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Politics "Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right." -H.L. Menken

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Old 06-15-2011, 08:16 AM   #1
CptSternn
 
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Workers’ share of national income plummets to record low

http://tinyurl.com/6652t77

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Over the last decade, the share of U.S. national income taken home by workers has plummeted to a record low.

Check out the chart below, compiled by the Labor Department, and posted this week by conservative writer David Frum. It shows that the decline began with the brief recession that followed 9/11 in 2001. But it continued even as the economy picked up again, and got even worse once the Great Recession hit. In the weak recovery since then, workers' share of income just kept on falling.

Why are workers taking home such a reduced share of the pie? Opinions differ, but many experts think that the trend has to do with a number of factors, including a decline in the bargaining power of labor, and increased competition from foreign workers. Similarly, over the last year or so, U.S. companies have made record profits, while unemployment has stayed high and wages have barely risen.

The chart jibes with other data, which show that since the 1980s, income for the richest 1 percent of Americans has exploded, while hardly budging at all for everyone else.

Still, there's little sense that either Obama administration or Congress plan to do much about this growing inequality. Indeed, any serious action to boost the economy and cut unemployment now seems to be off the table.
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Old 06-15-2011, 08:35 AM   #2
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How does the Index convert into real money?
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Old 06-15-2011, 11:21 AM   #3
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Considering the increasing (particularly over that same decade) amount of the nation's annual revenue that goes towards paying on the national debt, this isn't neither a surprise or some nefarious scheme.
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Old 06-15-2011, 04:23 PM   #4
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I also blame this on lack of unions in the US. The US worker does not have the power he once had.
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Old 06-16-2011, 12:19 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger View Post
Considering the increasing (particularly over that same decade) amount of the nation's annual revenue that goes towards paying on the national debt, this isn't neither a surprise or some nefarious scheme.
So how is it then the top 1% have trebled their money? They control what? 85% of the wealth? They have a 300% increase and workers pay flatlines and you see no problem?
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Old 06-16-2011, 02:02 AM   #6
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I also blame this on lack of unions in the US. The US worker does not have the power he once had.
The problem is with the unions themselves.

The unions once had the power to improve the workers' conditions/pay-rates/etc., making it so that workers can make a livable wage comparable to the work they do. Now, many (maybe most) unions look out not for the workers, but for themselves. Unions have become a new form of corporation. And I find this reprehensible.

Should unions be disbanded? No, of course not. But they certainly need reform, and that can only come from the inside.
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Old 06-16-2011, 08:03 AM   #7
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So how is it then the top 1% have trebled their money? They control what? 85% of the wealth? They have a 300% increase and workers pay flatlines and you see no problem?
The workers pay flat-lined over that decade because the economy entered a period of slowed growth (which the Bush tax cuts sought to address but did little for) and then tanked, entering a recession since late 2008 (pus the factor of the increasing U.S. debt that I mentioned previously.) Under those conditions you wouldn't normally expect to see much in wage increases anywhere. So the real question becomes why did the top 1% realize a 300% increase? The basic answer is: the Bush tax cuts, which were supposed to spur economic growth. But the benefactors largely pocketed the money. Those tax cuts were too deep and were not meant to be kept in place this long.

This, of all the debates about spending and budget cuts, is the greatest problem, for as long as Republicans can convince enough of the public that job creation and economic growth are tied to keeping those tax cuts in place (even though during the time they've been in place there's been no evidence that they've contributed to either), there will be no move to end or at least reduce them. And that is the most necessary measure in any practical process that can be enacted to reduce the deficit and pay down the national debt.
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Old 06-17-2011, 01:06 AM   #8
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@Judas

I fully agree. Unions should be run by the very people whom they represent. Having outsiders run and administer them causes the same problems that allowing politicians to work for you in Washington does.

@Ben

I agree with you on that as well, but how can you claim that is not a nefarious scheme? The trickle down theory didn't work then, and didn't work under the other bush and won't work again. Over 30 years of data shows what you say to be true, yet the right-wing are still to this day pushing it and saying it is the answer to fixing the current problem, a problem that everyone knows was caused by that very theory.

Why are they still pushing it? It is sheer greed at this point. I would definitely class that as a nefarious scheme.
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