Wages drop, only 5th time in 33 years

Washington Examiner ^ | July 2, 2012 | Paul Bedard

[gusopol3]

Unemployment ebbs and flows, but one measure of the nation's economic health, average weekly wages, rarely dips.

Until now. In the latest demonstration of the struggling economy that threatens President Obama's reelection, average weekly wages fell in 2011, one of only five declines since the category was created in 1978 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In a just-released review of employment in the nation's largest 322 counties, BLS found that weekly wages dropped over the year by 1.7 percent to $955 in the fourth quarter of 2011 from a high of $971 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

That means the $50,000-a-year mark, busted in the fourth quarter of 2010, has dropped back to an average yearly salary of $49,660. And the wage depression was widespread: 282 major counties suffered wage declines; just 36 saw increases.

[gusopol3]

There are a lot of Freepers on the threads these days doing the work of trolls--"Obama's going to smash Romney," blah,blah. Get real . This is what Obama's serving up for his re-election. And now "taxation with misrepresentation." We can cry about Romney and Roberts all we want, and I do, but the message has to be clear and simple. Obama is a disastrous failure.

[ClearCase_guy]

It’s the weirdest dang Recovery I’ve ever seen!

[freedomfiter2]

Sure wages have dropped. That’s why the elite’s refuse to secure our borders.

[Fresh Wind]

I expect an unexpected and miraculous recovery just before the election.

[gusopol3]

Santa comes Christmas Eve and that’s still after the election.

[John W]

So true. This guy’s record is such that were he any other person, republican or democrat, the total failure of his policies and programs would be front and center in the news every day. Horrific.

[Fresh Wind]

Obama brings the gifts. Santa brings the downward revisions.

[gusopol3]

Can you imagine the font size on the headlines if this were in 2004, when Bush ran for re-election ? And here I stumbled on it in the back pages of a conservative web paper a day later.

[Neidermeyer]

[khelus]

Sure wages have dropped. That’s why the elite’s refuse to secure our borders.

And to help ensure wages don't go increase for the uppity former middle class:

China hires tens of thousands of North Korean guest workers

[central_va]

The H-1b visa program is working well.

[unixfox]

Wages have dropped for the public sector. But hey, if you work in government...

W O O H O O !

[Leep]

Not Socialist.. but we’re all broke now. O what’s his face makes Carter look...
ok there is no where to go with that.
Escept, I bet Carter is glad to be the second worst President in modern History.

[Bratch]

Nope. All President Obama has to do is utter those magic 4 words:

[rawhide]

But the government workers got their raises and bonuses, no doubt!

[prairiebreeze]

marker

[nascarnation]

I agree with your premise that Obama would be convicted on the evidence.

The problem is that the MSM is heavily invested in Baraq, and either ignores or distorts this type of data.

But yes, by any objective measure, the Baraqqi Depression grinds on without mercy - except of course in Wash DC and NoVa.

[kabar]

Real wages have been declining for a long time.

From 1950 to 1970, the average earnings of male workers increased by about 25 percent each decade. And these gains were not concentrated among some lucky few. Rather, earnings rose for most workers, and almost every prime-aged male (ages 25-64) worked.

"Over the past 40 years, a period in which U.S. GDP per capita more than doubled after adjusting for inflation, the annual earnings of the median prime-aged male has actually fallen by 28 percent. Indeed, males at the middle of the wage distribution now earn about the same as their counterparts in the 1950s! This decline reflects both stagnant wages for men on the job, and the fact that, compared with 1969, three times as many men of working age don’t work at all."

[NoLibZone]

Yeah the lib plan is really working well

[xzins]

The early Procter & Gamble business demonstrated something true in business, that a successful business rewards its workers with increasing wages. Why? Because when you’ve got a good team, you increase your business by increasing that team. It is as solid and sound a principle as any in the realm of leadership. Morale is a critical element in leadership.

Now, we have a situation in which wages are declining.

That is a reasonable thing if the business is facing a desperate future. All should share in making the business that gives them a job as sound as sound can be.

It means, though, that there are rough times ahead. Roberts just enabled Obama, gave him a major victory with both Arizona and ObamaCare, and it appears that a depression is very real. Wages and values DECLINE in a depression.

I don’t know if Romney will win; I don’t really care. I’m not one of his supporters. He is simply a politician version of a GOP-E Scotus justice. He’ll turn on us whenever it’s to his benefit. They all do.

So, quit trusting in parties. Find something/someone bigger than that to lean on. It is the only way to peace and stability in life.