Economy

Today NDN released the second of two memos outlining findings from a recent national poll focused on the economy and globalization.

Pete Brodnitz of BSG Strategies conducted the poll. He stated:

President Bush’s decision to focus his Presidency on terrorism and Iraq and his decision to limit his economic vision to tax cuts is taking a clear toll on Americans' perceptions of the health of the economy. At a time when many Americans are facing rising health care, education and energy costs, the President offers no compelling economic strategy and fails to even acknowledge the hard economic realities facing American families during his Presidency. As a result, there is an opportunity, and even a demand, for others to fill the vacuum his abdication on economic hardships has caused. The results of our survey and focus group research show that leaders who recognize both the challenges we face in today’s economy and a strategy for growing our economy will be filling a void that is particularly acute on the subject of globalization – a change in our economy that is widely perceived as both a significant concern and as unavoidable. It is also clear that the American electorate is looking for leaders who recognize the need to both soften the impact of globalization and harness Americans’ greatest economic strength - the creativity and freedom of our society – to ensure that ultimately we succeed in the global economy.

NDN President Simon Rosenberg noted:

This poll confirms what the economic data and previous public opinion data have shown for some time - the American people are ready for Washington to once again focus on them and the struggle their families are facing.

By any measure this decade has been a tough one for American families. Despite strong GDP and productivity and stock market gains, household median income has actually declined and wages have been flat. Many more are without health insurance and in poverty and the number of undocumented immigrants continues to rise. Costs of everyday and important things - health care, gas and energy, education - have risen dramatically. In the Bush era it has simply become harder to get ahead.

This poll confirms the central argument of our work at NDN these past several years - the people of the United States are looking for a new economic strategy that makes globalization work for all Americans. We believe offering this strategy is one of the highest political and governing priorities of our time, and based on this new poll, will increasingly come to dominate the presidential debate in the year ahead.

To read the full memo, please visit our website. Also check out the first memo.

Today NDN released the first of two memos outlining findings from a new national poll on the economy and globalization.

The poll was conducted by Pete Brodnitz of Benenson Strategy Group. Brodnitz noted:

Voters are pessimistic about the direction of the country and continue to express a strong desire for change on national security and economic issues. They are frustrated with the performance of the President and Congress and the lack of progress on making health care more affordable, the situation in Iraq, and the precarious state of the economy. They perceive Democrats to be more likely to address these concerns and believe Democrats will stand up and fight for the middle class, leading more voters to support Democratic candidates than Republican candidates for President and Congress.

To read the full memo, please visit our website.

Rob Shapiro and I released the following statement today:  

The Census Bureau's disappointing report on U.S. income released yesterday reinforces the pressing national need for a new economic strategy that makes globalization work for all Americans.

The sobering fact that the median income of American families is still $1,000 less than when George Bush took office demonstrates the failures of the current Republican economic strategy, which has consisted largely of tax cuts for the privileged and has never provided what the American people need in a more competitive global economy.

Moreover, a New York Times editorial today notes that real improvements to Americans' economic situation may remain elusive in the medium-term:  "Sputtering under the weight of the credit crisis and the associated drop in the housing market, the economic expansion that started in 2001 looks like it might enter history books with the dubious distinction of being the only sustained expansion on record in which the incomes of typical American households never reached the peak of the previous cycle. It seems that ordinary working families are going to have to wait - at the very minimum - until the next cycle to make up the losses they suffered in this one. There’s no guarantee they will."

The new economic data - median incomes still trailing 1999 levels; a fall in real median earnings of full time workers for the third consecutive year; more Americans with no health insurance; and little change in the poverty rate - make clear that more must be done to help  the many Americans struggling harder to get ahead. 

In a recent paper for NDN, we offered the following three-part recommendation for a new economic strategy for America:

• Modernize our health care and energy policies - Reduce pressures on workers' wages and jobs through reforms that reduce the rate of increase in employers' and workers' medical insurance costs, and lessen upward pressures on energy prices and U.S. dependence on foreign energy.

• Invest in people - Enact a comprehensive new strategy to better ensure that every worker and child in the 21st century has real opportunities to succeed; focus significant new investment on giving all Americans the skills and knowledge needed to operate productively in an idea-based economy; initiate a new national commitment to offer all Americans training in information technologies and affordable access to the evolving global communications network itself.

• Foster and accelerate innovation - Support the development and spread of technological and business innovations throughout the economy by promoting the formation of new businesses, increasing support for basic research and development, upgrading our infrastructure, and aggressively protecting American intellectual property rights in foreign markets.

To read the new report, please visit the Census Bureau's website.