Summary # 9

"The Truth About Wages" by Bruce Bartlett is an informative essay about the ongoing debate over the economic condition of the American workers and their receptiveness towards Republican policies. The author uses many statistics to show how "the average worker is no better off today than he was seven years ago in real terms." (312). He gives the dollar amount of the average weekly earning in August 1999 and August 2006 and the amounts are only cents apart. With all his statistics why the openness towards Republican policies? Bartlett answers this with three reasons. The first reason is that, due to all the current layoffs, American workers that find themselves lucky enough to have a job want to keep it, no matter the wage. He also says " if (workers) switch to another job, that might get higher pay, they might lose their health benefits in the process." (313). Workers do not want to lose their benefits for their families. The second reason is the "changing demographics of the population have eased the transition to an economy with slower wage growth." (314). He says that due to the extra spending money in the pockets of the baby boomers the wage "stagnation" isn't as noticeable. The final reason is that although wages have remained flat lined there has been an increase in people moving into the upper and middle classes. Less people are making less than $25,000. Bartlett concludes, "In short, despite all the talk about the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor, the fact is that the percentage of households with low incomes has fallen and the percentage of those with high incomes has risen." (314-315). These reasons are the foundation which attribute to the "openness" people have towards Republican policies according to Bruce Bartlett.