SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
In a sign of the fading American Dream, 92 percent of children born in 1940 earned more than their parents, but only half of those born in 1984 can say the same, researchers said Monday. Greater inequality in the distribution of growth is largely to blame, said the findings in the US journal Science. "Children's prospects of earning more than their parents have faded over the past half century in the United States," said the study, led by Raj Chetty of Stanford University. "Absolute income mobility has fallen across the entire income distribution, with the largest declines for families in the middle class."
Since little data exists linking children to their parents in terms of economic performance, researchers combined US census data with tax records, adjusting for inflation and other confounding variables. They found the sharpest declines in income in the industrial Midwest, including states like Indiana and Illinois. "The smallest declines occurred in states such as Massachusetts, New York and Montana," said the study.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mcgrew on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:58PM (3 children)
I'll note that I don't vote Republican, but I have benefited from Republican tax breaks both directly through income saved from the tax man and from my employers having more money to employ people and pay higher wages.
They don't pay higher wages out of the goodness of their hearts! The do so only when forced, either by minimum wage laws (that Republicans oppose) or by a shortage of labor.
In 1971 the minimum wage was #1.40 an hour. A gallon of gasoline or pack of cigarettes or loaf of bread was a quarter. Prices of most things are ten times as high as then, why isn't the federal minimum wage $14.00 today? Republicans. And remember what Reagan said: "A rising tide raises all boats".
LINK and the EITC don't benefit the poor, they benefit the poor's employers. Section 8 only benefits landlords.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 27 2017, @02:14AM (2 children)
They don't pay higher wages out of the goodness of their hearts! The do so only when forced, either by minimum wage laws (that Republicans oppose) or by a shortage of labor.
The problem here is most such measures that allege to fix these problems, instead make them worse. Minimum wage laws for example, can create an underclass that is unemployable, because they aren't worth the minimum that they can be paid (otherwise simply have little effect because the practical minimum wage from shortage of labor is already higher). In practice, people can and do move to areas that have higher market wages. I believe we'll see how this works with a significant depopulation of California's Central Valley (which has notoriously low wages compared to the big cities).
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday April 27 2017, @04:36PM (1 child)
Minimum wage laws for example, can create an underclass that is unemployable, because they aren't worth the minimum that they can be paid (otherwise simply have little effect because the practical minimum wage from shortage of labor is already higher).
That's the same bullshit Republicans spew, and history says it's bullshit. Read a book or two!
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 28 2017, @05:26PM