#57: Economic well-being

In this time of good will and good spending, how is your well-being? Some economists argue that how much you spend is a better measure of economic well-being than how much you make.

Researchers at the American Enterprise Institute state that the middle class is doing better than the upper crust, based on how much they’re spending. However, new findings by other think tanks show that the growth in over-all consumption is unbalanced: Spending by high-income Americans is strong, spending by low-income households is way down since 2001, and spending by the middle class is weaker than normal.

Conservative economists like to argue that wage stagnation and income inequality are not really big threats to our standard of living. But the growing income inequality is fostering consumption inequality - meaning that we cannot spend our way out of today’s economic troubles. It is time to try a different fix.

I’m james@nonsenseatwork.com

Copyright: 2006 James Henry McIntosh

James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
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