General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Krugman: repubicans are "desperately trying to claim that the economic recovery now underway is an [View all]progree
(10,985 posts)in the economy because of ... low oil prices. People who spend less money filling their tanks with gas have more money to spend elsewhere, creating jobs in those other sectors.
That said, I concede that inflation-adjusted wages have gotten a boost in the last several months thanks to reduced CPI growth (actually negative in Nov., Dec., and Jan.) due to falling energy costs. That's a one-time event we're probably not going to see repeated, so we'll lose that tail wind to inflation-adjusted wages. Anyway, we'll see.
I think -- even if inflation-adjusted wages were merely flat -- the fact that we have 11.5 million more jobs than at the jobs bottom in February 2010 is a definite recovery by any definition (and not just for the 1%, they already had jobs/income), and a 0.8% growth in the employment to population ratio despite the surge of baby boomer retirements. And its a heck of a lot better than any other developed economy is doing.
Were recovering, but true, we're not "recovered". But if "recovered" means back to the sick, feverish, unsustainable housing bubble years, then, no thanks.