State of the Union 2010

The Challenge: Repair The Damage From A Lost Decade

Since 2000...

• One in three manufacturing jobs has been lost (from 17.3 million to 12 million); one in four goods-producing jobs have been lost (from 24.6 million to 18.9 million).
• The federal debt grew from $5 trillion to $11 trillion, without including the Recovery Act;
• Household incomes dropped four percent, while public college tuition rose 61 percent, health care premiums rose 70 percent, and regular gas went up 60 percent.

Growing Economic Inequality

• The real economy is shrinking, while the Wall Street sector grows. In 2007, 40 percent of America's corporate profits came from the financial sector.

• The economy grew during the Bush years … but most people didn't benefit. The top one percent of the population enjoyed 65 percent of the income growth.

• More Americans joined the ranks of the poor or near poor:



Percentage of population at 125 percent of poverty or below:
2000	15.6 percent
2008	17.9 percent

 


The People Want Progressive Change

Views of Massachusetts voters who voted FOR Barack Obama in 2008 either voted for Republican Senate Candidate Scott Brown, or did not vote at all.







• 48% of these voters opposed the Senate's health reform proposal compared to only 32% who approved.
• But 36% said the Senate's reform didn't go far enough, compared to only 23% who said it went too far (the rest were unsure).