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AlterNet reports
When Republicans in Congress passed a big, fat tax break bill in December, they insisted it meant American workers would be singing "Happy Days Are Here Again" all the way to the bank. The payoff from the tax cut would be raises totaling $4,000 to $9,000, the President's Council of Economic Advisers assured workers. But something bad happened to workers on their way to the repository. They never got that money.
In fact, their real wages declined because of higher inflation. At the same time, the amount workers had to pay in interest on loans for cars and credit cards increased. And, to top it off, Republicans threatened to make workers pay for the tax break with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So now, workers across America are wondering, "Where's that raise?". It's nowhere to be found.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that wages for production and nonsupervisory workers decreased by 0.1 percent from May 2017 to May 2018 when inflation is factored in. The compensation for all workers together, including supervisors, rose an underwhelming 0.1 percent from April 2018 to May 2018.
That's not what congressional Republicans promised workers. They said corporations, which got the biggest, fattest tax cuts of all, would use that extra money to increase wages. Some workers got one-time bonuses and an even smaller number received raises. But not many. The group Americans for Tax Fairness estimates it's 4.3 percent of all U.S. workers.
The New York Times story about this record breaker describes the phenomena this way: "Companies buy back their shares when they believe they have nothing better to do with their money than to return capital to shareholders." So despite promises from the GOP and the President's Council of Economic Advisers, corporations believed further enriching their own executives and shareholders was a much better way to use the money than increasing workers' wages--wages that have been stagnant for decades.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @11:12PM (3 children)
You can leave, I think most everyone here can live with that :D
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @12:10AM (1 child)
Oh I don't doubt it based on the level of echo in this particular chamber, I'm sure any dissenting voice isn't particularly welcome. That's probably why half the comments here boil down to throwaway one liners like yours.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @01:12AM
So you obviously don't pay attention. This site is quite well split between the various chambers of political thought. Sometimes the conservatives hop on quicker and sometimes the liberals do.
"dissenting voice"? You make it sound like you're about to be dragged off to the gulag. Do you NOT read anything by The Mighty Scuzzard? Jmorris? Runaway? Khallow? Entropy? Unauthorized? Apparently these are your compatriots and they post pretty often.
Go to hacker news if you want enforced reasonable discourse. Maybe some Reddit sub with hardcore moderators. I am perfectly aware of when I post snarky one liners and judgmental screeds with no citations, but I realized that real discussions are pointless unless same basic starting points can be agreed on.
Care for better discourse? Acknowledge reality and THEN offer your different interpretation.
Let us start with some easy ones?
Is the POTUS a liar?
Is he a decent person?
Has the US engaged in massive empire building by destroying other countries?
If your answers aren't yes, no, yes then there is zero point trying to discuss anything. Now what we should DO about those items is something up for debate, but if you're a Fox news brainwashed fool then there is nothing productive that can come from discussion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @02:00AM
Especially with a high uid like that.