I do love me my Barney Frank (italics mine):
MARKETPLACE: If you look at the numbers, sir, if you just look at unemployment, and inflation, and gross domestic product, the economy seems to not be doing so badly. Why do you feel the need for this conversation now?
FRANK: Well, because the economy and the people in the economy are not identical. Then, we have this problem with even President Bush acknowledged last week that inequality has been increasing. Now, inequality is necessary in the capital system. It performs a lot of important functions. But the problem has been that the real wages, take home pay for the average worker, and I'm talking about the great majority of workers, has been somewhat negative. It's actually declined a little bit. We have a good Gross Domestic Product. But it has unfortunately . . . the increase has gone disproportionate to a very small number of people.
It warms my liberal heart to hear such talk. The actual disconnect Frank is getting at here separates growth from distribution. Our growth numbers are healthy, the distribution of those gains is not. So while the economy is doing well, its median participant is seeing very little of its health. And this political consequences, too. Frank continues:
We're in gridlock now. What's happened now is that, that the average citizen has said, look, don't come to me and tell me you want a trade bill. Don't come to me and tell me that I should support a more generous immigration policy from the standpoint of letting people in because I think I'm getting hurt by it. People who want to see trade promotion authority expanded. People who want to see an immigration bill of the sort the President talked about, and want to see no obstacles to the implementation of technology must understand that as long as we have these obstacles to fair treatment for working people, the political system won't allow it.
That's an important point. When folks feel secure within the economy, they are more politically generous, inclusive, and tolerant. The rise of the Lou Dobbs Democrat is an example of what happens when they don't.
