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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) by DannyB on Friday June 22 2018, @04:34PM (3 children)
I will add, at this point I would be THRILLED to have George W Bush back. And I didn't vote for him. Until we survive Trump, the trump bashing will continue.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @07:23PM (2 children)
Be careful what you wish for.
The major impact of a USAian president is his judicial appointments, which carry lifetime tenure.
Dubya would be appointing Reactionary judges, just like Drumpf.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Saturday June 23 2018, @02:02PM (1 child)
That's true. But then why would it be any worse if both appoint such judges.
The bigger picture issue is that W wasn't a jackass who thinks that nuclear war is acceptable, maybe even desirable.
W never wanted to have military parades like all good dictatorships have. America DOES NOT DO military parades.
W wasn't someone who's ego required FIVE flyovers at his coronation.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @06:16PM
Yeah. The way his ego needs constant feeding and how he can be manipulated with a bit of flattery|pomp is really scary.
(I've also seen stuff by mental health professionals saying that his brain has undergone significant organic degradation i.e. he's senile.)
Now, if I was going for a change, I'd want Mike Pence in there.
While I completely disagree with his politics, at a minimum he has a stable personality.
It also appears that he was in on the colluding with foreign powers thing and could be impeached for conspiring to violate campaign laws.
For that to be useful|happen, however, the House and the Senate would need to be expunged of a significant number of GOP toadies and gain a supermajority of law-and-order sticklers.
N.B. In the California Primary Election (jungle primary) June 5, turnout was under 12 percent of registered voters.
A lot of folks (potential voters) have just given up on Democracy--or whatever thing it is that remains in USA.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]