WHOSE PIE?....I missed this a few weeks ago, but Nathan Newman linked yesterday to this very nice chart from EPI that shows in simple terms what counts as "economic recovery" in the minds of modern Republican elites.

In the past — shown in the blue bars — everyone benefited when the economy recovered from a recession. Wages went up, total compensation (including things like health insurance) went up, and corporate profits went up. Sure, corporate profits did better than workers' wages, but everybody got a decent slice of the pie.

In the Bush recovery — shown in the red bars — workers have gotten almost nothing while corporate profits have skyrocketed. The Republican establishment must be cackling in its single malt scotch.

But how can anyone defend this? Easy. The free market extremists at the top of the modern Republican party argue that economic growth is caused by the risk-taking executives of Fortune 5000 companies, and therefore they deserve the benefits of that growth. Worker bees don't make any contribution — they just work — so why should they get anything?

Treating labor like a commodity is a morally bankrupt policy, but it's one that's become an epidemic in the Republican party: they don't just want a bigger piece of the pie anymore, they want the whole pie. Surely it's past time for George Bush's beloved "real America" to revolt over this cynical treatment from conservative elitists?