DNC: McCain Watch: The Economy( John McCain Is Not What America S...),Health

John McCain Is Not What America Signed Up For

WASHINGTON, July 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last week, John McCain's top economic advisor, Phil Gramm, echoed McCain's comments that America's economic problems were "psychological" by saying Americans are in a "mental recession" and that America had become a "nation of whiners." While McCain distanced himself from Gramm at the time, Gramm is now back on board as McCain's top economic adviser. Now, John McCain is in Michigan, a state that has been devastated by the Bush-McCain economy. Instead of offering a plan for how to create more and better jobs here at home and keep the ones we have, John McCain, with the help of out of touch campaign advisers like Phil Gramm, promises four more years of failed Bush economic policies that have hurt America including more unfair trade deals that will ship jobs overseas. [Washington Post, 7/11/08; Delmarvalive.com, 7/18/08]

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The Bush-McCain policies have been particularly disastrous for working families, who have suffered from declining wages and a 76 percent increase in unemployment. And with GM having announced deep job cuts this week, McCain's more-of-the-same rhetoric on the economy is the last thing Michigan--and America--needs.

Bush Economy Has Hurt Michigan...

Unemployment Up 76%. The unemployment rate in Michigan was 4.7% in January of 2001, and preliminary figures for May 2008 are 8.5%. The number of unemployed has gone up from 243,604 to 428,095, an increase of 184,491 workers. [Local Area Unemployment Statistics, (Seasonally Adjusted), Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 7/15/08, bls.gov]

Income Down 11.5%. Median household income in Michigan has decreased from $54,516 in 2000 to $48,043 in 2006, a decrease of $6,473 per household--one of the highest decreases of any state. [Joint
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