THE PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWSBush economic policies are squeezing the middle-classBy Senator Jack ReedEven though there are more two-earner households than ever before, the financial pressures on Americas middle-class families have never been greater.The Bush administration is trying to paint a rosy picture of the economy, but the American people know better. They know their incomes are not keeping pace with rising living costs and the administrations policies are not working for them.The facts are clear: After adjusting for inflation, the income of the typical family is lower than it was when President Bush took office; the economy has gone through the most protracted jobs slump since the Great Depression; and even though job creation has turned positive, the pace of job creation has been modest, and real wages are not growing. The administration prefers to point to statistics that show an increase in average income or compensation, but it seems pretty clear that these averages reflect gains by high-paid individuals who receive bonuses and exercise stock options, while ordinary workers see their wages falling behind rising living costs.Adjusted for inflation, the nations median household income was $47,599 in 2000, but only $46,326 in 2005, a decline of nearly $1,300. The median the halfway point in the distribution is a better measure than the average of what is happening to the typical household, since gains for those at the very top will pull up the average.Higher prices for gasoline, college education and medical care are squeezing take-home pay. College tuition is up 44 percent; health insurance premiums are up 71 percent; and gasoline cost only $1.45 per gallon when the president took office.The job growth that started in 2003 has been modest by the standards of most economic recoveries. Over President Bushs full time in office, employment growth has been truly anemic. At this point, he has the worst job-creation record of any president since Herbert Hoover.Wages the most important source of income for most families have not been growing. After adjusting for inflation, median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salaried workers have declined nearly one full percentage point. The deepest declines in earnings have been in the bottom 10 percent of the distribution, where workers make about $16,400 or less. The only increases have occurred at the very top.Slow job growth and stagnant wages have left families with lower incomes and contributed to the growing number of Americans without health insurance. And now the economy is slowing, before most families have begun to see any of the benefits of a recovery.Instead of reducing the squeeze on middle-class families with targeted tax cuts, this administration has given tax breaks to those who need them the least. For example, the presidents capital gains and dividend tax cuts will cost $197 billion over 10 years, with most of the benefits going to multimillionaire investors. Fewer taxpayers will benefit from the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, because most of those who own stocks hold them in retirement accounts, which are not eligible for the investment tax cuts.Tax cuts for those who dont need them, at a time when we are fighting a war and facing other pressing domestic priorities, have produced a legacy of ballooning federal debt that will only grow worse as the first wave of baby boomers begins to retire.The strength of the economy should be judged by the progress of the people. The presidents policies have not produced broad prosperity or greater economic opportunity for most families.The American people know we need a new direction in economic policy, one that helps ordinary families and makes sure the benefits of productivity and economic growth are widely shared. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, is the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.