Welcome to the Jobless Recovery... The news today was good for the president, but is it good for you? Are you better off than you were three years ago? A few years back, Jim Hightower, the former Texas agriculture commissioner, concluded that the Dow Jones average was a useless gauge for how real Americans were getting along. For those of us who live from paycheck to paycheck, he suggested the Doug Jones average, which takes into account the effect Republican policies have on pensions, health care premiums, the rising cost of education, etc...From where I'm standing, Doug doesn't seem to be doing all that well...How about you? "In 2001, when the unemployment rate climbed to 4.8% from 4.0% in 2000, real household income fell by 3% for the poorest households and 2% for middle-income households, while poverty increased by 0.4 percentage points. Although income and poverty data for 2002 are not yet available, given that unemployment was another point higher in 2002 (5.8%), the incomes of low- and middle-income households very likely fell even more last year". Source: Economic Policy Institute summary of U.S. census statistics.