Workers lose traction over past 10 years

[NeoConsSuck]

Working for The Man may never have been an overpaid joy, but it has offered a decent way to make a living.

Yet it's become less decent, especially considering how strong productivity growth has been, according to findings from the 2006 edition of The State of Working America from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal nonprofit research group.

Between 1995 and 2005, productivity -- a measure of the quantity and quality of what workers produce per hour -- grew 33.4 percent. But hourly wages rose only 11 percent, with almost all of that increase coming during the late 1990s, according to EPI.

"The economic expansion continues to bypass most working families," said EPI economist Jared Bernstein, a coauthor of the report.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/01/news/economy/state_working/index.htm?cnn=yes

[JackDragna]

1. Yay! Work harder for less!

It's the AMERICAN way and I won't hear any of you limp-wristed Commie pinkos say otherwise. Murika was built on the brow of people who KNEW vacation time was Communist! Who KNEW health care was a useless side benefit for the grin-and-bear-it generation! Who KNEW that time spent with family or friends is time stolen from the boss!

Rejoice, America! Work hard, then drop dead! It's YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY!

[NeoConsSuck]

4. But if you don't work for less..

how are stock investors supposed to make ends meet? :sarcasm:

On a personal note, my salary has been stagnant for three years. Yet, I've taken on more responsibilites and work more overtime (I'm salaried).

[wordpix2]

2. meanwhile, BigOil profits are up 300%---no exaggeration

[UrbScotty]

3. Yet another reaason to raise the minimum wage (nt)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Is it time...

To start the flaying, drawing and quartering yet?

A stock analyst or two in that mix would sweeten their dispositions and change their fundamental outlook as well.

[what now toons]

6. The state of labor in Bush's America

Labor day 2006 is here, and the state of labor is pretty dismal. I had to do a cartoon about the great labor rip-off that is happening to labor today.
http://www.whatnowtoons.com/#055
They continually rant that we're getting cheaper goods, bullcrap! The prices are set for what the market will bear. Look how cheap these goods are produced, the corporations are making a killing at our expense. The new robber barons are here, with a vengeance. Everything that made America great is being reversed, and the mainstream media is complicit with the reversal. Wake up America, before it's too late.
cartoons with a progressive edge www.whatnowtoons.com

[Viva_La_Revolution]

16. Great toons!

Welcome to DU!

[Fridays Child]

7. When do we stop going willingly, like lambs to the slaughter?

By every objective measure, the Middle Class and Working Poor are being folded spindled and mutilated. We are being used up and thrown on the trash heap. Are we going to remain docile cogs in the wealth machines of a relative handful of greedy aristocrats? Are we going to wait and let history tell the story, using facts that we already know and have at our command? What will it take for us to turn off the TV, put down the beer, and turn around to spit in the eyes of the bastards who who think they own us and our children and our grandchildren?

When do we tell them to fuck off because we're not going to work one more minute for their gain and our own misery?

When?

[gizmo1979]

15. We as unions have very little bargaining

power left.We threaten to strike,they threaten to move our jobs to China.That and the lack of recognition of the problem makes it very difficult to mount any type of resistance.

[InkAddict]

18. I've come to the same conclusion, but

until there are so many of us that it has a DIRECT impact on their deep pockets or by the need to roll "death carts" down American streets, the "I've got mine" folks will continue to suck it up for dividends. WAKE UP AMERICA!

[bluesbassman]

8. This is why the "inflation" talk is such a joke.

You can't have inflation without real wages rising along with prices. So, not only are we paying more for goods, we're also paying more for the money (higher interest rates) to buy those goods. Yet average incomes are not keeping pace. Where's all the money going? I'll give you one guess.:mad:

[MannyGoldstein]

9. See! Hillary *Has* Been Effective!

As a Director of Wal-Mart for six years, Ms. Clinton helped to pioneer their "Always the lowest wage. Always." policies. These policies have spread like wildfire throughout the land over the last 10 years as others try to emulate Wal-Mart's success.

And when we add Bill's promulgation of opening our markets to goods made in China (where workers are paid $2-a-day), NAFTA and other sweetheart deals to the Predator Class... well, it's all good.

Workers are suckers!

Kudos to the Clintons!

[sam sarrha]

10. losing traction.. hell i've been running on the rims since Reagan

[salin]

11. When you don't have a raise in two years,

and have to take on more health insurance costs, while other costs continue to rise.... (example from my own life) losing ground/income annually is inevitable.

Politically speaking - this is an important issue at this point in time: when this occurs to many people in their real lives - suddenly "policy talk" (as to why the loss of earning power of workers) becomes worth listening to (rather than tuning out) - and a very big deal, politically.

[mkb]

12. Finding Friends And Accurate Information Can Be Difficult

     Actually, I think the economic numbers are misstated by
almost everybody.
     I have done research that I mentioned to some degree on
Stan Goff's website, under the article "Economics as
Pseudoscience", in which I believe I have documented
accurately the steady DECLINE in purchasing power relative to
wages we've had for the past quarter cetnury or more.  Goff
may have "anticipated" my submission and used
"pseudo" to mean more than one thing.  I always
advise caution when accessing certain places on the
"web",(you don't want to get bitten by a
"spyder").  You could consider an internet cafe as
one option.  I will, however, take the word to be a positive
expression of my research, which I believe is accurate, and
took me some effort to obtain.
     To state it briefly, the cost of the home I live in has
appreciated about 4 and 1/2 times since I moved here in the
late seventies.  Data which I looked up on the internet, which
is now suspiciously not there, showed the average wage in the
period between that time and the early 2000's to have
increased by only about 3 times.  This represents a 33 percent
decrease in purchasing power for the average wage earner on
the greatest monetary expenditure that we have in the budget,
housing.
     I did research on other items in the budget and I gave a
rough estimate of 20-25 percent decline in overall purchasing
power for average wage earners since that time in the late
seventies.  Considering that I didn't factor in health care
costs, it could be even a bigger decline.
     I think that my data and my math are reasonably accurate.
 If so, it would demonstrate the steady erosion of the economy
that may be structurally part of the capitalist system, and
must be considered with everything else in determining how we
arrange our affairs.  I am not necessarily endorsing a
different fundamental economic system, certainly not one run
by "hyper" sophisticates like Goff, but trying to
clearly assess the situation so we can adjust to it personally
and politically.
     We should be getting to the point where we just don't
trust many people to give us the straight story, and realize
that changing things could take time and involve struggle.  I
think people can intuitively sense this because they are
probably under more economic and societal stress, but are
never told the truth.  You do have friends out there, just not
many amongst the press and in positions of power.  That
shouldn't discourage you from a consistent path of effort, nor
from having hope for the future.

 

[Seattleman]

13. Wage race to the bottom

Years ago I read a great book by PhD. Ravi Batra about this issue. He showed how this phenomenon has been ongoing since the mid-seventies when we passed the Uraguay and Kennedy rounds of GATT. From that time on, our Tariffs have been low enough to effectively cause Free Trade.

The leadership of both parties have sold us down the river. They have sacrificed our livelyhood on the alter of Globalism and Free Trade.

Don't expect any help from the people in DC, and don't ever expect things to improve.

You have to do things for yourself. Work more, spend less, start a small business.

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Those rules aren't in play anymore.

The ". . . Work more, spend less, start a small business" rules. They no longer apply. Our entire economic, social and political structure has fundamentally changed. We're overwhelmed with reports stating what we already knew . . . that Americans are working longer hours for less money and less time off. That's our lives that are being robbed! Spend less? On what? Gas? Health care? Food? What? What exactly is it that people need to spend less on? And starting a small business. You going to compete with WalMart? Home Depot? Starbucks? McDonald's?

And yes, I DO expect people in DC to do something. They're OUR government. They work for US. It's OUR tax dollars that go to feed the system and the system damn well better be there when we need it, otherwise, why exactly does it exist?

[Seattleman]

20. Don't expect any help from DC

Look, I KNOW it isn't easy. Not saying it is. But after seeing what happens in DC, I know that we can't count on ANY help from that crowd.

Sure they will promise us things like better access to health care and more justice in the workplace, but they will be empty promises, and the only thing that we will get is a continuing erosion of our rights.

[genieroze]

17. Shhhhh, don't tell Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. Shes in her own

neocon artist dream world. Just saw the "curse" on MSNBC and she says every thing is just great.

[HughBeaumont]

19. Elaine Chao is a Heritage fellow, married to Mitch McConnell.

Pro-job offshorer, pro-free trader, pro-big business and could give two Hot Karls about the labor of this country.

In other words, PERFECT fit for the Bewsh Madminstration.

[ShortnFiery]

22. Yes, there's nothing to fret about ... now go back to work! eom

[tecullinan]

21. Soon few will be making a living wage!

It is difficult to see how this economic policy can continue much longer. Many think we only import our low skilled labor, but now we are importing our doctors, nurses, and even teachers (from the Philippines). Evidently a starting pay of $25,000 for someone with a four year degree is still to much! At this rate all of America will be unemployed as we import cheaper workers at all levels to do all of the jobs in America.

[Seattleman]

23. Jobs Americans won't do.....

at Third World Wage Levels that is.

That is the small print. Americans would do any of the jobs that we are told we "won't do" if the pay rates hadn't been artificially lowered by the strategic importation of low wage workers.