But his advisers warn that in all 50 states many voters feel that prosperity is only for the rich and would resent any excessive White House happy talk. Stress that much remains to be done. Wages for the typical worker have fallen behind price increases ever since the early 1970s, and the trend has worsened during the Clinton years. Yet in every way that can be measured, from ownership of color TV sets to the numbers of people vacationing in Europe, Americans are living much better than two decades ago. True, the prosperity is far from equally shared.
Ordinary citizens are perhaps most puzzled of all.
Small wonder that so many people feel they are working harder and harder just to keep up. Maldonado, a Chicago bill collector . Rita's parents now babysit for Clarissa while her mother works, but the grandparents plan to move to Texas in a year or two and the Maldonados will somehow have to scrape up the money for day care. What especially frightens many people is that so many of the old workplace rules no longer apply. Painfully acquired job skills and long years of seniority at a profitable company are no longer a guarantee against layoff.