Hightower Lowdown

Amidst all the hoopla about the skyrocketing Dow Jones and NASDAQ, the politicians and the media need to pay more attention to which way the Flo Chart is moving.

Flo's a waitress at the Dine & Go Diner on the 6- to-9 breakfast shift before she goes downtown to do grunt work from 10 to 4 for insurance company lawyers at the firm of Meager, Wages & Miser. Ironically, Flo doesn't have insurance. She does have a couple of great kids, though, and she wishes she had more time to spend with them.

This is the real American majority-the 800A of folks who are paid less than $50,000 a year, the 60% who don't own any stocks or bonds, the 75% who don't have a university sheepskin on the wall ... and the two-thirds who aren't voting because neither party is fighting for Flo.

Republicans and Dem- ocrats alike hail reports that thousands of new jobs are being created. But for workers and job seekers, the issue isn't just getting a job, but getting an income you can live on, raise a family, and retire on.

So what does the Flo Chart say about America's "prosperity"?: American workers are being paid less today than they were when Nixon was president In real dollars, average hourly wages in 1973 were $13.61. Today, despite the fact that worker productivity has jumped by a third, they're down to $12.77.