Lyndon Johnson is responsible. no. Nixon. Ford. Carter. Reagan. Bush. Bush 41. Heck. It’s America to blame. If the bottom quintile had lived in Cuba or France they’d be much better off right? Especially since the unemployment rate in France is soooooooooooooooooo low (NOT).

I think nobody “cares” about the poor. We need to give more fish ! Aint that right? We need to GIVE the fish?

Those who produce should give to those who don’t produce.

Now I get it ! Thanks An Van Man !

Um, the business cycle? Are you suggesting economic recoveries are wholly dependent on federal budget policy?

I’m saying that when you account for the Juglar cycle and Federal Reserve policy, the two biggest factors in employment rates, the impact of administration policy (or Clinton’s, for that matter) on the lowest quintile’s fortunes is almost nil.

Additionally, you’re extrapolating macro trends out of an extremely small slice of time. If you look at the lowest quintile’s income from the mid ’60s to present, you’ll see it’s virtually flat. There was a noticeable postitive blip in the mid to late 90s due to the historic expansion of the economy (due in turn to a record increase in productivity). But if you look at present circumstances in relation to those four decades, the poor’s circumstances haven’t changed one iota.

The end of the recession isn’t really the important part, it’s when the recovery began. And that was between the years 2001-2003, which was what I was pointing out. And between 2003-2005, the data shows a pretty strong comeback.

As for no data that shows the administration’s policies are behind this, then what else would it be? Simple: it was the tax cuts.

They ended the recession, began the recovery, and they are the reason for the good economy we’re now seeing.

But when the Democrats allow the cuts to lapse, effectively raising taxes, that economy is going to go in the toilet and the poor are going to be the ones who are hit the hardest.

I’m still not getting the underlying thesis here. There’s nothing in the data that suggests the current administration’s policies have raised the floor for the bottom quintile.

If you look at the 2001-2003 data, you can see that despite the recession, they’ve made significant advances:

Those households with children that were in the low income category in 2001 had, on average, significant increases in income in each of the next two years. For those households, average inflation adjusted income increased by about 45 percent, from $16,700 in 2001 to $24,100 in 2003.

And that was during the recession years!

By the time 2005 rolled around, they were only about $2000 away from being where they were at the peak in 2000. And the recovery had just begun, with a slugglish economy.

Again, with the economy going like it is right now, I’d be very interested in seeing the numbers from 2005-2007. I’m positive that they’ve made up that $2000, and maybe even surpassed it.

But I fully expect liberals and Democrats to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs by ramping up taxes, all on those evil rich folks, you know, the ones who drive investment and business, and when the economy inevitably tanks, start wailing about hard times and ignoring the fact that they caused the downturn. And their response to the downturn will be more socialism and more taxes, which reminds me of an old story. Take a dog cart, and start putting rocks in it, pretty soon if you put in enough rocks, the dog can’t pull the cart. Most people, conservatives and Republicans, would either add another dog or take a few rocks off the cart, Democrats want to put a bureaucrat on the cart in addition to all the rocks. Ask them how that will help, and they say easy, he has a whip.

Of course the fortunes of the poor are going to better in boom times than during a bust. Can’t you see how misleading it is to claim their long-term prospects are brighter? They’re not gaining ground, they’re not even making up the ground they lost in the bust.

Are you really seeing something in the study that justifies calling recovery a boon? What is it?

If they HAD read the report, they’d be singing a different tune.

Haven’t you learned yet?!?!