In order to create the impression of a stagnant ordeclining economy, the anti-Bush forces try to come up with one or two obscure economic statistics that supposedly prove their point. While Republicans run off the list of positive standard indicators (interest rates, inflation, unemployment rate, home ownership, etc.), we get stuff like this from the NY Times (The Sluggish Wage Recovery):

Indeed, take-home pay, as a share of the economy, is at its lowest level since the government started keeping track in 1929.

What does that mean, exactly? How are "take-home pay" and "share of the economy" defined? To me it sounds as if the government is spending too much money - I'm assuming that it has been taking up a growing share of the economy as defined here. Whatever it is, this is obviously some ridiculous stretch of the imagination to get people to think that we are worse of now than during the Depression.