income inequality
Kevin Drum reposts some economics-and-politics analyses of Larry Bartels’ paper “Partisan Politics and the U.S. Income Distribution” (96KB PDF). It’s great reading if you missed it the first time around. (I suspect it could be really eye-opening for anyone who believes the Republicans-are-better-for-the-economy myth.) Drum notes that:
Democratic presidents have consistently higher economic growth and consistently lower unemployment than Republican presidents. If you add in a time lag, you get the same result. If you eliminate the best and worst presidents, you get the same result. If you take a look at other economic indicators, you get the same result. There's just no way around it: Democratic administrations are better for the economy than Republican administrations.
After observing that the GOP does a better economic job only in election years, Drum summarizes, “Bottom line: if you're well off, vote for Republicans. But if you make less than $150,000 a year, Republicans are your friends only one year in four. Caveat emptor.”