Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains

July 13, 2018

Corporate profits have rarely swept up a bigger share of the nation’s wealth, and workers have rarely shared a smaller one.
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Hourly earnings have moved forward at a crawl, with higher prices giving workers less buying power than they had last summer. Last-minute scheduling, no-poachingand noncompete clauses, and the use of independent contractors are popular tactics that put workers at a disadvantage. Threats to move operations overseas, where labor is cheaper, continue to loom.
And in the background, the nation’s central bankers stand poised to raise interest rates and deliberately rein in growth if wages climb too rapidly.
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Workers’ paychecks account for much less of the nation’s total income since the last recession, and the profits of businesses account for more.
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With tariffs piling up and potentially pushing prices higher, odds are that the Fed will push through two more increases before 2018 ends. The Labor Department reported this week that one inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index, had increased 2.9 percent in 12 months — the highest level in six years.
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MTAtech said:

Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains
Wait. But some will tell you that the GOP tax-cut put more money in worker's pockets.

What we have here is what happens when we elect a plutocrat masquerading as a populist -- he tells you he'll pass policies that help workers, then, when elected, passes policies that help millionaires and billionaires.
His tariffs are hurting Americans and will hurt more in the coming months and years.
His attack on the ACA is driving prices up. Even Tom Price, Trump's former top health official said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act.

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MTAtech said:

Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains
Wait. But some will tell you that the GOP tax-cut put more money in worker's pockets.

What we have here is what happens when we elect a plutocrat masquerading as a populist -- he tells you he'll pass policies that help workers, then, when elected, passes policies that help millionaires and billionaires.
His tariffs are hurting Americans and will hurt more in the coming months and years.
His attack on the ACA is driving prices up. Even Tom Price, Trump's former top health official said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act.

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Hawkeye10 said:

The failure of the US Economy has been more than 50 years in the making.

Some people pretend really hard that this is not so.

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Vox said:

As I look around the real world where I live......I see people with too much money.

Huge SUVs are everywhere, fancy cell phones are everywhere, big boats and campers are flooding the highways for summer, restaurants and bars are full, people are traveling in airplanes on fine vacations and even the so-called Poverty cases have a car and a television and a stereo and a lot of the poverty cases have giant screen TVs and.....sadly.....are obese.

What I see is an over abundance of prosperity and people who don't appreciate it.

The poor people have a lot and are angry because they feel they should have even more......

They should read some history and discover what REAL poverty really IS.

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Last week the Trump Council of Economic Advisers declared not only that the War on Poverty has in fact substantially reduced poverty – which is what progressives have been saying all along – but that poverty is “largely over”. (Do these people ever visit the real world?)
And because poverty is over, they say, we should impose lots of work requirements on Medicaid and food stamps, which would have the effect of slashing spending on these programs. Somehow a completely opposite reading of the facts leads to the same policy conclusion. Funny how that works.
But are benefits like Medicaid and food stamps really discouraging a lot of people from working?

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Vox said:

The "poor" will get no sympathy while their corpulent bodies are slouched on the couch watching a giant-screen TV and munching French fries and Big Mac's.

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MTAtech said:

Your post represents the false narrative that YOU sitting in front of the Fox News propaganda channel all day. Generally, those receiving gov't help are seniors, disabled, and the working poor -- who just happen to work but earn very little.

The idea of the Welfare Queen driving a Cadillac is a lie.

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MTAtech said:

Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains
Wait. But some will tell you that the GOP tax-cut put more money in worker's pockets.

What we have here is what happens when we elect a plutocrat masquerading as a populist -- he tells you he'll pass policies that help workers, then, when elected, passes policies that help millionaires and billionaires.
His tariffs are hurting Americans and will hurt more in the coming months and years.
His attack on the ACA is driving prices up. Even Tom Price, Trump's former top health official said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act.

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Hawkeye10 said:

The failure of the US Economy has been more than 50 years in the making.

Some people pretend really hard that this is not so.

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chuckiechan said:

A non paywall article about Obamacare prices rising:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/tom...ling-individual-mandate-will-raise-costs.html

Repealing the requirement that people buy insurance was repealed, so yes, forcing your kids to pay into your pool is a good idea, but not a smart one.

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Vox said:

Bull****.

I'm a senior and I was working class all my life and due to smart investments hard work (sometimes at three jobs at once) and military service I have more money than I know what to do with......and BTW.......I watch CNN (and laugh at the fake news).

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MTAtech said:

Ah, so because you worked and happen to luck into good investments, that means that every working class person can do the same? I think you should consider yourself lucky and be a bit more sympathetic to those less fortunate to you.

There are many problems with that line of reasoning. The first is that working class people today -- not during the 1970s when you were working -- don't have the ability to invest because they have no money after normal expenses. In fact, only 39% of Americans have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency.

Second, you said you had "military service." That means that you get medical insurance and may get a military pension.

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Hedgology said:

Prices aren't being driven up; wages aren't falling.

You claim to understand economics and you consider yourself an intelligent individual, yet you fail for misleading statistic so easily. How am I expected to take you seriously?

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Consumer prices rise at the fastest pace in 6 years
U.S. consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in June.
The underlying trend continued to point to a steady buildup of inflation pressures that could keep the Federal Reserve on a path of gradual interest rate increases.
In the 12 months through June, the CPI increased 2.9 percent, the biggest gain since February 2012.

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Greenbeard said:

For the second year in a row, Trump is the biggest factor driving premium increases. On purpose!

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chuckiechan said:

Why charge low wage young earners extra to take care of old workers who are below SS age? I'll tell you why you like it: it's one more brick in the democrat's Socialist wall.

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iliveonramen said:

50 years of gutting unions, giving corporations more power, and allowing corporations to gain to buy out their competitors.

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Vox said:

The "poor" will get no sympathy while their corpulent bodies are slouched on the couch watching a giant-screen TV and munching French fries and Big Mac's.

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Greenbeard said:

You may want to look into how the ACA works, particularly with respect to how the premiums for low-wage earners are determined.

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MTAtech said:

Your post represents the false narrative that YOU sitting in front of the Fox News propaganda channel all day. Generally, those receiving gov't help are seniors, disabled, and the working poor -- who just happen to work but earn very little.

The idea of the Welfare Queen driving a Cadillac is a lie.

Click to expand...