Interesting reference to our new "Wal Mart Economy" in this item:

Article written by Rick Bender, Nov. 2003.

Two years after the official end of the recession, and the beginning of the
so-called recovery, the economic fault lines in our state continue to shake. On
a national “Richter Scale� report of economic indicators, Washington state
measures 4.4, joining 29 other states with scores of 4 or more on the scale.
The indicators include fundamental benchmarks on unemployment, poverty, health
care coverage, personal bankruptcies and household income.

Unemployment in our state has grown 2.1 percent since January 2001, when the
rate was 5.5 percent. Finding new jobs is tough for Washington’s unemployed
workers. In September, close to 40 percent of those who had exhausted their
benefits, had not found work by the time their unemployment checks ran out.

Staggering job losses, particularly in Washington’s manufacturing and
information sectors, created our high unemployment rate. We’ve lost 69,800
jobs between January 2001 and September 2003. What is so worrisome about this
loss is that these were high-quality, family-wage jobs with decent health
benefits. The new jobs being created in our “Wal-Mart� economy are
low-wage, dead-end jobs with no decent benefits. All jobs are NOT created
equal!

Other worrisome economic indicators measured on this “Richter Scale� shows
health care coverage becoming a big problem, with the share of uninsured
Washingtonians increasing by 100,000 residents in the last couple of years.
Another measure is the poverty rate which is creeping upwards, along with the
rate of personal bankruptcies. It is no coincidence that the single biggest
cause for personal bankruptcy is not reckless consumer purchasing, but
expensive medical bills.

It is cold comfort to know that Washington isn’t alone with these problems.
In fact, the states with the highest “Richter Scale� scores are North
Carolina and Mississippi. This dismal outcome shows the folly of pursuing a
low-wage, low-standards and low-road approach.

Indeed what is striking across the entire country is the pain in the falling
standard of living for all of working America. Median household income
actually declined in 38 states between 2000 and 2002. Washington was one of
only 13 states to see a tiny increase in household income, up a grand total of
$388. And we may soon see that small advantage disappear.

There’s trouble ahead. In January, new unemployment insurance rules will
force a cut in jobless benefits. Unemployed workers who didn’t work the
exact same number of hours every week may get benefit cuts of up to $200 a
week. The new “four-quarter averaging� formula for calculating benefits
which was backed by the business lobby in Olympia, will create a further
erosion of the living standards for the most vulnerable Washington workers --
those who are trying to find a job in this lousy economy.

Our top priority should be improving our economy by putting people back to
work. Claims of recovery based on stock market tickers and fancy economic
statistics don’t tell the true story of what’s happening in our state and
national economy. Cheerleading about the economy won’t do the trick. Job
cuts in October this year reached their highest level in the past 12 months,
with businesses announcing 171,874 few workers working, a 125% increase from
the September cut of 76,506 jobs.

To create a real economic recovery, we need to get people working in decent
family wage jobs with decent health benefits. That’s the only way to achieve
a return to the economic health of the 1990’s, when we had a state economy
that was the envy of every other state in the nation.