PA Research Group Offers Economic Plan to Obama and McCain, Scorecard to Voters

Keystone Research Center, Critical of Economy in Its Recent State of Working
Pennsylvania Report, Says 'Steal Our Plan!' and Urges Voters to Rate the
Candidates

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the wake of its
yearly report on the state of the Pennsylvania economy -- a report showing
stagnant wages, tumbling home prices, and skyrocketing income increases for
the wealthiest Commonwealth residents -- the Keystone Research Center (KRC) in
Harrisburg today released two documents it said will help voters make informed
choices about the economic plans of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.
One of the documents released today is a speech that KRC would like to
hear either candidate offer in Pennsylvania in the coming weeks. "With polls
finding the economy the number one issue across the land, voters are starved
for a convincing story about how each candidate would restore broadly shared
prosperity," said KRC economist Stephen Herzenberg. "Voters don't want a
laundry list. They do want some specifics that would make a real difference,
plus they want an overall vision that restores confidence in the possibility
of a better future. We've prepared a speech that outlines how America could
create a moral economy that delivers economically and sustains, rather than
undermines, families and communities. We encourage both candidates to take
freely from it."
The second document is a scorecard with 10 criteria for rating the
candidates' own economic plans. The criteria are drawn from KRC's economic
analysis and vision, and can be used to assess the candidates' understanding
of the economic realities facing working families and to improve those
realities. Individual criteria address wages, benefits, worker training, green
jobs, unionization rights, trade policies, and the need for an economic
stimulus that would kick-start a transition to a more moral economy.
"We think our scorecard criteria provide a solid basis on which the
average voter can evaluate both candidates," said Dr. Herzenberg.
Both the scorecard and the speech are available online at
http://www.keystoneresearch.org.
Herzenberg said providing the voter scorecard and the speech is a logical
extension of what KRC -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group -- does.
"Since our founding in 1996, our mission has always been highly practical and
pragmatic-promoting solutions that will actually work to improve the lives of
Pennsylvania workers and families," he noted. "In The State of Working
Pennsylvania 2008, our recent report, we've pinpointed the current problems.
Now we're presenting the solutions in a form that we hope will reach some new
audiences."
With a change in the presidency at hand, he added, now is the perfect time
to offer a vision to both campaigns. "Our proposal is simple and workable, and
we would be thrilled to have it 'plagiarized' by Senator Obama or Senator
McCain," he said.
In The State of Working Pennsylvania 2008, released just last week,
Herzenberg and KRC labor economist Mark Price, PhD, found that the year-old
national economic crisis, with its rising mortgage foreclosures, falling home
prices, and severely stressed financial institutions, has already damaged the
Pennsylvania economy. The wages of most Pennsylvania workers are stagnant, and
the concentration of income among the richest 1 percent of earners is
approaching the level of the 1920s, the report showed.
Perhaps more telling, The State of Working Pennsylvania 2008 also revealed
that even before the economy began to falter, Pennsylvania workers were not
doing well. "The expansion that began in November 2001 was characterized by
slow employment growth, and the share of the population employed failed to
reach the levels achieved in the late 1990s," Price and Herzenberg wrote.
"Weakness in the labor market translated into anemic wage growth that failed
to even keep pace with inflation."
The report's figures on the flat incomes of middle- and low-wage workers
contrast sharply with its data on the rapidly rising incomes for the
wealthiest Pennsylvanians. Between 2001 and 2005, the richest 1 percent of
Pennsylvania families captured nearly 80 percent of all the growth in personal
income in the state.
This is a stunning reversal from the 1997-2000 period, Price said, when
the top 1 percent of families captured just 10 percent of the growth in
personal income.
The State of Working Pennsylvania also discusses the current housing
problem in the commonwealth, where home prices have dropped by 4 percent since
the first quarter of 2007.
"With both wages and home prices falling, and savings rates close to zero,
families are being squeezed in a way that is likely to depress consumption
spending in the months ahead," Price noted. "And since consumption spending
makes up about 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, this does not bode
well for the broader economy."
To view the complete State of Working Pennsylvania 2008, visit
http://www.keystoneresearch.org.
SOURCE Keystone Research Center

Ellen Roberts of Keystone Research Center, +1-717-514-6733,
roberts@keystoneresearch.org