Letter: Money in pocket is best indicator

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.

When it comes to a statement of the health of the American economy, it seems to me that too much emphasis is placed on the gross national product and what is happening on Wall Street.

To me, it would seem that the real evaluation of the nation's economy needs to take into account the ever-increasing number of unemployed.

What is the number of jobs that corporations are shipping overseas and that are lost to workers in the United States? What is the percentage of workers without family medical insurance? What is the number of workers whose employers have dropped their pension plans? How many pension plans are solvent? Most workers have staked the comfort of their retirement years on such pension plans, while those who are now retired are faced with the lose of promised benefits.

The economic viability of America is best measured by the money in the pockets of the working people, not by the million-dollar homes and yachts of the CEOs.

RAYMOND HARBERT

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