The Times finally reports what we all know:

Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows.

The average income in 2005 was $55,238, nearly 1 percent less than the $55,714 in 2000, after adjusting for inflation, analysis of new Internal Revenue Service statistical tables shows.

The combined income of all Americans in 2005 was slightly larger than it was in 2000, but because more people were dividing up the national income pie, the average remained smaller. Total adjusted gross income in 2005 was $7.43 billion, up 3.1 percent from 2000 and 5.8 percent from 2004.

Total income listed on tax returns grew every year after World War II, with a single one-year exception, until 2001, making the five-year period of lower average incomes and four years of lower total incomes a new experience for the majority of Americans born since 1945.

I love new experiences. Don't you?

Why "values voters" don't consider the ability to put food on the table and a better life for their children a "value" I will never understand.

Please, now can we stop this foolish talk about "the economy"? "The" economy works very differently for some people than for others. And for most of us, it works a lot worse than it did:

The fact that average incomes remained lower in 2005 than five years earlier helps explain why so many Americans report feeling economic stress despite overall growth in the economy. Many Americans are also paying a larger share of their health care costs and have had their retirement benefits reduced, adding to their out-of-pocket costs.

"Overall growth" is good. That's what happens when you work hard for less and the tapeworms cream off all the profits. And then blow the profits on fancy investment vehicles. And then panic when the vehicles break down. And then stick you with the repair bills for that, along with everything else.

And remember: Keep smiling!