AVERAGE INCOME. What surprised me most about this article was that average income had not, by 2005, recovered to the 2000 level. Noting a drop in median income wouldn't be much of a story, given the degree to which the Bush administration has stacked the deck in favor of the wealthy. But aside from the wealthy, economic growth during the Bush years really has been pretty anemic. The Bush administration (and in general, conservative) line on this is that it's all the fault of the internet bust and September 11. From what I can tell, that involves pretending that the brief recession in 2001 was actually worse than any economic dip the country has suffered since the end of World War II. Hilzoy has a bit more. --Robert Farley
