stfuconservatives:

From current.com:

Corporate profits are up, but wages are down. Growth is trending upward and productivity is rising, but employment is still low.

In the midst of all this, The New York Times reports financial firms are creeping back to lending practices that prey on the vulnerable. Banks are offering loans and credit cards to consumers with damaged credit — and reaping the benefits in the form of high interest rates and late fees from missed payments.

A bankruptcy lawyer quoted in the Times piece referred to such consumers being addicted to credit. But is addicted the right term?

Real wages have plunged over the past 40 years. In real dollars, adjusted consistently for inflation, a two-income family today makes (on average) 15 percent less than the average single-income family did 40 years ago.

It’s not getting any better, either. Wages continue to fall, with the latest example being GE’s decision to cut worker’s wages by 50 percent.

The cost of living hasn’t dropped with wages — it’s gone up. Education costs have skyrocketed, housing prices have soared and prices have climbed upward on essentials like food. Combine a climbing cost of living with falling wages and high unemployment and is it any surprise that Americans are turning to credit?

So important - and unbelievably disheartening - to remember this. Things are looking great for Americans, if by “Americans” you mean “ones who were already wealthy and run giant companies.”

And this is why I’m voting OBAMA 2012

-Jess