Pennsylvania Change in Income Growth, Clinton v. Bush

Thanks to the wonders of the Department of Commerce, this map compares real (inflation-adjusted) income growth during the 1990s to income growth since 1999. Yes, the data are imperfect. But they're what we've got. The darker the color, the bigger the difference between the Clinton years and the Bush years. Western Pennsylvania has good reason to blame Bush for economic downtimes, while most of the Southeastern part of the state things seem much as they were before. It's true that overall, everyone is worse off under Bush, but the pinch isn't large enough to be visible in many parts of the state. The good-paying jobs of the New Economy never really made it to places like Altoona or Easton, after all.

The best interpretation of the data, methinks, is that the economy during the Clinton years was strong enough to prevent Middletown America from continuing to fall further behind, but not strong enough in those regions to allow for robust growth.