Four More Years!

The Seattle Times Jon Talton (a published writer of mysteries, but his biggest mystery is how he ever got a job writing about economics) thinks Romney hasn't a prayer if, It's the economy, Stupid;

...for the reality-based community, Republicans face a challenge running on the economy as they gather for their convention in Tampa.

The economic challenge is this: The GOP is essentially running on a platform that would be George W. Bush's policies on steroids. Yet we already know that the biggest causes of the Great Recession and its lingering pain were the very deregulation and financialization of the economy that the Republicans promise to double-down on. As for the federal deficit and rising debt, Mr. Bush inherited a surplus and turned it into the red with wars, tax cuts heavily tilted to the wealthy, Medicare D that was unfunded and didn't require Big Pharma to bid for the lowest prices, and the costs of the recession. The 2000s were a lost decade for the middle class.

While the last 3-1/2 (aka, the Obama years) have been just peachy?

The typical household income for people age 55 to 64 years old is almost 10 percent less in today’s dollars than it was when the recovery officially began three years ago, according to a new report from Sentier Research, a data analysis company that specializes in demographic and income data.

Across the country, in almost every demographic, Americans earn less today than they did in June 2009, when the recovery technically started. As of June, the median household income for all Americans was $50,964, or 4.8 percent lower than its level three years earlier....