Let's see how much play this gets

According to US government data, "real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate in 14 years," the Financial Times reported on May 10.

Inflation rose 3.1 per cent in the year to March but salaries climbed just 2.4 per cent, according to the Employment Cost Index. In the final three months of 2004, real wages fell by 0.9 per cent.

The last time salaries fell this steeply was at the start of 1991, when real wages declined by 1.1 per cent.

Stingy pay rises mean many Americans will have to work longer hours to keep up with the cost of living, and they could ultimately undermine consumer spending and economic growth. ...

Even after last month's bumper gain in employment, there are 22,000 fewer private sector jobs than when the recession began in March 2001, a 0.02 per cent fall.

In the rosy "every day in every way I am getting better and better" world of the Bushites - for who things are indeed getting better - such things are simply not spoken aloud. It's all good! It's all upbeat! It's all getting better!

It's all bullshit!

The thing is, we know it's bullshit. We know. Our neighbors know. Our co-workers know. We all know. We know it's not getting better, we know the struggle deepens. But because we don't hear about it other than in gripe sessions (which by their nature carry the implication that we're merely blowing off steam, not making serious charges about our economic conditions) we tend to think it's only us - us writ small, us as individuals. And because the daily grind - the word is chosen deliberately - wears us down a bit at a time, we tend to regard it as things being the way they are because that's the way things are: It just sort of happens; it's not the result of any policy, that's for sure! It could be the result of greedy unions or lazy poor people, depending on the target of the week, but it certainly has nothing to do with favoritism toward corporations and the rich!

By not ferreting out the truth - what am I saying, no ferreting is required, as the Financial Times just showed - and presenting it clearly, the media is complicit in perpetrating an economic fraud on the American public, a fraud that diminishes their future and steals their present for the greater benefit of the money-bound elites already fattened on the labor of their fellow citizens.

But don't worry: The Michael Jackson trial isn't over yet, so the newspapers and networks have plenty of copy to fill their allotted spaces in our culture.

Footnote: A related article declares "Salaries stagnate as balance of power shifts to employers." The full article is available only to subscribers, but the teaser opening paragraphs apparently give a feeling for what it says:

The last time Miguel had a pay rise that kept pace with cost of living, Bill Clinton was in the White House, the Spice Girls were still together and investors were in love with internet stocks.

Since then, the hotel banquet server has been forced to give up a two-bedroom apartment and now shares one bedroom with his wife and two children.

"A surfeit of workers and the threat of off-shoring are allowing companies to call the shots on wages," the magazine says.

Know this: It's not just you.