Sunday, November 11, 2012

Real Life

Workers are actually running faster just to stay in the same place.

Capitalists live incredible lives, surrounded by luxury, insulated from risk and discomfort. Since George Bush left office, the stock market has doubled, they got a $700 billion rescue of the financial system, and corporate profits are at a 50-year high.

The Labor Department latest report that average hourly earnings for all employees on private payrolls fell by 1 cent to $23.58 in October. Over the past 12 months, earnings have risen a scant 1.6%. That’s not enough to keep up with inflation. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged down by 1 cent to $19.79, only a 1.1% increase over the past year.

HSBC‘s chief U.S. economist Kevin Logan crunched the numbers: “This is the smallest increase in wages on record for the data going back to 1964. The persistently high level of unemployment over the past few years is clearly restraining wage gains"

Most peoples’ savings and the net worth of their homes is down. Pensions are being cut.

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