Obama’s Trickle-Up Economics - Krugman

[Bill USA]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/opinion/obamas-trickle-up-economics.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FCensus%20Bureau&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection

Only serious nerds like me eagerly await the annual Census Bureau reports on income, poverty and health insurance. But the just-released reports on 2015 justified the anticipation.

We expected good news; but last year, it turns out, the economy partied like it was 1999. And this tells us something very important — namely, that a government that wants to can make American society more equitable, improving the quality of life for ordinary families.

The reports showed strong progress on three fronts: rapid growth in the incomes of ordinary families — median income rose a remarkable 5.2 percent; a substantial decline in the poverty rate; and a significant further rise in health insurance coverage after 2014’s gains. It was a trifecta that we haven’t hit since, yes, 1999.

It’s true that the surge in median income comes after years of disappointment, and even now the typical family’s income, adjusted for inflation, is slightly lower than it was before the financial crisis. But the percentage of Americans without health insurance is now at a record low. And the overall performance of the Obama economy has given the lie to much of the criticism leveled at President Obama’s policies.
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[ColemanMaskell]

1. Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman also has a blog (which is free to read)

Here is the link to Krugman's blog, for anyone who doesn't already know about it:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Also btw Krugman is super smart and well worth reading regularly

Calls his blog "Conscience of a Liberal"

[BlancheSplanchnik]

2. And it shows what a liberal's conscience is...or rather, he sets himself to the ideal.

He's just one of my favorite examples of what I'd like to aspire to. My ideal of what Liberalism means to me.