Legislation Creating Commission of Economic Experts to Identify a More Accurate Picture of Americans’ Economic Reality Part of Feingold’s Larger E4 Initiative
September 12, 2008
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is continuing the roll-out of his E4 Initiative with the introduction of legislation to improve the way our economy is measured. While the main focus of the E4 initiative is to fuel job growth and spur economic development, an underlying problem is the disconnect between the economic information that is traditionally collected and reported and the economic reality many American families are facing. Feingold’s legislation would establish a bipartisan commission of eight economic experts to examine existing government economic data and identify the need for new information, more accurate methodologies and better ways to report a more accurate and reliable picture of the economic reality American households face.
“In traveling around Wisconsin this year, I’ve heard more concern from people over the economy than ever before,” Feingold said. “It’s obvious we need to take action to restore the economy but to do so, we should have a better idea of the real economic challenges that Americans are facing. We can’t just look at our gross domestic product and sales receipts. We need to better understand what is going on in Americans’ households and take those factors into account when putting together an accurate picture of the U.S. economy. If we can’t measure what most matters to American families, we are not measuring the right things – and we are less able to respond to what really matters.”
While federal agencies collect and report a range of economic information to describe the general state of our economy, the information often does not account for factors such as people who are employed but lack benefits, people who work multiple jobs to earn the income they report, mortgage and college loan debt that jeopardizes people’s ability to repay credit card debt or medical bills or other economic realities many Americans face.
The commission established by Feingold’s legislation would consider:
- The current debt situation of American individuals and households, including categories of debt such as credit card debt, education related loans and mortgage payments;
- The movement of Americans between salaried jobs with benefits to single or multiple wage jobs with limited or no benefits with a comparison of income to include the value of benefits programs such as health insurance and retirement plans;
- The percentage of Americans who are covered by both employer-provided and individual health care plans and the extent of coverage per dollar paid by both employers and employees;
- The savings rate, including both standard savings plans and pension plans;
- The disparity in income distribution over time and between different demographic and geographic groups; and
- The breakdown of household expenditures between such categories as food, shelter, medical expenses, debt servicing, and energy.