Tag: Wages

Are You Worried About Inflation?

Rising food costs…..gas prices doubling……housing costs going out of sight…..low wages…..

If you are worried then do not be so……

Why?

The CEOs are having a bumper year in 2022……

Even when regular workers win their biggest raises in decades, they look minuscule compared with what CEOs are getting. The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies soared 17.1% last year, to a median $14.5 million, according to data analyzed for the AP by Equilar. That leap was the biggest since a 23.9% surge for 2010 compensation packages, according to the data analyzed by Equilar. The gain towers over the 4.4% increase in wages and benefits netted by private-sector workers through 2021, which was the fastest on record going back to 2001. The raises for many rank-and-file workers also failed to keep up with inflation, which reached 7% at the end of last year.

CEO pay took off as stock prices and profits rebounded sharply as the economy roared out of its brief 2020 recession. Because much of a CEO’s compensation is tied to such performance, their pay packages ballooned after years of mostly moderating growth. In many of the most eye-popping packages—such as Expedia Group’s, valued at $296.2 million, and JPMorgan Chase’s $84.4 million—boards gave particularly big grants of stock or stock options to recently appointed CEOs navigating their companies through the pandemic, or to established leaders they wanted to convince to hang around.

The CEOs often can’t cash in on such stock or options for years, or possibly ever, unless the company meets performance targets. But companies still must disclose estimates for how much they’re worth. Only about a quarter of the typical pay package for all S&P 500 CEOs last year came as actual cash they could pocket. Whatever its composition, the chasm in pay between CEOs and the rank-and-file workers they oversee keeps widening. At half the companies in this year’s pay survey, it would take the worker at the middle of the company’s pay scale at least 186 years to make what their CEO did last year. That’s up from 166 a year earlier.

I know I shall go to bed feeling less hungry because the CEOs are doing so well for themselves.

How about you?

***Obviously, in case you missed it, is sarcasm***

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Good News For Some Americans

The pandemic has caused many pains but the most painful is the loss of income…..

The legacy of 2020 will endure in America’s collective memory for many reasons: a deadly pandemic, a vicious presidential election.

It also brought the most severe recession in almost a century, which hurtled millions into poverty and joblessness and created burgeoning inequality.

That financial pain has been concentrated among certain groups, like racial minorities, women, low earners, those without college degrees and workers in the service economy, like restaurant and retail jobs that require face-to-face contact. (These categories often overlap.)

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/01/the-covid-recession-brought-extreme-inequality-in-2020.html

But there is some good news…..at least for some……

A New Year starts and I wish the good news was that the pandemic was slowly winding down but since that is not the case…..irregardless there is some good news for some of our fellow citizens…..wage increases…..

2020 was a devastating year for underpaid frontline workers.

But even in the face of public health and economic crises triggered by Covid-19, the Fight for $15 movement persisted, and now 24 states and 50 municipalities throughout the U.S. are set to raise minimum wages in 2021.

On New Year’s Day, 20 states and 32 cities will increase their minimum wage, with the wage floor in 27 of those jurisdictions reaching or exceeding $15 per hour. The January 1 raises will be followed by another round of wage floor hikes later in 2021, when four additional states and 18 localities will increase their minimum wage, 13 of them to at least $15 per hour.

That’s according to a new report, Raises From Coast to Coast in 2021 (pdf), released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), which monitors worker remuneration and advocates for higher minimum wages nationwide.

“Despite the pandemic, the Fight for $15 movement continues to gain strength, with more cities and states than ever before raising their wage floors, including dozens of local jurisdictions raising wages to $15 or more,” said Yannet Lathrop, senior researcher and policy analyst with NELP and author of the report.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/31/raises-coast-coast-2021-new-year-higher-minimum-wages-24-states-and-50

Too bad it is not ALL American wage earners…hopefully that will be future benefit…..

I hope this helps some of you to make a better life for your family….as they say…”every little bit helps”….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Economy–05Nov18

Tomorrow we go to the polls and vote either for dumb or dumber…..and it is important and you would think that since it is important that the Repubs would be looking for the best foot to put forward….and that would be the ECONOMY.

But so far all they have is bullshit anti-immigration slogans….why not emphasize the fact that wages are rising at a good rate……

The last unemployment report before the midterms is a strong one. Employers added 250,000 jobs in October, above the forecast of 188,000, reports the Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate itself remained at a five-decade low of 3.7%, per the AP. The influx of new job-seekers in October increased the proportion of Americans with jobs to its highest level since January 2009. What’s more, wages rose 3.1% when compared to last October, the best such gain since 2009. It’s the first time since the recession ended that wages rose more than 3% over a year. Average hourly earnings in the private sector increased 5 cents to $27.30.

But so far the president spends all his time recalling 2016, bad mouthing opponents, ripping immigrants, and insulting the press…..not much on the things that are going right……

AS much as Trump would like his lies to find a foothold…..but all is NOT as good as the President would have us believe……

But all the news is not good with the Economy……

There’s mounting anecdotal evidence that President Donald Trump’s trade war is causing trouble for the US economy and businesses. But Friday’s report on third-quarter gross domestic product may be the best hard evidence yet that the tariffs are causing major disruptions in the economy.

GDP rose at an annualized rate of 3.5% in the third quarter. But the contribution of net exports of goods and services — the measure of how much trade added or subtracted to GDP growth — was a dismal -1.78 percentage points.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gdp-trump-tariff-trade-war-us-china-2018-10

Trump’s super tax cuts has put the US economy into a deep deep deficit……

It became very clear this month that neither the Trump White House nor its allies on Capitol Hill want you to know that the federal budget is already in very bad shape … and getting worse.

It happened when the Treasury, the official keeper of Washington’s financial results, issued its monthly statement for the first 10 months of fiscal 2018 about federal revenue, spending and, therefore, the budget deficit.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/20/donald-trump-trillion-dollar-plus-deficits-fiscal-ruin-column/986236002/

2008 the housing market led the rush to ruin…and it is once again showing signs of weakness…..

Despite a robust U.S. economy, at least as measured by gross domestic product, real home price growth is locked in a cyclical downturn. If that’s not bad enough, it will likely get worse based on the same approach and factors that correctly flagged the housing bust — in real time — in early 2006.

Home prices are highly cyclical and, as everyone discovered from the last recession, their movements can have material consequences for the broader economy. Yet, according to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s Aug. 1 monetary policy meeting, policy makers are only starting to recognize the “possibility” of a significant weakening in the housing sector as a “downside risk.” Our research suggests that real home price growth has already entered a cyclical downturn that is likely to intensify. Data this week is forecast to show a drop in housing starts and existing home sales.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-10-15/housing-prices-may-have-entered-a-cyclical-downturn

Key economic indicators are flashing red:

  • Worker productivity is sluggish. The third quarter marked the “32nd straight quarter of yearly growth below 2%, a long and consistent stretch of anemic growth that hasn’t happened before in the post-World War II era,” the WSJ reports.
  • Manufacturing activity has stalled for the first time in two years, possibly the result of President Trump’s multi-front trade war.
  • Business investment is laggardly. Rather than using their $1.2 trillion tax cut on capital spending, companies are on track for the biggest-ever year of stock buybacks, possibly reaching $1 trillion.

Instead of focusing on a group of slow walking people maybe he should grasp and old saying……

“Mr. President….It is The Economy Stupid!”

Vote Tomorrow!

Inequality: How Bad Can It Be?

There has been a lot written, said and thought about inequality in this country, especially with this last election….the populist resurgent has come on the heels of the inequality in the US.

Both Right and Left emphasizes it at every turn…..but is it as bad as they claim it is?

The answer is yes it is and believe it or not kt is worse than you think….

The more the ultra-rich prosper, the less they’re burdened with taxes, the greater the benefits for society as a whole. If you’re familiar with Republican economic theory of the past 40 years, you’ve probably heard this line of reasoning. In fact, just the opposite is true

Take it from the world’s third richest man, Warren Buffett, who recently noted that between 1982 and 2017, “the wealth of the 400 [richest people in America] increased 29-fold—from $93 billion to $2.7 trillion—while many millions of hardworking citizens remained stuck on an economic treadmill. During this period, the tsunami of wealth didn’t trickle down. It surged upward.”

The reality is the United States is now home to some of the worst income inequality in the developed world, and thanks to the recent passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, this wealth gap will grow exponentially wider.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/income-inequality-us-even-worse-youve-been-led-believe#.Wp679x1vrtk.

Few want to believe the tale of the tape…..so inequality continues to grow and as it grows so will the outrage…..eventually that outrage will effect the results of elections….and that outrage will fuel the programs that address the inequality.

But can that outrage eliminate inequality?

I think it can but unfortunately not in my lifetime…..hopefully my granddaughter can see an end to the inequality.

2012 Forgotten Issue

This could be just about anything….there is a wide array of issues that neither candidate wants to talk about……we know that both Obama and Romney say they will create jobs only if they are elected…….we know that taxes are too high in one camp and too low in another…….we know that Obama sucks and Romney is a liar………the spin is so thick that it borders on propaganda….well it is propaganda but we Americans cannot call it for what it is……but there is one issue that both candidates have been unwilling to talk about……..can you name that elusive issue?  (Pause he for thought…….oh who am I kidding voters do not want to think that is why we have the two pathetic candidates that we have)……okay the forgotten issue is…..(drum roll please)……..the stagnant income….yes for all the progress and all the hoopla on Wall Street, income is not moving at all…..Corporate biggies are doing marvelous but the rest of us mere mortals are stuck in limbo with worse than modest increases in wages that is quickly ate up by those inflationary things that are not counted as inflation…..like gas….food…….etc.

Newser) – The economy has taken center stage in the race for the White House, but amid the chatter about government spending and taxes, the New York Timesthinks one subject that hits close to home for many poor and middle-class Americans has been largely left out: the long-term stagnation of income. For the first time since the Depression, median family income has decreased over a decade, and though both candidates acknowledge the problem, they rarely touch on the true catalysts behind it—automation, globalization, and education. All are complex issues that can’t be “quickly remedied through legislation,” writes David Leonhardt.

Often, politicians place the blame for falling wages on flashpoint issues such as immigration, but what’s going on is far larger in scope, writes Leonhardt. Pessimism abounds because no quick fixes are in sight, though “maybe the biggest reason for optimism is that there is still a strong argument that both globalization and automation help the economy in the long run,” he writes. It just happens to be painful in the interim. Click to read Leonhardt’s full piece.

With about 10 days left before we decide who will lead the country…….the most important issue is still unexplained…..why?

Shared Sacrifice

Daily Agitator

A wonderful term, at least politically……

And most of the time it does NOT mean ALL Americans, just those that work hard and try to survive…….those calling for a shared sacrifice seldom ever have to sacrifice anything……

My friend over at Quintessential Havoc (go to blogroll and visit an insightful site) and I have been bitching about politicians for some time now and it got me to thinking about ways of changing the whole atmosphere in which they work (I use the term loosely).

Americans for generations have been asked to sacrifice for the country’s sake…..wars, depression, national disasters, etc….each and every time Americans have stepped up for the good of their country…most recently Americans have sacrificed, not all, but a few….war has made American families sacrifice everything…not only the loss of lives and the mutilation of bodies.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken families to the brink…..multiple deployments, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers taken away from their families so that many situations are lost like births, deaths, birthdays, anniversaries, first steps, etc. etc.  And these people do this voluntarily for the good of the country.

What have you done?

If you do not live near a military base then the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean very little to you…..Americans are not asked to sacrifice for the good of the country and when only a small percentage is asked to do so…sacrifice, that is……

I am tired of hearing these “do nothing” worms in Washington talk about sacrifice…they know nothing about sacrifice….but they want you top sacrifice while they retain their privileged existence…..that is time for a change…….

But then I think that congress people should not have their families with them and that they should live in a dormitory type structure…(I hear that the Watergate is for sale..) after all these people only work about 3 days a week and spend the rest of their time at home fund raising….so it is not like that they would be deprived of their families, like the troops.  There would be NO need for private schools or houses in exclusive neighborhoods.   If they have time for tanning beds and golf and other such pursuits then we are paying them too much or they are NOT doing their job…after all they are in Washington to run the government, not to increase their visibilities at social functions.  Or to take vacations and call it work.  Let these clowns share in the sacrifices of the working people of this country.  (Emphasis for effect)

And further more it is time to consider making these perpetual candidates to start retiring when they hit 75…..time to move past people running the country that are over 90 and cannot remember their gran kid’s names…we all bitch about making the government more fiscal conservative then eliminate the expenses that these celebrities run up in the name of doing their jobs.  But nope we had rather let them gut the education system, among many programs and retain their elitism.

The problem is that Americans are timid and allow the top 10% to make their decisions and their sacrifices.

YOU WANT CHANGE!  Then change everything about the Congress…you will have to do it because your elected officials will NOT change the sure thing or the sweet gig that they have….but NO you prefer to let them talk and promise and bullsh*t you…all the while they are getting rich on your dime…..does that sound logical or for that matter, rational?

Workers Real Wages Fall

This is what should be talked about in the media.  But no…instead we get an array of mindless speculation on who the Veep will be.

US prices jumped in July by their highest month-to-month rate since 1981, in one of the sharpest inflation spikes since the Second World War.

The July Producer Prices index, reported Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rose by 1.2 percent, on top of a 1.8 percent increase in June. “Core” prices, which exclude food and energy, shot up by .7 percent, more than triple economists’ expectations. Producer prices were up 9.8 percent from a year ago.

The consumer price statistics released last Thursday mirrored the producer price statistics. Seasonally-adjusted consumer prices jumped .8 percent last month—more than double earlier predictions—and were up 5.6 percent since July 2007. Even so, inflation has picked up in recent months. While the Consumer Price Index rose at a comparatively low annualized rate of only 2.8 percent in the first quarter, it shot up at an annualized rate of ten percent in the past three months.

The living standards of workers continue to decline as the purchasing power of their wages falls and pay increases fail to keep up with inflation. The most recent Bureau of Labor statistics report found that real average weekly earnings fell by .8 percent from June to July. Over the past year, weekly earnings fell by 3.1 percent. Thus, the average household now earns a staggering $1,500 less than it would if wages had kept pace with inflation over the past twelve months.

Skyrocketing prices, falling wages, rising unemployment, and falling home values are all lining up to create a massive social catastrophe. According to Credit Suisse, the credit analyst, there will be some 6.5 million home foreclosures by 2012, amounting to 12.7 percent of homeowners with mortgages. While arranging multi-billion dollar bailout of big investors involved in the mortgage meltdown, the Democrats and Republicans have offered no relief for working people facing the loss of their homes and unsustainable levels of debt.

Now the question is:  will the worker finally wake up and realize that the two candidates are offering nothing but a continuation of the crap they are facing now?  Or will they just slide into their party politics and screw themselves yet again?

Dept. Of Labor Screws Workers

In an unlikely team-up, impartial investigators from the Government Accountability Office joined a low-income workers’ advocate at Congressional hearings July 15 to tell lawmakers that President Bush’s Labor Department has failed to enforce minimum wage and overtime laws and that low-wage workers are routinely being robbed of their earnings.

Enforcement of laws that require employers to pay at least the minimum wage and overtime rates has sunk to record lows under the Bush administration, they said.

Investigators for the GAO described for members of the House Education and Labor Committee how the Wage and Hours Division of the Labor Department routinely fails to count complaints, refers workers with legitimate complaints to private lawyers and closes half its cases with perfunctory calls simply requesting employers to settle the matters. Workers lose most of the cases, they said.

Kim Bobo, executive director of the Interfaith Worker Justice program in Chicago, joined GAO investigators at the hearing. Her group operates counseling centers and sponsors activities, including assistance with union organizing, for low income workers around the country. “The wage and hour division is so understaffed,” she said, “that it is actually now doing fewer investigations of wage and hour complaints than it did in 1941, the year it was founded. Wages are simply being stolen.”