Bizarro Robin Hood

I can't wait to hear how well the economy is doing Tuesday night.

The disparity between rich and poor is growing in America as the federal minimum wage has remained flat for years, union membership has declined and industries have faced global competition, according to a study released Thursday.

The report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute, both liberal-leaning think tanks, found the incomes of the poorest 20 percent of families nationally grew by an average of $2,660, or 19 percent, over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the incomes of the richest fifth of families grew by $45,100, or nearly 59 percent, the study by the Washington-based groups said.

Families in the middle fifth saw their incomes rise 28 percent, or $10,218.

The figures, based on U.S. Census data, compare the average growth from 1980-82 to 2001-03, after adjusting for inflation.

The poorest one-fifth of families, the report said, had an average income of $16,780 from 2000-03, while the top fifth of families had an average income of $122,150 — more than seven times as much. Middle-income families' average income was $46,875.

The redistribution of America's wealth up the economic ladder is the only measure by which one can declare the Bush administration a success. It appears to be the primary consideration behind many of the administration's decisions because only through this prism do many of the administration's policies make sense. Why else would a government cut taxes for its wealthiest citizens while its troops are engaged in combat in two foreign lands? Why else would a government send its troops into battle without providing them with the basic equipment they need? Why else would a government address the exploding federal deficit its tax cuts helped create by increasing out-of-pocket fees and reduced benefits for Medicaid recipients, cutting child-support collection programs and squeezing student loan programs, all while supporting yet more tax cuts for the wealthy? Why else would a government respond to a natural disaster by suspending the Davis-Bacon Act, thereby allowing its contractors to pay workers less than the locally prevailing wage (a move it since reversed)? Why else would a government oppose increasing a minimum wage that hasn't been raised in nine years?

Because this administration is interested only in stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. And it shows: 37 million people in this country live below the poverty level -- 5 million more than four years ago, and a number that has not gone down since Bush took office. In 2004, CEOs saw their average total compensation boosted an average of nearly 12 percent, to more than $9.8 million, while the average nonsupervisory workers' pay increased just 2.2 percent, to $27,485.

Corporate income tax revenues in 2003 were 36 percent lower than in 2000, and represented only 1.2 percent of the GDP and only 7.4 percent of all federal tax receipts in 2003. The latter number is, with the exception of 1983, the lowest percentage on record.

Bizarro Robin Hood. We've finally found a job George Bush is good at.