I Remember Saying In 1981 That $10 An Hour Would Be Called A Good Job Eventually.

[TheMastersNemesis]

When I was still at DOL and listened to Reagan giving his speech about the new "service economy" I remember saying that a low wage economy was coming to the US. And I thought at the time that a wage of $8 to $10 an hour would be called a good job if what was planned ever came to pass. "Service Economy" was code for "low wage" economy with job insecurity.

At DOL you could see the trends develop and the "ship of state" take a different direction. The public was misled and real intentions kept secret. All the GOP needed to do was win just enough elections and obstruct or misdirect as much as possible. And I am amazed that so much of the plan has been pulled off.

Look around and carefully analyze the economic situation. All my fears about the direction of work seems to be coming true. And the 2016 election is the one the GOP most badly wants to win. They can really screw the country if they get full power.

BTW - Even $7.25 an hour is too much for the oligarchs & the GOP.

[maxrandb]

1. I have personal experience in this, and it makes me so mad

In 1982, I was a full-time Stock Boy at a large regional supermarket chain. We weren't Union, but since our nearest competitor was, we received almost the exact same wages and benefits.

I left there to pursue a career in the Navy, and eventually retired after 30 years as a Naval Officer. I live "well" on my military pension.

Now, the point is this. At that job at the Grocery Store in 1982, I had been there for 4 years. I was making $11.60 and hour, with time-and-a-half for overtime, double-time on Sundays and Holidays. It was a "frickin" great job, and it was one of those jobs that could place you "firmly" in the Middle Class at that time.

Well, a little while back, I was talking to a guy at my local Grocery Store. He was doing the same job I was doing in 1982 and he was making a whopping $0.80 more and hour in 2014, than I was in 1982.

That's a big fucking problem. I guess that in those times, some of the profit went back to the employees in the form of wages, but now, it appears that the only one's able to live "well" are those at the highest level.

That's what reducing income taxes on the wealthy did. They didn't "invest" that windfall back into their employees, THEY FUCKING KEPT IT TO THEMSELVES...AND DECIDED THAT THEY WANTED EVEN FUCKING MORE

[Warpy]

2. In 1981, it was a good job. It's about what I made as a new nurse

It didn't go all that far in Boston because of the extremely high rents there, but it allowed me to live alone and meet my needs. I even managed to save on it.

Ten years later, it wasn't such a good job. Fortunately, it had doubled for nurses. Others weren't so lucky, people with advanced degrees even in things like accounting feeling lucky to make twelve bucks an hour.

Wages have been severely depressed since the late 70s in an attempt to lower inflation. It didn't work and now that the eternal credit tap has been turned off, the demand side of the equation has been choked off. Inflation, built into fiat currency, continues to chug along at 3-5%. Economists scratch their heads and wonder why the economy isn't humming.

Conservatives are psychologically incapable of realizing they have made mistakes. They are utterly incapable of letting go of dogma in order to correct them.

I sincerely hope the sea change I see around me picks up pace and starts to happen in the heartland, even people in churches with their eyes on heaven rather than earth realizing that the way to get to heaven is to make things better here on earth.

This is the end game of nothing but conservatives from both parties in power since 1969. It can't go on like this much longer.

[bemildred]

3. Yep, the UK government sold the British that "service economy" bullshit back in the 60s too.

Pretty much for the same reasons: empire in decline, living standards must be reduced to protect the banks, etc.

And the same result.

[pintobean]

5. $10 in 1981 was equal to $26.25 in today's dollars. /nt

[ladyVet]

6. Yeah, anything we get is too much.

I remember when people would talk about all the tech jobs that NAFTA and the like would bring, and for a while it did. Then the companies realized folks were making way too much money, and hello, in-sourcing and outsourcing.

People would say all our factory jobs will never come back, but I believe they will. When unions are busted, benefits are booted and workers will accept $4 an hour for 60 hour weeks, no overtime, retirement, and certainly no labor and safety laws.

And it will come. Part time retail jobs do not an economy make, I don't care how the government pushes it. All it's going to do is push people into accepting those "full-time" jobs when they swing back around.

Throw in some child labor, and the people who really run this country will be singing and dancing. It will be like the 1800s all over again.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. In 1989, directly after graduating from Cambridge University, I was paid about $9/hour by IBM

and that was better pay than some engineering firms offered me - they were close to $8/hour.

Yes, it was a good job.

[jwirr]

8. But what makes this so terrible is not the stagnant wages. It is the fact that the cost of living

has kept right on going up. That money we had then is not buying us half as much as it did then. We had cars, modest homes and plenty of food. There were things we needed and did not have like medical assistance for all. But for the most part we had hopes of it getting better.

There was another problem that most of us did not face. Minorities were not getting these benefits for the most part. Yes, some did and they prospered but most were in worse shape economically than we were. They often live in very old deteriorating neighborhoods that had very few well paying jobs and poor schools. But they also faced the rising cost of living.

Where I live on the reservation we are also facing that problem except we went from no jobs except what the government supplied like CETA to jobs that still do not provide the basics cost of living.

No where in the United States have things gotten any better when it comes to the cost of living. To being able to have the basic needs in life met.

And the rich do not see this at all. They are wilfully blind. Oh, no the pharmaceutical industry and their stockholders need more money. That is the bottom line.

[romanic]

10. +100000

It's not just about wages. If the COL and inflation isn't addressed, it wouldn't matter if we had $15/min wage across the nation. As long as companies can keep raising costs and properties keep raising rents, no one is going to benefit with more pay.

[irisblue]

9. k& r

[KG]

11. oh c'mon. wage stagnation is a myth, read it fight here on DU!

[jwirr]

12. LOL.