ブッシュ政権下のアメリカ経済と中産階級, 2001-2004年

American Economy and Middle Class under the Bush Administration, 2001-2004

AKIMOTO, Eiichi

American economy enjoyed an unprecedented boom with information technology and globalization during the 1990s. But the recession beginning in early 2001 and the terror attack to New York and Washington, D. C. in 11 September, 2001 changed the landscape under which American economy was going. This paper argues that the economic polices under the Bush administration could not relieve middle and lower class people's anxiety on their economic fortunes. The economic recovery after 2001 recession did not create corresponding amount of jobs. And it was called the "jobless recovery." The last half of the 1990s saw substantial efforts by employers in cutting cost through information technology and computerization. The big tax cut benefiting wealthiest portions of economic classes and other pro-business stance of the administration seems to have confirmed the restructuring efforts of the "new economy" type firms. The drastic tax cut strengthened the political base of Bush republicans through giving lion's share to the top 5 percent of wealthiest households, and the middle and lower class people could get "some improvement" in their disposable income. However, the effect of this tax cut could be negative over the long term, because the resulting huge deficit could damage domestic investment through high interest rates. Wealthy people will be willing to loan their increased savings to the federal government, earning interest income. On the other hand, growing portion of loan and its interest must be born increasingly by the not-so-wealthy middle class and lower class people. The other aspect of 2000s' economy can be seen in the white collar jobs' increasing offshoring to India and other countries. Although the offshoring may considerably cut labor cost of U. S. companies, at the same time, the pain must be unbearable for suffering workers. It would be necessary for employers to slow down the speed, and for the government to give some incentive to the staying (and not offshoring) firms. Among many causes of financial uncertai

https://opac.ll.chiba-u.jp/da/curator/900024805/

https://opac.ll.chiba-u.jp/da/curator/900024805/KJ00003964068.pdf

紀要論文

0912-7216

AN10005358

千葉大学経済研究 = Economic journal of Chiba University

19

3

93

126

2004-12-15

publisher

経済研究 (ONLINE ISSN 2436-8873)