ROCKS AND HARD PLACES

Here's hoping for a better 2007 for one and all. For some perspective on where we'be been, an interesting link from the Drum Major Institute about the last year provides some facts and figures about the state of economic (in)justice in the U.S.

Among the factiods in DMI's 2006 Injustice Index are these:

Wages that an average CEO earns before lunchtime: more than a full-time minimum wage worker makes in a year

Ratio of the average U.S. CEO's annual pay to a minimum wage worker: 821:1

Year when this ratio reached its highest so far: 2006

Percentage of women earning less than $40,000 per year who receive no paid vacation time at all: 37

Number of times that Congress has reduced the estate tax since it last raised the federal minimum wage: 9

Longest period in which the federal minimum wage has not been increased: 1997-2006

Number of workers who would directly benefit from an increase in the minimum wage: 5.6 million

Number of very large estates that would directly benefit from a reduction in the estate tax: 8,200

Number of households using credit to cover basic living expenses: 7 in 10

Percentage increase in out-of-pocket medical expenses for the average American in the past five years: 93

And finally, speaking of injustices, rocks and hard places, let's not forget the sad milestone we just passed with the 3,000th U.S. casualty in the unnecessary war in Iraq...

It looks like we've got our work cut out for us.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED