This is such a goofy first couple of praragraphs in today’s New York Times story headlined “Fast Growth In Economy After 9/11.” :

New York City’s economy bounced back after Sept. 11 with surprising speed and is much healthier now than its slow-growing job market indicates, according to a report released yesterday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Labor market data shows that there are 100,000 fewer private-sector jobs in the city than there were five years ago. But the report, which offers an analysis of the economic effects of 9/11 over the past five years, showed that the city has been recovering at least as fast as the nation by other measures. Most notably, average incomes have been rising faster for city residents than for other Americans, it states.

Errrr…you meant to say, I gather, that the rich are getting richer even if there are not jobs for people? The story is saved a bit later by a quote from a colleague here in NYC:

James A. Parrott, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal watchdog group, said most of the income gains have gone to wealthier residents, and have not been shared by the typical city worker.

He said that the average overall income increase masks the fact that hourly wages of most residents have been declining since 2002, when adjusted for inflation.

“If you look at family costs and energy costs and the cost of health care, I’d be hard-pressed to make the case that real living standards are rising for average New Yorkers,” Mr. Parrott said. “The polarization trend if anything is more pronounced in New York City than it is nationwide.”