Sifter

Conservatives are crowing that the economy is in great shape and the country is headed in the right direction, despite a record federal debt and continued massive spending. How are Americans doing after five years of Bush in the White House? Depends on how you measure things. Since 2001, when Bush began his major tax cuts to the wealthy to agument his supply-side approach to the economy, the average median household income has increased less than 5 percent, while unemployment, bankruptcy and poverty rates are higher than they’ve been since 2000. The following info was collected by René Ryman, author of Health Careless: How American Sold Out On Health Care.

year poverty population - unemployed population - average household income - bankruptcy filings

2004 37 Mil 8.14 Mil $44,389 1,597

2003 35.9 Mil 8.77 Mil $43,318 1,660

2002 34 Mil 8.37 Mil $42,409 1,577

2001 32.9 Mil 6.37 Mil $42,228 1,492

2000 31.6 Mil 5.69 Mil $42,148 1,253

Sources: www.census.gov, www.bls.gov, www.census.gov, www.uscourts.gov