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U.S. Wages are down (again)
RedTiger
Posts: 5,608 ✭
a couple of quotes from link1
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/09/measured-in-gold-the-story-of-american-wages-is-an-ugly-one/
>>
Today’s minimum wage employee works 12 percent longer to earn a gallon of milk compared to 1965, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today’s senior engineer works almost twice as long to buy a gallon of gasoline...
The bottom line is that, in terms of gold, wages have fallen by about 87 percent. To get a stronger sense of what that means, consider that back in 1965, the minimum wage was 71 ounces of gold per year. In 2011, the senior engineer earned the equivalent of 63 ounces in gold. So, measured in gold, we see that senior engineers now earn less than what unskilled laborers earned back in 1965.
Gross wages are still not back to 2007 levels
from link2
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/us/
>> The real median household income for US the peaked in 2007 at $56,189 and is now $4,818 (8.57%) lower at $51,371 for 2012.
One weird thing to me, is that the Forbes article pushes for a gold standard. That might make real wages in gold ounces even tinier in the short term. Some say it would take a $100k per ounce price of gold to get back a gold standard, perhaps one ounce of gold for the engineer and a small fraction of an ounce for the minimum wage worker in the U.S. Hard to fathom the thought process. Perhaps their end game is serfdom for all, the $1, $2, or $3 USD per day that many third-world people live on. In gold terms, a $100k gold price and a $8 per hour minimum wage brings that U.S. worker to about the current level of the third-world poverty wage in gold ounces.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/09/measured-in-gold-the-story-of-american-wages-is-an-ugly-one/
>>
Today’s minimum wage employee works 12 percent longer to earn a gallon of milk compared to 1965, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today’s senior engineer works almost twice as long to buy a gallon of gasoline...
The bottom line is that, in terms of gold, wages have fallen by about 87 percent. To get a stronger sense of what that means, consider that back in 1965, the minimum wage was 71 ounces of gold per year. In 2011, the senior engineer earned the equivalent of 63 ounces in gold. So, measured in gold, we see that senior engineers now earn less than what unskilled laborers earned back in 1965.
Gross wages are still not back to 2007 levels
from link2
http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/us/
>> The real median household income for US the peaked in 2007 at $56,189 and is now $4,818 (8.57%) lower at $51,371 for 2012.
One weird thing to me, is that the Forbes article pushes for a gold standard. That might make real wages in gold ounces even tinier in the short term. Some say it would take a $100k per ounce price of gold to get back a gold standard, perhaps one ounce of gold for the engineer and a small fraction of an ounce for the minimum wage worker in the U.S. Hard to fathom the thought process. Perhaps their end game is serfdom for all, the $1, $2, or $3 USD per day that many third-world people live on. In gold terms, a $100k gold price and a $8 per hour minimum wage brings that U.S. worker to about the current level of the third-world poverty wage in gold ounces.
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Wages have fallen further when one looks at net take home pay now (higher taxes/mandatory paycheck reductions) vs. net pay in the past.
Additionally, wages have not kept pace with the destruction of their purchasing power. That "acceptable" level of 2% inflation each year suddenly becomes not so acceptable when its cumulative affect has been exposed.
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt
I don't understand why gold would have to go to 100,000 or some extreme number like that.
What would that accomplish? Why do people assume all fiat dollars are going to be preserved?
Gold could go back to $20 an ounce just as easily if the fiat dollars are simply destroyed. As long as the fed is in control of the money supply they wont be but when they lose control why won't dollars be destroyed?
If the "average" wage is down, then maybe that's a welcome correction and, historically, is the opposite of the condition that leads to widespread price inflation.
When empoyers start bidding for "warm bodies" to fill openings again, then general inflation will be more of a danger?
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>One wonders how this will all work out.... hope I live long enough to see it.... or not...
maybe we dont want to see the outcome of it.
As for Baley telling average Americans, who by many measures tend to be among the hardest working people on the planet, that they are coasting, and that they are lucky that their wages have gone down every year for six years running? Wow, who knew Baley had such a dark side, such a hard heart. I think we have found the lead for the new production of A Christmas Carol. Instead of the famous Ebeneezer Scrooge line about "are there no poor houses" when asked for a donation to help out, Baley could rant with something like he wrote for the new post-modern version: "You workers are lucky to only see a 9% cut in wages. Many of you are coasting and if I had my way, there would be deeper wage cuts." In the post-modern updated version, for the ghost of Christmas-future, the workers cut off Manager Baley's head and parade around the office. Ha ha ha. Pure fiction of course.
<< <i>Most people's work probably isn't worth the "wages" they receive for it, and for those that just coast, they're lucky to get what they do.
If the "average" wage is down, then maybe that's a welcome correction and, historically, is the opposite of the condition that leads to widespread price inflation.
When empoyers start bidding for "warm bodies" to fill openings again, then general inflation will be more of a danger? >>
Also, substitute "people's" with "CEO's"...
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt
<< <i>Carlyle Group knows full well what the future of America looks like >>
I have seen the future and it is a mobile home.
<< <i>
<< <i>Carlyle Group knows full well what the future of America looks like >>
I have seen the future and it is a mobile home. >>
Double wides for all the stackers.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
Federal Reserve Policy Failures Are Mounting - Dr. Lacy Hunt
"By allowing high debt levels to accumulate from the 1990s until 2007, the Fed laid the foundation for rendering monetary policy ineffectual."
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt
"In very raw terms, if a man wanted to buy a house and a car in 1975 he had to work just under five years to pay for them. If he wants a house and a car today, he has to work almost 11 years…"
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt
If you subsist on government handouts, you tend to support the government and then eventually gravitate into becoming an agent of the government, which is a major problem for those of us who do actual work for a living and support those activities with the half of our incomes that we are coerced into paying through taxation.
Added - I get worked up about this sometimes, and then I realize that the notable exceptions to this kind of sweeping generalization are the military and the first responders. I'm sure there are others as well, but those are the exceptions who've earned my admiration and respect.
I knew it would happen.
Perhaps just the same as we say gold or oil is way down and they were too high?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt
It's about the loss of purchasing power over time. But everything is wonderful. An hour's labor continues to buy less.
A moot point since no one is working, right?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
It's about the loss of purchasing power over time. But everything is wonderful. An hour's labor continues to buy less.
Yeah, but an hour's "labor" is way easier to get through, now that we all have a computer.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
It's about the loss of purchasing power over time. But everything is wonderful. An hour's labor continues to buy less.
Yeah, but an hour's "labor" is way easier to get through, now that we all have a computer.
You sound like a FED official trying to justify why the majority's standard of living is decreasing over time.
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Debt