By Richard E Walrath

David Cay Johnston’s August 21, 2007 New York Times article 2005 Incomes, on Average, Still Below 2000 Peak talks about "average" incomes which in 2005 were below 2000 peak.

Average?  That’s not the half of it!  As the story goes, Bill Gates can walk into a room, and the "average" income skyrockets.  But that doesn’t make anybody in the room so much as even a dime richer.

Jump over to page 8, and you can finally find the statement that "nearly half of Americans reported incomes of less than $30,000, and two-thirds make less than $50,000."

The median household income, which is not mentioned in this article, remains stuck around $44,000 and includes income of those living in same household.

Where did all those infamous Bush tax-cuts go? Incredibly, 28% of the investment tax-cut savings went to just 11,433 of the 134 million taxpayers!  This is the group who made $10 million or more, saving them almost $1.9 million each, says Johnston.

Feeding the horse more oats, doesn’t do the sparrows much good.  Trickle down economics just doesn’t work, according to Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens  for Tax Justice, as quoted by Johnston.