It's the economy, stupid: Real wages on the decline

The President thinks he knows why Americans are not all that positive about the economy:

"The problem is that, you know, we're in war, and sometimes it's hard for people to get a positive message about the economy when they're troubled by, you know, scenes of violence on the TV screens," Bush told CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow in an interview on Friday.

So the news should be censored?  All over television, radio and the blogosphere, conservatives have been touting positive job numbers.  On a macroeconomic level, the economy is doing better.

But when it comes to "real wages" -- meaning wages adjusted for inflation -- American workers are not better off than they were last year.  A new Labor Department report released at the end of last month shows that real wages are down:

But consumers' wages aren't keeping up. A report released by the Labor Department Friday showed that private-sector real wages, accounting for inflation, dropped .9 percent for the year ending in March.

"Until you get real wage growth, Goldilocks' oatmeal is still going to be too cold," said economist Jared Bernstein, with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

The low unemployment rate is a positive sign.  Although, until real wages increase, more American families will have a harder time paying for the rapidly increasing cost of living, especially with gas prices expected to reach $4.00 sometime this summer.