Wages not keeping up with inflation

[the_outsider]

But corporate profits and GDP growth are all right. So all's well.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&e=4&u=/nm/economy_wages_dc


"For those at the low end of the income spectrum, the story only gets worse. The government's tally of total wage gains masks the fact that lower-paid workers are getting even smaller pay raises than the population as a whole.


Americans making less than $21,000 a year, predominantly minorities in urban centers but also whites in rural towns, actually got paid 1.7 percent less in 2004 than the year before. "

[miss_kitty]

1. Colour me surprised

not.

[linazelle]

9. -ditto- n/t

[CountAllVotes]

2. I spoke with a young man yesterday at the bank

and he is earning less than I was 20 years ago!

:kick:

[JDPriestly]

3. Assuming you're still lucky enough

to have a wage under the Bush anti-economy.

[EVDebs]

4. This has been happening since 1973 according to David Cay Johnston's

book "Perfectly Legal" and the rich just keep getting richer. There comes a time when a Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25 ) comes along and reallocates ...

[HughBeaumont]

6. While the rich's income has increased anywhere from 29 to 1444%

In TEN YEARS!!

Everyone should read or buy that book and get pissed at just how BADLY you're being screwed.

[the_outsider]

7. Haven't read the book

Does most of the gain come from corporate tax cuts introduced during Reagan years?

[EVDebs]

14. Loopholes and 'unreportable' income of the wealthiest since no payroll

stubs get reported to fed IRS like on joe sixpack. The wealthiest individuals and corporations then hire tax attorneys, who get paid a portion of the tax-savings they generate for the rich, to write even more loopholes. The vicious circle keeps money off-the-books and going offshore.

This has reached the point of 'national security' as Lou Dobbs now shows us. He mentions a CIA report saying continued outsourcing is threat to US and Western world's middle class.

Globalization and taxcuts supporting it along with hidden income are the major culprits in "Perfectly Legal", but buy the book and see for yerself.

[KharmaTrain]

5. And Now The Interest Rate Shoe Drops...

Rising oil prices and out of control war spending are the same ingredients that shot interest rates sky high in the 70's...along with massive inflation. Interest rates have been held artificially low in efforts to save the housing market, but even that's not working anymore...the pressure is mounting by the banks and rising rates are going to be the end result.

I strongly suggest those who are currently holding debt to do whatever they can to re-consolidate (if you haven't already) and lock in a rate...even if it's a point or two higher. The rise won't kill people quickly, just slowly bleed a few more dollars from your pockets every month.

Or course, if you're rich and a majority of your income is from investments, rising interest rates are a good thing indeed...and surely something RoveCo. will deliver to his benefactors...one of the few things they haven't gotten already.

[ArchTeryx]

8. Rising interest rates good for investors?

Rising interest rates depress the stock market, or worse, cause it to go nowhere for long periods of time. That's the sort of environment where only the luckiest market-timers actually make much money.

Of course, the rich have plenty of other protection as well. Stock market crashes hurt, but hardly destroy, many of them, particularly the Robber Barons of today, which make obscene amounts of money through salary AND stock options (as well as a bunch of other mechanisms).

-- ArchTeryx

[KharmaTrain]

11. There's More To Investing Than The Market

T-Bills, Bonds and other "vehicles" that are tied to borrowing...both person and federal...which is tied to the interest rates. Someone gotta finance the debt and keep the show going...and they'll gladly lend money for the "proper" rate.

While the stock market was cranking, the bond market was in the dumps...usually works that way. Now it's shifting the other way...as the big money has little confidence in both the stock market and the American consumer right now, they'd rather make their money not on what is made and bought, but on what is needed and has to be paid for in advance.

Of course most people don't hear about this side of our economy...think the wealthy like people to know they make lots of money when the "riff raff" aren't?

[ArchTeryx]

16. True, but...

There have been times where both stock AND bond markets were in the dumps. Re: stagflationary 70s. High interest rates aren't *necessarily* good for bonds, either.

Of course, there ARE funds and stock groupings which are DESIGNED to do well in bear markets, but they are insanely risky for anyone but a financial pro to play with.

Unless one is an 'insider' the rich do take risks in the stock market and sometimes get burned. The big difference is that if they get burned, it isn't their survival money that they're losing. And when one is a 'corporate insider' which can manipulate the stocks they are invested in, all bets are off.

-- ArchTeryx

[leftofthedial]

10. why does it take the Murkan middle class and working class so long

to even recognize that they are in a class war and getting their asses kicked?

And yet they keep voting for their enemies

[Sirveri]

12. but but but, corporations make the economy move, right?

Oh wait... sorry, channeled a idiot there.

IT IS THE MIDDLE CLASS THAT MAKES THE MONEY MOVE!!! God, it's so fucking simple!

[UdoKier]

13. Wages have not kept up with prices for at least 25 years...

Workers have worked longer and longer hours, and wives have joined the work force to make up the difference, and there was a brief 2 or 3 years during Clinton's term when wages actually outstripped prices, but it's mostly been a losing battle for the bottom half. There's only so much overtime that people can work...


Not surprising, when the minimum wage hasn't gone up in 8 years.

[6th Borough]

15. Wages aren't keeping up w/ affordable housing, either.

Everyonw knows that low interest rates have created a real estate bubble; it's even worse in some places.

Case in point: I live in Broward County, FL. We are near build out. There is barely a patch of open land left here. Houses have shot up 100 grand plus in 5 years. Thus, rental prices have soared to meet the demand presented by people who can't afford to buy a house. It's becoming ever tougher to find a resonably priced apartment if you are on a low income. Oh, and our public transportation system sucks.

Makes me wonder...if service industy employees are priced out of the county, where will those who can afford to live here go when they need to...well, buy stuff? Can companies manage to find 16 yr. old employees who still live with the 'rents for every low paying job in a county of nearly 2 million people, within a metro area of 6-7 million?