is taxed at a much lower level than income, when it is taxed at all.

It is inevitable that wealth will be taxed at higher rates in the near future, as the Republicans are msotly against any income tax rises, particularly to the wealthy.

So where will the money come for medicare, which is far more of a problem than social security. If one raised the social security tax 0.1% each year over ten years there won't be a social security problem for about a century. The big problem is medicare and medicaid.

Greg

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I am once more unimpressed with the deusional bias of the US Chamber of Commerce. You must think your clients are deaf, dumb and blind! Your credibility has slumped to an even greater low than you had once enjoyed. I no longer wish to receive your communications. I have no time for tripe, I'm working my butt off to stay solvent!

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Thank you for the article. Unfortunately, the uninformed and left-biased individuals will never believe it. It paints too good a picture of the current conditions and doesn't serve their interests. "Where ignorance be bliss,'tis folly to be wise"

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Disclosure: As a business owner, I appreciate the Chamber efforts to improve the country's legal climate, and I will continue to support the Chamber monetarily.

Now that I've disclosed which side my dollars are on, I'd like to point out that this piece is not one of the Chamber's best efforts. I don't have time to address each point (sorry, but I still have a business to run!) but a quick look at the first 2 should suffice.

Myth: Good jobs are disappearing.

Reality: The U.S. economy continues to churn out new jobs. The national unemployment rate is 4.7%-below the average of any of the last four decades. From July 2007 through September 2007, some 292,000 new jobs were added to the economy. Since August 2003, the economy has created more than 8.4 million jobs.

Commentary: Don't answer a QUALITY problem with a QUANTITY solution. Replacing 10 "Good" jobs with 100 jobs at minimum wage is not good for most families, unless we want to slip back to the late 19th century when child labor was much more prevalent.

Myth: Workers' earnings are stagnant.

Reality: Real wages rose 1.7% last year, faster than the average rate of the 1990s, equating to an extra $1,030 for the typical family of four with two wage earners.

Commentary: The Consumer Price Index is up about 3.4% from 2006 to 2007 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). When prices rise approximately twice as fast as earnings, that isn't good for families either. The real issue is not whether earnings are rising, falling, or holding steady. The real issue is, "How do earnings compare to expenses?" Your point only covers the rosy half of the story.

And now I must go back to work, so I can cover the expected 20+% increase in health care premiums for my employees next year.

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I agree with the many comments that point to the many holes in the article. In my region, many of my customers are facing foreclosure and having to choose between gasoline for the family car or food for the table-- obviously not a rosy picture for someone selling any product or service. I am new to the Chamber, but I must say that such slanted/delusional articles are sure to keep me from renewing my membership. As an aside related to "myth" number five: if our corporate taxes are truly as high as European countries' taxes, then Americans are REALLY getting less in return for our money; perhaps the Chamber should be fighting less against taxes and more to ensure that we enjoy the same benefits that our Euro counterpoints enjoy.

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This article serves up partisan softball after softball, which can be rebutted easily, with much more authoritative sources than Mr. Donahue and his organization. The real sad part of pieces like this is that they show the true degradation of the US Chamber from a respected business organization, to a full fledged operating wing of the Republican hype machine. In the interest of time, here are just a few easily refuted replies.

Myth: Good jobs are disappearing.

Reality (according to US Chamber): The U.S. economy continues to churn out new jobs. The national unemployment rate is 4.7%-below the average of any of the last four decades. From July 2007 through September 2007, some 292,000 new jobs were added to the economy. Since August 2003, the economy has created more than 8.4 million jobs.

FACTUAL REALITY

"America's long-term problem isn't too few jobs," said Robert Reich, former labor secretary. "It's the widening income gap. The long-term solution is to spur upward mobility by getting more Americans a good education, including access to college. There will be plenty of good jobs to go around. But too few of our citizens are being prepared for them."

Myth: Workers' earnings are stagnant.

Reality (according to US Chamber): Real wages rose 1.7% last year, faster than the average rate of the 1990s, equating to an extra $1,030 for the typical family of four with two wage earners.

FACTUAL REALITY

In the first quarter of 2006, wages and salaries represented 45 percent of gross domestic product, down from almost 50 percent in the first quarter of 2001 and a record 53.6 percent in the first quarter of 1970, according to the Commerce Department.

Average family income, adjusted for inflation, has continued to advance at a good clip, a fact Mr. Bush has cited when speaking about the economy. But these gains are a result mainly of increases at the top of the income spectrum that pull up the overall numbers. Even for workers at the 90th percentile of earners — making about $80,000 a year — inflation has outpaced their pay increases over the last three years, according to the Labor Department.

“There are two economies out there,” Mr. Cook, the political analyst, said. “One has been just white hot, going great guns. Those are the people who have benefited from globalization, technology, greater productivity and higher corporate earnings.

“And then there’s the working stiffs,’’ he added, “who just don’t feel like they’re getting ahead despite the fact that they’re working very hard. And there are a lot more people in that group than the other group.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/business/28wages.html?hp&ex=11568240

Myth: The federal budget deficit is soaring out of control, in large part because of the Bush tax cuts.

Reality (according to US Chamber): The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the deficit fell by 35% to $161 billion in the fiscal year that ended September 30. Deficit spending has tumbled by $251 billion since 2004. Increased tax revenues are a major reason for this decline. Nevertheless, the deficit is expected to climb in future years unless Medicare and Social Security are fundamentally reformed.

FACTUAL REALITY

"The long-term outlook is such a deep well of sorrow that I can't get much happiness out of this year," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and a former White House economist under President Bush.

And federal debt has ballooned to $8.3 trillion, up from $5.6 trillion when Mr. Bush took office. Republicans are trying to raise the authorized debt ceiling to $9.6 trillion. War costs for Iraq and Afghanistan have totaled more than $300 billion since 2003, and the Bush administration has not included any war costs in its budget estimates beyond next year.

"Even if spending is not going up as fast as it was before, it's not coming down," said Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that advocates budget discipline. Both supporters and critics of Mr. Bush cautioned against attributing much long-term significance to the recent fiscal improvement, in part because tax revenues have become more volatile.

In the late 1990's, revenues exceeded predictions by more than $100 billion a year. After the recession of 2001, revenues plunged about $100 billion below what could be explained by slower economic growth and higher unemployment.

"These people have incomes that fluctuate much more rapidly, so when the economy is doing well and the stock market is doing well, tax revenues will be up," said Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization. "Rapidly fluctuating tax revenues will continue to be the norm for years to come."

Compared with the size of the eco

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