Former Obama administration official Steve Rattner explained Americans’ frustration with the economy in simple terms: Wages are down, and a lot of people who want to work still are not working.
Rattner said the Democratic Party’s "positive" economic message "didn’t seem to resonate" with voters because, as Vice President Biden so eloquently stated, middle class workers can "feel it in their bones" that the recovery has been weak.
"Even though there had bean huge number of new jobs created, a lot of Americans who want to work are still not working," Rattner said.
Next, Rattner examined a chart which showed average American incomes, adjusted for inflation, had decreased by one percent since 2009. Wages are down 3.8 percent in the manufacturing sector and for auto industry workers, wages are down by 15 percent.
Rattner told BBC journalist Katty Kay she should be "depressed" by the chart.
"We saved the jobs, we couldn't save the incomes," Rattner said. "So it's very hard to make a case for Americans that the economy is great when your income is down."