In other words, an awful lot of American workers have been had. Fleeced. Taken to the cleaners.

Please recall that I had posted in both in the comments section of my earlier post about Bush's misleading rising jobs statistics that since the Great Depression and WWII, the U. S. has suffered a series of devastating deficits. Herbert writes that "the recent productivity gains have been widely acknowledged. But workers are not being compensated for this. During the past two years, increases in wages and benefits have been very weak, or nonexistent. And despite the growth of jobs in March that had the Bush crowd dancing in the White House halls last Friday, there has been no net increase in formal payroll employment since the end of the recession. We have lost jobs. There are fewer payroll jobs now than there were when the recession ended in November 2001."

The money from the strong economic growth Bush has boasted about has not gone to American workers. It was "used to boost profits, lower prices, or increase C.E.O. compensation."

Read the rest of Herbert's piece. And, drop by Trish Wilson's Blog. The proprietor has the blogger blues. Cheer her up.

The rare look at the real lives of America's least compensated workers on Nightline last night should have awakened anyone from torpor. We are usually told the poor deserve their poverty because they don't strive hard enough. However, the people profiled in the episode belie that rationalization in every way. Here's hoping agenda setters watched the program instead of changing channels.

Reasonably related

•Learn more about low-wage workers who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

•Up by your bootstraps. Beneficent billionaires. Early to bed and early to rise. Perhaps it is time to debunk the American dream.

•One of the first contretempts I encountered as a blogger was when I wrote an entry lauding op-ed writer Bob Herbert. It set several of the Right blogosphere's least capable people after me. They followed me from around at comments on other blogs, name-calling and lambasting. At least one set up a hate page based on my praise of Herbert. Why does Herbert bother people like that so much? I believe it is because he is everything they aren't: very bright, an excellent researcher and an incisive writer. And something else, he is African-American. That shouldn't matter, but it does. The blogosphere is quite a haven for bigotry. Any person of color with ability and a mind of his or her own pays the price for that, whether as a blogger or as a source.

Note: This entry also appeared at Mac-a-ro-nies.