40 Years of Class Warfare in One Chart.

[danielpalos]

yes, it is about the class warfare of appealing to ignorance of any clue and any Cause.

 

[georgephillip]

Why?

Capitalism puts the control of the means of production in a very few private hands. When technological improvements like computers reduce the demand for labor, isn't it only natural those relatively few hands belonging to CEOs and their boards of directors feel entitled to keep 90% of the resulting productivity gains?

 

[USNavyVet]

yes, it is about the class warfare of appealing to ignorance of any clue and any Cause.

I don't believe you understand the OP.

 

[georgephillip]

Great. Now back to the subject of the OP.

"Here’s how FDR summed it up:

“'The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.'” (Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies.,” April 29, 1938. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

Is this what you had in mind, Vet?

40 Years of Economic Policy in One Chart CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

 

[georgephillip]

I believe we merely need to reserve labor from that market at the rock bottom cost of a form of minimum wage for wages to better correlate with productivity, with that form of full employment of resources in that market

Restoring the minimum wage to a level corresponding to half the average wage (as it was in the late 1960s), and providing workers a real chance to obtain and practice collective bargaining would go a long way in reestablishing a link between productivity and pay.
The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth Economic Policy Institute

 

[georgephillip]

yes, it is about the class warfare of appealing to ignorance of any clue and any Cause.

"Is America in the throes of a class war?

"Look at the chart and decide for yourself. It’s all there in black and white, and you don’t need to be an economist to figure it out.

"But, please, take some time to study the chart, because there’s more here than meets the eye. This isn’t just about productivity and compensation.

"It’s a history lesson too.

"It pinpoints the precise moment in time when the country lost its way and began its agonizing descent into Police State USA. That’s what it really means.

"It all began in the 1970s, that’s when everything started going down the plughole"

The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth Economic Policy Institute

 

[USNavyVet]

Great. Now back to the subject of the OP.

"Here’s how FDR summed it up:

“'The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.'” (Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies.,” April 29, 1938. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

Is this what you had in mind, Vet?

40 Years of Economic Policy in One Chart CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

No, I was merely explaining why wages have stagnated. It's not some nefarious plot, it's not class warfare, it's simple economics.

 

[SwimExpert]

I believe we merely need to reserve labor from that market at the rock bottom cost of a form of minimum wage for wages to better correlate with productivity, with that form of full employment of resources in that market.

 

[SwimExpert]

I think automation played a huge role, jet engines and computers, for example, make it possible for management to control a workforce on the opposite side of the planet nearly as efficiently as one on the opposite side of the street. I suspect all the productivity gains of the past forty years have gone to capital because of the basic architecture of capitalism itself. What is to become of millions of workers displaced by technology?

That was nothing but a bunch of randomly assembled statements which have no logical connection whatsoever. Accessibility of air travel is not automation.

 

[georgephillip]

No, I was merely explaining why wages have stagnated. It's not some nefarious plot, it's not class warfare, it's simple economics.

Supply and demand?
Wages stagnated because women were driven into the workforce by stagnating wages?
Sounds circular.

 

[USNavyVet]

No, I was merely explaining why wages have stagnated. It's not some nefarious plot, it's not class warfare, it's simple economics.

Supply and demand?
Wages stagnated because women were driven into the workforce by stagnating wages?
Sounds circular.

Not sure what you don't understand. No one said women were driven into the workforce. SMH. It's like talking to children.

 

[georgephillip]

That was nothing but a bunch of randomly assembled statements which have no logical connection whatsoever. Accessibility of air travel is not automation.

Jet air travel and computers partially explain how capitalists in the US and Europe were able to outsource middle class jobs across an ocean without jeopardizing any control over their workforce. I don't think it's coincidental that US wages began stagnating when computers and jet engines revolutionized capitalism.

 

[georgephillip]

Not sure what you don't understand. No one said women were driven into the workforce. SMH. It's like talking to children.

Are you saying wages stagnated because women entered the work force?

 

[georgephillip]

"This paper’s key findings include:

• According to every major data source, the vast majority of U.S. workers—including white-collar and blue-collar workers and those with and without a college degree—have endured more than a decade of wage stagnation. Wage growth has significantly underperformed productivity growth regardless of occupation, gender, race/ethnicity, or education level..."

"The weak wage growth over 2000–2007, combined with the wage losses for most workers from 2007 to 2012, mean that between 2000 and 2012, wages were flat or declined for the entire bottom 60 percent of the wage distribution (despite productivity growing by nearly 25 percent over this period)."

A Decade of Flat Wages The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class Economic Policy Institute

 

[SwimExpert]

That was nothing but a bunch of randomly assembled statements which have no logical connection whatsoever. Accessibility of air travel is not automation.

Jet air travel and computers partially explain how capitalists in the US and Europe were able to outsource middle class jobs across an ocean without jeopardizing any control over their workforce. I don't think it's coincidental that US wages began stagnating when computers and jet engines revolutionized capitalism.

Which still has absolutely nothing to do with what you said in the first place.

 

[USNavyVet]

Not sure what you don't understand. No one said women were driven into the workforce. SMH. It's like talking to children.

Are you saying wages stagnated because women entered the work force?

Yes. Finally you see it.

 

[georgephillip]

Yes. Finally you see it

Even if you're correct about women entering the workforce in the 1970s was responsible for wage stagnation (and you've offered no proof it is) how would that explain the fact that between 2000 and 2012 wages were flat or declined for the entire bottom 60% of wage distribution despite productivity growing by almost 25% over that period?
A Decade of Flat Wages The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class Economic Policy Institute

 

[USNavyVet]

Yes. Finally you see it

Even if you're correct about women entering the workforce in the 1970s was responsible for wage stagnation (and you've offered no proof it is) how would that explain the fact that between 2000 and 2012 wages were flat or declined for the entire bottom 60% of wage distribution despite productivity growing by almost 25% over that period?
A Decade of Flat Wages The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class Economic Policy Institute

Here. Try this. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/pdf/women_workforce_slides.pdf

And to answer your question, the law of supply and demand again. It's really not that complicated.

 

[Agit8r]

As soon as abortion was manufactured into a wedge issue, people stopped thinking rationally when they went to vote.

 

[georgephillip]

And to answer your question, the law of supply and demand again. It's really not that complicated.

In your mind, apparently. You've established a correlation between women entering the workforce in the 1970s and wage stagnation, but you've shown no proof women entering the workforce forty years ago caused wage stagnation.