La Belle sends this article from the blog From the Trenches, quoting The Economic Policy Institute:
Growth in total wage and salary income, the primary source of take-home pay for workers, has actually been negative for private-sector workers: -0.6%, versus the 7.2% gain that is the average increase in private wage and salary income at this point in a recovery.
These are ominous signs, suggesting a new march toward greater inequality in the American economy. Worse, the growth in profits combined with a drop in wage and salary incomes suggest that the recovery has a narrow base, with most American consumers only able to increase their purchasing power through debt. Wage growth is not just fair, it is also necessary for a more sustainable recovery.
It is absolutely remarkable--the fall in the employee compensation share of GDP from 66.5% in late 2000 to 62.7% today. Usually the factor shares are remarkably constant over the business cycle. But now it appears that we are, for once, in an economy behaving according to the sixty year-old theories of Michel Kalecki: high labor market slack as a way of keeping a lid on real wages, and as a tool of class war.
These are ominous signs, suggesting a new march toward greater inequality in the American economy. Worse, the growth in profits combined with a drop in wage and salary incomes suggest that the recovery has a narrow base, with most American consumers only able to increase their purchasing power through debt. Wage growth is not just fair, it is also necessary for a more sustainable recovery.
It is absolutely remarkable--the fall in the employee compensation share of GDP from 66.5% in late 2000 to 62.7% today. Usually the factor shares are remarkably constant over the business cycle. But now it appears that we are, for once, in an economy behaving according to the sixty year-old theories of Michel Kalecki: high labor market slack as a way of keeping a lid on real wages, and as a tool of class war.
And take a look at this startling graphic from the site, comparing Bubbleboy's "recovery" with the past eight.
Yes, Virginia, Bubbleboy's administration is full of elitists, and yes, this is class warfare. The attackees just haven't recognized they're being attacked. That's what is most puzzling. Too many distractions? Like TV and sports? Media and administration propaganda? What?
The Daily Mislead has a footnoted article about the phenomenon, citing the same EPI article: Bush Ignores Wage Crisis Hitting Middle Class.
Over the last month, the Bush administration has cited recent jobs numbers to claim that average workers' paychecks are increasing. Vice President Cheney said, "real incomes and wages are growing." But as new studies show, wages have actually decreased for the average worker, even as corporate profits and CEO pay have exploded.
