how and why did the middle class expand so much during the 50's and 60's?

[deltex1]

I graduated catholic grammar school in 1951...and had all the education I needed right then. I could read, write, speak, add, subtract, multiply and divide. I knew what sacrifice, self denial and self discipline meant. I had a reasonable fear of God, knew the Ten Commandments and respected women...the nuns said girls hated sex...and I believed them. Life has changed...I am amazed at what my grand kids must learn...and what they must learn to avoid. God help them.

You thought you had all the education you needed right then. There is no such thing as all the education you need. You do not have time to get such. The best we can do is continual education throughout our lives, beginning to end.

I went on to get two undergrad degrees and a masters...but I still maintain the values I learned by eighth grade set me up for success. Granted there is far ore to be learned today...especially on the technical side of life...but values and personality have much to do with career progression.

 

[Pennywise]

The top marginal income tax rate was 70-90% over the period, i.e. the 1% paid their way AND we prospered.

No one paid anywhere near those rates, because absolutely anything and everything could be written off as business expenses. You could buy a brand new car, every year and write off the entire cost; there was no depreciation nonsense. Talk about stimulus.

And that's a fact.

Yeah! It wasn't like today.......just oppressive taxation and no loopholes at all!

Try running your own business before spouting off bullshit talking points because you just end up looking like a fool.

 

[LoneLaugher]

No one paid anywhere near those rates, because absolutely anything and everything could be written off as business expenses. You could buy a brand new car, every year and write off the entire cost; there was no depreciation nonsense. Talk about stimulus.

And that's a fact.

Yeah! It wasn't like today.......just oppressive taxation and no loopholes at all!

Try running your own business before spouting off bullshit talking points because you just end up looking like a fool.

Aren't you special. I own my business.

Next.

 

[editec]

Hey remember when you could deduct the interest you paid on your credit cards?

Gee!~ we continue to wonder why the middle class keeps getting poorer?

Honestly you people cannot be as stupid as some of you play here on this board.

 

[Wyatt earp]

It's easy to have a tax rate when the 10% left is the whole economic pie of the entire world. Europe was a cinder, Japan a glowing hole in the ground, china had nothing but rice paddies and Russia was saddled with collectivist communism. Whatever got made, got made in an American factory. We had all the factories and no environmental anti pollution laws. We grew almost all the food and fed a decimated Europe.

Now we have competition. We don't have a workforce willing to work like granddad did. We don't export, money isn't flowing into the country. It's flowing out of the country as we import just about everything. Instead of a work force, we have a welfare force.

You think we could survive a 90% tax rate? High taxes don't create productivity. High productivity enables high taxes.

The American worker of today is more productive than grandad was. He works longer hours for less pay and has fewer prospects for upward mobility.

Lmao..... try automation and computers, how do they work longer hours if they only work part time?

 

[LoneLaugher]

It's easy to have a tax rate when the 10% left is the whole economic pie of the entire world. Europe was a cinder, Japan a glowing hole in the ground, china had nothing but rice paddies and Russia was saddled with collectivist communism. Whatever got made, got made in an American factory. We had all the factories and no environmental anti pollution laws. We grew almost all the food and fed a decimated Europe.

Now we have competition. We don't have a workforce willing to work like granddad did. We don't export, money isn't flowing into the country. It's flowing out of the country as we import just about everything. Instead of a work force, we have a welfare force.

You think we could survive a 90% tax rate? High taxes don't create productivity. High productivity enables high taxes.

The American worker of today is more productive than grandad was. He works longer hours for less pay and has fewer prospects for upward mobility.

Lmao..... try automation and computers, how do they work longer hours if they only work part time?

You are misinformed.

http://www.epi.org/publication/ib330-productivity-vs-compensation/

 

[Wyatt earp]

The American worker of today is more productive than grandad was. He works longer hours for less pay and has fewer prospects for upward mobility.

Lmao..... try automation and computers, how do they work longer hours if they only work part time?

You are misinformed.

The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth | Economic Policy Institute

No you are all the link did was ***** about wages. When I first started off in plastics we didnt have robots or material handling systems or conveyors, all the machines had operators. Hell the first machines I wroked on was relay machines. Now its push a few buttons and let it fly.. one operator 10 machines. Do the math 10 operators runs 10 machines or 1 operator runs 10 machines? of course they will try to say workers are more productive today...

 

[LoneLaugher]

Lmao..... try automation and computers, how do they work longer hours if they only work part time?

You are misinformed.

The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth | Economic Policy Institute

No you are all the link did was ***** about wages. When I first started off in plastics we didnt have robots or material handling systems or conveyors, all the machines had operators. Hell the first machines I wroked on was relay machines. Now its push a few buttons and let it fly.. one operator 10 machines. Do the math 10 operators runs 10 machines or 1 operator runs 10 machines? of course they will try to say workers are more productive today...

Worker productivity is up. Wages are stagnant. Please stop saying lame things.

 

[Wyatt earp]

You are misinformed.

The wedges between productivity and median compensation growth | Economic Policy Institute

No you are all the link did was ***** about wages. When I first started off in plastics we didnt have robots or material handling systems or conveyors, all the machines had operators. Hell the first machines I wroked on was relay machines. Now its push a few buttons and let it fly.. one operator 10 machines. Do the math 10 operators runs 10 machines or 1 operator runs 10 machines? of course they will try to say workers are more productive today...

Worker productivity is up. Wages are stagnant. Please stop saying lame things.

No iits not, I work as little as possible today compared to the 70~80 hours I used to work in the 80s~90s Why is that? oh yea automation, computers, preventive maitnenace programs, ISO programs, Quality control and on and on and on...

 

[LoneLaugher]

No you are all the link did was ***** about wages. When I first started off in plastics we didnt have robots or material handling systems or conveyors, all the machines had operators. Hell the first machines I wroked on was relay machines. Now its push a few buttons and let it fly.. one operator 10 machines. Do the math 10 operators runs 10 machines or 1 operator runs 10 machines? of course they will try to say workers are more productive today...

Worker productivity is up. Wages are stagnant. Please stop saying lame things.

No iits not, I work as little as possible today compared to the 70~80 hours I used to work in the 80s~90s Why is that? oh yea automation, computers, preventive maitnenace programs, ISO programs, Quality control and on and on and on...

We are discussing productivity of American workers. It is up. The fact that you are a slacker is of no importance in this discussion.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Union membership in the US peaked in the 1960's. The middle class has been in decline ever since.

 

[Katzndogz]

Worker productivity in the United States has steadily fallen.

Worker Productivity in U.S. Declines, Pushing Up Labor Costs - Bloomberg

The productivity of U.S. workers fell more than projected in the fourth quarter as the economy shrank, pushing labor expenses up and showing companies are approaching the limit of how much efficiency they can wring from employees.

The measure of employee output per hour decreased at a 2 percent annual rate, the worst performance in almost two years, after a 3.2 percent gain in the prior three months, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 63 economists called for a 1.4 percent drop. Expenses per worker increased at a 4.5 percent rate, more than estimated.

Liberals bring the term "worker productivity" out of their ass.

Worker productivity is up, or down, compared to what? What's the baseline? The baseline is normally worker cost. Where productivity is up, meaning that the workers are producing more of a product than it costs to make that product, it's because the employer is skirting the wage and safety laws.

http://www.pri.org/stories/business/economic-security/productivity-up-violations-up1590.html

Some economic news that seems to be good news is may be better for the corporate bottom line than it is for workers. Productivity has grown at its fastest pace in almost six years this spring, up almost 6.6 percent. Labor costs, meanwhile, have shown the biggest drop since 2000.

"New York Times" reporter Jack Healy explained on "The Takeaway" why these numbers are great for corporations, but may not be such good news for workers.

"Neccessity is the mother of productivity increases. Corporations have had to cut their bottom lines pretty drastically over the last year. For many of them, labor costs are one of the biggest items on their budgets. What has been happening is they've been asking more of their workers. That is what we see in these numbers. Productivity is up by the largest percentage increase since 2003 -- we are seeing the total output from businesses has fallen a little bit, but it hasn't fallen as much as the number of hours worked. Businesses are doing a little less with a lot less."

 

[NightFox]

Union membership in the US peaked in the 1960's. The middle class has been in decline ever since.

Another fan of the correlation implies causation fallacy, allow me to throw another one at you, The Beatles were still a group in the 1960's , so clearly the cause of the problem was The Beatles breaking up in 1970.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Productivity in U.S. Rises as Companies Try to Lower Costs - Bloomberg

 

[Wyatt earp]

Worker productivity in the United States has steadily fallen.

Worker Productivity in U.S. Declines, Pushing Up Labor Costs - Bloomberg

The productivity of U.S. workers fell more than projected in the fourth quarter as the economy shrank, pushing labor expenses up and showing companies are approaching the limit of how much efficiency they can wring from employees.

The measure of employee output per hour decreased at a 2 percent annual rate, the worst performance in almost two years, after a 3.2 percent gain in the prior three months, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 63 economists called for a 1.4 percent drop. Expenses per worker increased at a 4.5 percent rate, more than estimated.

Liberals bring the term "worker productivity" out of their ass.

Worker productivity is up, or down, compared to what? What's the baseline? The baseline is normally worker cost. Where productivity is up, meaning that the workers are producing more of a product than it costs to make that product, it's because the employer is skirting the wage and safety laws.

Worker productivity up, along with wage violations | PRI.ORG

Some economic news that seems to be good news is may be better for the corporate bottom line than it is for workers. Productivity has grown at its fastest pace in almost six years this spring, up almost 6.6 percent. Labor costs, meanwhile, have shown the biggest drop since 2000.

"New York Times" reporter Jack Healy explained on "The Takeaway" why these numbers are great for corporations, but may not be such good news for workers.

"Neccessity is the mother of productivity increases. Corporations have had to cut their bottom lines pretty drastically over the last year. For many of them, labor costs are one of the biggest items on their budgets. What has been happening is they've been asking more of their workers. That is what we see in these numbers. Productivity is up by the largest percentage increase since 2003 -- we are seeing the total output from businesses has fallen a little bit, but it hasn't fallen as much as the number of hours worked. Businesses are doing a little less with a lot less."

from your link what jump in labor costs? I hate when they say crap like that and dont explain it...

The drop in total U.S. productivity was largely a result of special or one-time events that led to a contraction in the economy last quarter, and a jump in labor costs, economists said. Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate from October to December, after rising at a 3.1 percent pace in the third quarter, according to Commerce Department data last week.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Union membership in the US peaked in the 1960's. The middle class has been in decline ever since.

Another fan of the correlation implies causation fallacy, allow me to throw another one at you, The Beatles were still a group in the 1960's , so clearly the cause of the problem was The Beatles breaking up in 1970.

That or the rise of the Bee Gees and Disco in the 70's

 

[LoneLaugher]

U.S. Workers World's Most Productive - CBS News

 

[Katzndogz]

Productivity in U.S. Rises as Companies Try to Lower Costs - Bloomberg

You don't understand how this works do you?

Unpaid overtime, deferred equipment maintenance, cuts in hours and shifting labor to other activities. Are all methods of lowering costs and increasing individual productivity.

 

[Wyatt earp]

U.S. Workers World's Most Productive - CBS News

that link was bad, couldnt find the story.

 

[NightFox]

Union membership in the US peaked in the 1960's. The middle class has been in decline ever since.

Another fan of the correlation implies causation fallacy, allow me to throw another one at you, The Beatles were still a group in the 1960's , so clearly the cause of the problem was The Beatles breaking up in 1970.

That or the rise of the Bee Gees and Disco in the 70's

LOL! thanks for the laugh bear.

"Disco dancing is just the steady thump of a giant moron knocking in an endless nail." -- Clive James