No mention that the "Pew Hispanic Center found that workers who were not U.S. citizens claimed 378,496 jobs out of a net increase of 1.3 million from the first three months of 2003 through the first three months of this year." To wit, no mention of ILLEGAL "cheap" labor on labor supply / wage rates. nyt employees value diversity so the topic is off limits.
Altogether I'd say the article had little value though it did point out widely known factors such as in recent years spending was fueled mostly by debt, as consumers took advantage of bedrock-low interest rates to whip out their credit cards and refinance their mortgages.
Census Bureau numbers support the sagging earnings at the bottom end (and middle) as the higher earners get more and more of the aggregate income. At least it's not always the same people year to year, I suppose. This is a trend that been tracked through Republican and Democrat administrations. Why it's now "anti-Bush" to talk about it is a puzzle.
What solution do you propose? That American workers go without medical care? (if they pay from their own pockets it has to come from somewhere, if not from wages then from credit cards or else). Or that the medical costs are somehow lowered?