The Economy Is Great!

I was rereading the AP report about the resignation of White House press secretary Tony Snow and it hit me that Snow's decision revealed more than it intended to.

President Bush and his supporters regularly insist that, no matter what you might wanna say about other aspects of his presidency, he's the best thing to happen to the U.S. economy since St. Reagan first blessed us with trickle-down economics. Free tax cuts for everyone!

Here is the relevant paragraph that stuck out to me-

Snow, ailing with cancer, had said recently he would leave before the end of Bush's presidency. The father of three children, Snow said he needs to make more than his White House salary of $168,000.

He's saying that he can't support his wife and three kids on a salary... of $168,000 a year.

$168,000 is a lot of money. I have some friends with really great jobs and comfortable incomes. None of them, though, make anywhere near the $100,000/yr. mark, let alone close to $200,000. According to 2006 census data, the average personal income in America is $26,036 a year. And here is Tony Snow stating that he cannot support a family and pay his likely very high medical costs (but, but he has insurance, right!) on a salary roughly 6.5x higher than the national average.

That tells you what you need to know about the real economic reality in America today.

Politicians and pundits shouldn't be allowed to spin this anymore. What determines a healthy economy is not what is happening to people on Wall Street, but what is happening to the average American in their homes and jobs. Tony Snow is Press Secretary until the end of next week. Maybe some intrepid reporter can ask him for his feelings on this before then.