Since 2000 my wages have been stagnant

[edhopper]

meanwhile;
My healthcare cost have doubled
My utilities and energy cost have doubled
My rent has gone up 75%
Travel and food cost are way up
and entertainment costs have doubled

(these are rounded averages, not precise measures.)

I am posting this, not for sympathy or help and advice with my situation (thank you for your concerns)
but because I get the feeling that I am not unique in my middle class plight.

I think I might be typical in this and I also think there is one main reason for it.
The Rich are taking everything they can, and with the willful help of the Government are consigning the rest of us to the scraps.

[gelsdorf]

1. My wife works in the grocery business

for a 'food broker' Started @$11 an hour in 1995, after mergers, buyouts, etc., she now makes...........

wait for it............................

a whopping $11.35!!!!!!! 35 cents an hour in 19 years!!!
Standard line "Be happy you have a job!"

Of course, prices haven't gone up much in 19 years, have they?

Yeah, that minimum wage increase is gonna make prices go up. I must have missed that meeting while trying to figure why my food bill is so high.
So Ed, it's not you. I know many like us.

Like anything else, when you hoard, there is less for everyone else. As the rich hoard cash, no raises, cut food stamps, LIHEAP, medicaid etc. Great idea, take money OUT of the economy.

Hint.....it ain't workin!!!!

[Lasher]

2. I'd say you are typical of what's left of the middle class.

Additional wealth is there but during the past 3 decades, the gains have gone to those who were already affluent.





http://currydemocrats.org/american-pie/

[pampango]

4. Great point. In the last 40 years the US has diverged from Europe in terms of the 1%'s take of

the total gain in income.

In the U.S., about 47 per cent of total growth went to the wealthiest one per cent between 1975 and 2007, compared to 37 per cent in Canada, while in Australia and the U.K., about 20 per cent of growth went to the wealthiest.

In Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) and in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, about 90 per cent of growth went to the 99 per cent of middle and low-income earners in the same period.

Larry Summers, who was secretary of the treasury under Bill Clinton and is now a Harvard professor, has pointed out how [the constant push for tax cuts and the erosion of union bargaining rights has led to greater income inequality.

The study calls for higher marginal tax rates and fewer tax deductions and credits aimed at high income earners. It also advocates wealth or inheritance taxes.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/top-1-taking-lion-s-share-of-global-growth-oecd-says-1.2627154

[Lasher]

6. And yet this thread will sink like a stone.

We are too preoccupied with social issues to trouble ourselves much about economic these economic concerns.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. That is because people can't connect it

Social justice is economic justice.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

3. I've had raises

over the past 14 years but, like you said, with inflation outpacing wages, I've actually taken a steady cut in pay.

[KentuckyWoman]

5. I don't think you are typical at all

Just on straight numbers alone (not figuring for inflation) I'm pretty sure most of the "middle class" has been LOSING wages. Which sadly, would put you in a better position than most. Small comfort I know.....

The average household gross income in my neck of the woods in 1980 was about $37000. It got up to about $52000 in 2000.... a lot of that having to do with more people in the household working and those who worked were working more hours. In 2013 the average in this part of Kentucky is back down to about $37000.

In 33 years this part of Kentucky is stagnant as far as wages .... but since 2000 it's been a heck of a drop.

Now I'm not sure Kentucky would translate into US as a whole, but if the news reports and various charts on the DU are correct then I'm pretty sure the US generally wages have nosedived.

[myrna minx]

7. Good post - I'd have to agree. n/t

[Fumesucker]

27. I had a real life discussion with a couple of friends about this just today

One comment was "I made more in the nineties than I do today" another was "I made more in the mid eighties"..

Neither of these people are very politically minded.

[Armstead]

9. A cartonn of milk htat cost about $1.50 htree or four years ago is now round $3

I didnt get a 100 percent raise in the meantime.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. And canned vegetables...

went from 16 oz cans to 14.

[karadax]

39. Price of comic books

I was going through some comics that i bought for my daughter and noticed the price change over time. I know it's not food but it's an indicator of inflation. In 1982 it was 70 cents for a comic. 1992 it was $1.00. 1993 it was 1.25. 2000 it was 2.25. Today $2.99.

[edhopper]

40. Most of the books from

Marvel and Dc are $3.99

Movies have also gone up quite a bit in the last few years. In NY it is anywhere from $12 to $16 and that doesn't include the extra for 3D or pre-purchase online.

[edhopper]

10. On healthcare costs

not only have costs risen, but employee contributions to employer based plans have skyrocketed.

[A Little Weird]

11. Same here

And during that time, they have cut employees so I am now expected to do the work that 2-3 people did a few years ago with no increase in my pay. So in addition to the cost of everything going up, job stress is also way up and general happiness is way down.

[dgauss]

12. And the cost increases come at you in all sorts of little ways.

Ever notice how your cable bill keeps creeping up? Not a necessity I know, but something many people, I would guess most, have.

I haven't changed anything in the last 3 years but the cost has increased an average of 7% a year. Again, cable is not a necessity or a major item like rent or food, but it's just a little example of how the increase in the typical everyday cost of things is outpacing the increase in wages.

[edhopper]

20. Not a necessity,

but in our hard scrabble lives, one of the enjoyable pastimes we can escape to.
And that has almost doubled since 2000 for me as well.

[riderinthestorm]

13. K&R times 1000. nt

[LibDemAlways]

14. Husband laid off in 2010 at age 59. Six months

later he took the first job offered at a 40% cut in salary. The same year our daughter was preparing to enter college to the tune of $30K a year (state school including tuition/room/board).

I slave away as a substitute teacher. No raise in 7 years. If I worked every day of the school year (which is an impossibility given the number of subs out there and the competition for jobs) I would pull in a princely $18K a year. Last year my W-2 read $4800.00.

Every time a bill shows up I cringe. Working as hard as ever and falling farther and farther behind. I feel your pain.

[edhopper]

21. I did not include that since I have no college age children

But they have definitely shifted the costs of higher education from the State and tax payers (mainly the wealthy who don't pay their share anymore) to the students.
Cost have gone up almost 10 fold since I went in the 70s.

[LibDemAlways]

24. No kidding. My tuition at a state

school in 1970 was $144.00 for the year! Tuition today is ridiculous.

[edhopper]

25. I think I paid bout $500

a semester.

[nationalize the fed]

15. ^

Los Angeles now spending more on Wall Street fees than on maintaining roads
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024919288

It will get worse until people demand real change.

What happened to Occupy? People literally wandering around in the streets while snipers watch

Edit: Here is an "Urgent Priority"

FACT SHEET: U.S. Crisis Support Package for Ukraine
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/21/fact-sheet-us-crisis-support-package-ukraine

President Obama and Vice President Biden have made U.S. support for Ukraine an urgent priority

Not even 5% of the population will bother to read what is happening to their money.

Bread and Circuses. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

[Helen Borg]

16. The propaganda would have you believe that...

You just did not have a sufficiently positive mindset to make the most of the hand you were dealt and thrive.
Don't fall for it, none of the 1 percenters in your same exact situation would have done any better.

[edhopper]

22. I don't want to talk about myself too much

I am in the arts and if my talent was compensated as well as brokers on Wall Street, I would be making millions a year.

[WhiteTara]

18. Mine have declined and all the rest of

your post applies to me.

As a small manufacturer of almost 30 years, I've seen when money is withdrawn from the system. Reagan took giant amounts of money from the system, and periodically, I "felt" the money being sucked from the system to be horded somewhere. Each uptick and downward spiral are felt in our company everyday. Right now, people are feeling hopeful and our online orders are larger than a couple of months ago.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. DU Rec for the OP and the conversation and the links. Real People discussing Real Life.

[magical thyme]

23. sadly, that means you're doing well ...

I'm currently making my mid '80s income. And that's up from 3 years ago, when I was making my 1982 or so income.

It's also roughly 1/3 what I made from 1999-2002, and 1/5 what I made at my peak from 95-99.

[edhopper]

26. In the 90s I got

a 2% raise every 2 years, so i am not that far behind you.

[abelenkpe]

28. Wages were stagnant too

recently found out that pixar, ilm, dream works, etc were colluding to keep wages suppressed with agreements to not recruit from one another or offer substantially more for employees. That must not have been enough for them though since they abruptly off shored the vast majority of VFX work overseas in just the past year and a half leaving thousands in LA with no work. Somewhere between lower healthcare costs for employees everywhere else in the world, subsidies offered by other countries and rumors of vfx artists actually unionizing the work went bye bye.

Have written to my dem reps, and while they sweetly offer things like retraining programs none seem interested in doing anything to counter offshoring. Maybe cause they're too busy attending campaign fundraising drives held by the ceo's and producers of large entertainment companies who are happy to reduce labor costs.

Workers need global unions to compete with global corporations. Governments everywhere are manipulated by the interests of the very wealthy and corporations. Campaign finance laws might help but a global workers movement is needed.

[3catwoman3]

29. 3 years ago...

...after no raise for the previous 3 years, I was told that the very tiny one being granted would be the last one I should expect because I had reached what my employers considered the max. I'm a nurse practitioner. I have been with my current practice for almost 20 years. I'm in my early 60s, so not likely to go looking anywhere else at this point. The raise amounts to about two 6 inch subway sandwiches a week - barely enough to register on the direct deposit statement.

I had thought I would probably continue to work until I was 70. Not so sure now. Being told you will never ever get another pay increase isn't very motivating.

[HockeyMom]

30. Try 1980's

let alone 2000.

[Thinkingabout]

31. Seems like sanctions have been placed on workers. We tighten our budget and hope to make it to

The next paycheck. I can't imagine what folks would do if Social Security went away. Pensions are becoming something of the past and there sure isn't enough wages to save the needed funds to sustain life when we are not able to work anymore.

[edhopper]

38. The 401K as a pension replacement

has been a great failure.

[GReedDiamond]

32. My wages have gone up...

...but they don't pay for everything I used to be able to get when I was making less.

[RainDog]

33. k&r n/t

[progressoid]

34. Yep. Me too.

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. Our household income is one-half our 2000 level.

We're currently about where we were in 1986.

[Puzzledtraveller]

36. Same here

Let me tell you something, I have been a SNAP and medicaid caseworker for 5 years. I now have a family of 4, guess who is also now receiving SNAP and Medicaid?

Raises for state employees have been suspended since before I began working for The Commonwealth. They are finally going to implement a gradual increase that they admitted does little to make up for the gap created by rising costs of living and stagnant wages. We have a Dem governor who oversaw the budget cuts and furloughs, he takes credit for the success of major programs with barely a nod to the people who make it happen for some of the lowest wages for public sector employees in the entire country. I have had it.

[Jenoch]

37. I guess my 22 year old nephew is lucky.

He graduated with a polisci degree last Sunday. (A degree that is not worth much on its own.) He had been working for a 1/2 way house babysitting people who are incarcerated (for the lack of a better term). He is going to work his current job that includes much overtime at $22/per hour and then take a management job where he spends time in various units starting at $20/hour with better benefits in the fall.

He will probably be the GM before he is 30. Liberal arts degrees are not always a bad thing. This kid was also an all-conference D-3 football player for three seasons. He played in every single football game in his four seasons.

[Orrex]

41. Yes, he is.

For every Liberal Arts degree that isn't "a bad thing," there are probably 10,000 that are close to worthless.

Tell your nephew to start saving for retirement now.