Link:
Wage gains in the last ten years are actually slower than the Great Depression.
Does this come as a surprise to you? No? Me either.
It truly is a mystery how part of the public continues to advocate trickle-down economics. How many more years of utter failure do we have to endure? How could anyone, let alone the poor, want to give more money to the wealthiest 1%? It doesn't make any sense. Sure, the theory sounds great, but it's not working, it hasn't worked, and it won't work.
When is it time for something new?
Why hasn't anyone brought up the fact that when unions were stronger, wages were stronger? Yvette Smith from Naked Capitalism ponders how “there is a curious failure to mention why wage gains were higher in the Depression despite even higher unemployment. Funny how it does not occur [to] them to mention unions as helping give workers some bargaining power.”
It is true. As union membership declines, so does middle-class income.
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| ThinkProgress |
Jed Graham from Investors.com explains how real wages were worse last decade than in The Great Depression:
"The increase in total private-sector wages, adjusted for inflation, from the start of 2001 has fallen far short of any 10-year period since World War II, according to Commerce Department data. In fact, if the data are to be believed, economy wide wage gains have even lagged those in the decade of the Great Depression (adjusted for deflation). Over the past decade, real private-sector wage growth has scraped bottom at 4%, just below the 5% increase from 1929 to 1939, government data show."
"The increase in total private-sector wages, adjusted for inflation, from the start of 2001 has fallen far short of any 10-year period since World War II, according to Commerce Department data. In fact, if the data are to be believed, economy wide wage gains have even lagged those in the decade of the Great Depression (adjusted for deflation). Over the past decade, real private-sector wage growth has scraped bottom at 4%, just below the 5% increase from 1929 to 1939, government data show."
There you have it. Last year, while American's enjoyed a 2% wage increase, CEO pay increased 20%, despite productivity being way up. Average pay for a CEO was $11.5 million, while American's made an average of $0.58 more a week.
Bush Tax Cuts anyone?
