Deficit Falls

This morning comes the news that the budget deficit for this fiscal year looks like it will be around $205B – less than predicted just a few months ago, and less than half the level of three years ago. Once again, real incomes (meaning average incomes, adjusted for inflation) have set record highs. Americans can, on average, purchase more now than ever before. Not just the wealthy, either – our poorest fellow Americans can purchase more today than they ever could before, too.

These are facts that are relatively easy to verify. The fairest metric I know of is one that compares the cost of common goods measured not in dollars, but in how much time one had to work to earn it. By this metric, our incomes have been rising steadily for well over 100 years. Yet our liberal politicians and their lap-dogs (the lamestream media) continue to pontificate about how the "poor are becoming poorer" and Edwards' famous "two Americas."

It's balderdash. But it's very convenient politically, where one theory says you latch onto a grievance (doesn't have to be true!) and play it. The liberals have managed to turn an American dream – wealth – into something that has negative connotations. Shame on them.

But shame on us if we choose to listen to their blatherings...