in 1970 the base price of a Z/28 was $3412 and min wage was ~$1.65*40*51=$3432 and left you $20 to the good at the end of the year a 2015 Z/28 is $75000 and min wage here is $8.75 for $18000
that's $57000 to the bad...
Posted on 09/22/2015 4:37:18 PM PDT by ForYourChildren
Once upon a time, American men used to get something called a "raise." That is when your employer would actually pay you more money. Now, it is true that some people still have experience with this all-but-forgotten practice, but even the ones who do tend not to get pay increases that keep up with price increases. That is why, as David Wessel of the Brookings Institution points out, the typical male worker actually saw his after-inflation pay fall between 1973 and 2014.
What is four lost decades between friends?
So why, as you can see below, have median male earnings flatlined over a time when the economy has doubled?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I'm sure glad we "fixed" the economy. /s
But you're ignoring both the fact that productivity would have improved here and that wages would have risen here as well.
Plus the US stuff made in the '60s would last twenty years. I'm lucky if I can get my (impolite term for east asian) made appliances to last twenty months.
That’s also a consequence of the falling price of labor— it gets wasted more easily.
Interesting observation. My som is a thirty-five year old CPA and that's exactly what he told me not long ago.
in 1970 the base price of a Z/28 was $3412 and min wage was ~$1.65*40*51=$3432 and left you $20 to the good at the end of the year a 2015 Z/28 is $75000 and min wage here is $8.75 for $18000
that's $57000 to the bad...
At some point, when the 1% have moved almost all the money over to their side of the ledger the rest of us won’t be able to buy their stinking products. What happens then?
Moeny is all but free and still corporations aren’t making enough money. Why?
I got a raise this year... Which was negated by an increase in perscription copays.
That inflation calculation looks way off. This says $30K in 1972 is $171K today.
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=30000&year1=1972&year2=2015
At the same time we can do far, far more in our personal lives with technology for little money. How do you compare the standard of living that you get from 100s of TV channels, home video, the internet, video games and cell phones vs. the landline, playing cards and TV with 10 channels you had in the ‘70s?
When it costs far less now to get so much more in terms of technology than you could then, there just isn’t the desire or need to push salaries up. And lower salaries equal lower costs of doing business, which equal cheaper consumer products.
Darned Democrats!
Oh, wait. Nevermind...
“When it costs far less now to get so much more in terms of technology than you could then, there just isn’t the desire or need to push salaries up. And lower salaries equal lower costs of doing business, which equal cheaper consumer products.”
1. For the usual example of a family of four, it now takes two parents working to maintain the same standard of living it took only one parent working thirty years ago. That includes the biggest item - buying a home.
2. All those cheaper consumer goods you mentioned are manufactured overseas. The job and the money have gone overseas.
3. The real rate of unemployment is around 20 - 25 per cent.
4. The real rate of inflation is hidden; for example, the cost of food is not even factored into the calculation. I’m sure you have noticed the sharp increase in food prices.
“How do you compare the standard of living that you get from 100s of TV channels, home video, the internet, video games and cell phones vs. the landline, playing cards and TV with 10 channels you had in the ‘70s?”
That is just entertainment, which has never factored much in a household budget.
I noticed that according to your table in 2013 the average wage would be about twenty dollars an hour. You can check out stats on the internet and that table is overstating the amount.
The other day, I heard one of these historical round-ups on the radio. It mentioned that in 1956 the minimum wage was one dollar. I looked up the present value of a 1956 dollar today on a Fed’s inflation calculator. It is $8.76, and the government is low-balling inflation; they don’t even compute the rise in food prices. That means the average worker is making only about double minimum wage today, and a large percentage even less than that, compared to 1956. Also, comparatively, minimum wage is less than it was in 1956.
Hmmmm. The federal income tax rate on $30,000 in 1972 was 45% (for a single filer). Using your inflation calculations, 45% of $274k would be $123,000 in taxes.
Lat year's 2014 tax rate on $274,000 was 33% for that same single filer. And the tax rate on $125,000 last year was 28%. Even adding in Soc Security and Medicaid, a 2014 earner doesn't have 45% of his money confiscated. How did you come to the conclusion that today's (earners) pay far more in taxes?
Your comment caught my attention because just yesterday, I was reading up on the so-called Reagan tax increases. I youtubed the Ted Cruz interview on The Late Show (Colbert). Colbert was challenging Cruz with, 'Well you know, Reagan raised taxes 11 or 12 times!" So I did a little one hour research and while Reagan did indeed sign for 11 tax increases, these were for things like a 4-9 cent per gallon tax increase or cigarette taxes.
The Reagan-era tax decreases were his complete tax overhaul by eliminating tax rates as high as 70%. In 1980, even $50,000 per year earners were paying 49% tax rates on their incomes. So while Reagan did in fact sign onto Democrat legislation raising taxes 11 times, he is remembered correctly for vastly eliminating the ultra-high tax rates, and ushered in the greatest post-war (WWII) expansion in our economy.
Resources:
BLS. Nothing but liars and political hacks. I used a different calculator that actually compared costs of similar items.
“Hmmmm. The federal income tax rate on $30,000 in 1972 was 45% (for a single filer). “
Talking tax rates means nothing without talking about deductions and the entire tax code. You didn’t do that.
So you want me to fictionalize an entire tax return for 1972 and 2014, then apply all the deductions and compare? If you can simply make a baseless claim that people pay far more taxes now, can't I counter with actual tax rates from the the years you're referencing to make the point?
How about instead you show us these implied deductions and parts of the tax code from 1974 and now that prove people pay more in taxes now?
and they not only get raises, but they demand to have a few more days of not teaching for "curriculum" days....
ALL HAIL THE GOVT WORKER!
you can do damn well by getting yourself on SSD and getting the freebies like bus passes, free camps for your kids, free scholarships, free food and free phones, and then you can get a free parking pass for life...
why work?...
sit back and just take in...
Bttt, and sometimes you have to kick people out!
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