Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 03:46 PM Sep 2020

'We were shocked': RAND study uncovers massive income shift to the top 1%


The median worker should be making as much as $102,000 annually—if some $2.5 trillion wasn’t being “reverse distributed” every year away from the working class.

Just how far has the working class been left behind by the winner-take-all economy? A new analysis by the RAND Corporation examines what rising inequality has cost Americans in lost income—and the results are stunning.

A full-time worker whose taxable income is at the median—with half the population making more and half making less—now pulls in about $50,000 a year. Yet had the fruits of the nation’s economic output been shared over the past 45 years as broadly as they were from the end of World War II until the early 1970s, that worker would instead be making $92,000 to $102,000. (The exact figures vary slightly depending on how inflation is calculated.)

The findings, which land amid a global pandemic, help to illuminate the paradoxes of an economy in which so-called essential workers are struggling to make ends meet while the rich keep getting richer.

“We were shocked by the numbers,” says Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist who came up with the idea for the research along with David Rolf, founder of Local 775 of the Service Employees International Union and president of the Fair Work Center in Seattle. “It explains almost everything. It explains why people are so pissed off. It explains why they are so economically precarious.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/90550015/we-were-shocked-rand-study-uncovers-massive-income-shift-to-the-top-1?
51 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
'We were shocked': RAND study uncovers massive income shift to the top 1% (Original Post) Sherman A1 Sep 2020 OP
K&r Demovictory9 Sep 2020 #1
Right, those commie bastards at RAND.... Guy Whitey Corngood Sep 2020 #2
RAND has been used and abused for decades. Sometimes they are right about something. erronis Sep 2020 #29
Shocked? Really? Solly Mack Sep 2020 #3
Any other conclusion would have been shocking. lagomorph777 Sep 2020 #12
No shit. Solly Mack Sep 2020 #13
Yep! Rebl2 Sep 2020 #24
40 years of Reaganomics'll do that. Kid Berwyn Sep 2020 #4
Reaganomics put it on steroids. But it started in the early seventies with Blue_true Sep 2020 #18
Precisely Sherman A1 Sep 2020 #32
Reaganomics gave Corporate America a huge tax break. Kid Berwyn Sep 2020 #34
I put it at Kennedy's tax cut Warpy Sep 2020 #36
That tax plan also set in motion the system where high executives Blue_true Sep 2020 #38
Exactly. It was also at the cost of stiffing small shareholders on what should have been dividends. Warpy Sep 2020 #39
Most of us with a Wellstone ruled Sep 2020 #5
Granted you're correct Sherman A1 Sep 2020 #33
K&R smirkymonkey Sep 2020 #6
We need to start taxing wealth, high incomes, stock sales while eliminating many cuts and loopholes LonePirate Sep 2020 #7
A 2 cent tax, per each $1K trade on Wall Street would help irisblue Sep 2020 #48
Tax Wealth Not Work DanieRains Sep 2020 #8
It Is The Same Billionaires Who Pay For All The Ads We See On TeeVee DanieRains Sep 2020 #9
I was shocked. Shocked I tells ya. LakeArenal Sep 2020 #10
Shocked? With Rs in charge since Reagan? catrose Sep 2020 #11
They are also shocked edhopper Sep 2020 #14
Yep! "Trickle down economics" is doing exactly what it is designed to do... Wounded Bear Sep 2020 #15
We all know that nothing trickles and it doesn't go down FakeNoose Sep 2020 #16
Trickle down equals piss on 'em economics. japple Sep 2020 #28
K&r miyazaki Sep 2020 #17
Shocked?! Yavin4 Sep 2020 #19
It's never called "redistribution" when wealth is redistributed UPWARD JHB Sep 2020 #20
Susan Collins is likely concerned NRaleighLiberal Sep 2020 #21
The only shocking thing about this is that anyone was shocked. n/t TygrBright Sep 2020 #22
Highly recommend. BeckyDem Sep 2020 #23
"I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you... zentrum Sep 2020 #25
Seriously? Shocked? We've been living it. Middle class on life support and we're on the edge. Evolve Dammit Sep 2020 #26
Today's Minimum Wage Would Be $24 if worker pay had kept pace with productivity gains since 1968 iluvtennis Sep 2020 #27
2.5 Trillion! "Reverse distributed" OMG !!! liberalla Sep 2020 #30
Only someone truly clueless or asleep for the last four decades could be shocked pecosbob Sep 2020 #31
Trickle up poverty Dr. T Sep 2020 #35
Where is the MSM on this? Boomerproud Sep 2020 #37
When I first graduated from college in 1984, my supervisor said that incomes double every 15 years. aggiesal Sep 2020 #40
and somehow these clueless bozos were SHOCKED. paulkienitz Sep 2020 #41
Are any television media TheDemsshouldhireme Sep 2020 #42
I haven't seen it reported anywhere Sherman A1 Sep 2020 #43
Thanks for stealing my family's future johnnyfins Sep 2020 #44
Dear Tea Partiers, Trumpers, all Republicans: Your wealth has officially been redistributed. Beartracks Sep 2020 #45
Unionism was supposed to prevent this. Aussie105 Sep 2020 #46
Precisely Sherman A1 Sep 2020 #47
Link: "the blame lies..." Grins Sep 2020 #49
Elizabeth Warren is always Sherman A1 Sep 2020 #50
Imagine if workers actually HAD that income?! That money would be pouring into the economy Roland99 Sep 2020 #51

erronis

(14,853 posts)
29. RAND has been used and abused for decades. Sometimes they are right about something.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 06:28 PM
Sep 2020

Usually they just publish a whole lot of dense papers that some DoD type can use to justify another way to kill or spend money.

Too bad these think-tanks siphon off some good talent with mega-salaries and reward them with publishing contracted pieces.

In my limited history and knowledge, this has been happening since the 1930s. But it probably happened since the apes started writing on clay/papyrus.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
18. Reaganomics put it on steroids. But it started in the early seventies with
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 05:53 PM
Sep 2020

the decline of the American auto and steel industries.

Kid Berwyn

(14,522 posts)
34. Reaganomics gave Corporate America a huge tax break.
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 08:58 AM
Sep 2020

Cutting federal corporate profits tax from 48% to 32%. Similar story for wealthy individuals, who saw top rates go from (from memory) 70% to 28% and capital gains on stock transactions go from 50% to 28%.

And Uncle Sam started spending on the military like crazy. So, the rich got richer. And the conservatives ever since have claimEd there’s no money for schools, hospitals, jobs, housing and everything else in a civilized society.

Details on how Red Ink Ronnie killed the Middle Class:

https://www.salon.com/2014/04/19/reaganomics_killed_americas_middle_class_partner/

Warpy

(110,744 posts)
36. I put it at Kennedy's tax cut
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 01:30 PM
Sep 2020

reducing the top marginal rate from 90% to 70%. That top rate was there to prevent the rapid growth of plutocracy.

The Rand report put a dollar figure on it: $42,000 a year for the average worker. That's what having a plutocracy has cost each and every one of us. Think about what you could have done over the last couple of years with that 807.69 per week. Upi cpi;d jave afforded health insurance not tied to a job you hate, your kids could have gone to college without debt, you might even have been able to save for retirement.

That's what conservatives in both parties have cost us. Never forget it. Never.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
38. That tax plan also set in motion the system where high executives
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 06:05 PM
Sep 2020

could capture more of a company’s earnings cash flow for their own pockets. The outcome was lack of investment in innovation, workers and manufacturing plants, setting the stage for the industrial core rot to start in the 69-70 time period. Reagan just stomped on the knife that had already been inserted into the body of American society.

Warpy

(110,744 posts)
39. Exactly. It was also at the cost of stiffing small shareholders on what should have been dividends.
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 07:07 PM
Sep 2020

That 90% top marginal rate had done a lot of stifle naked greed in the executive suites. Back then the game was having the corporation buy the Lear jets, the vacation properties, hire the chefs for the executive dining facilities, and letting the greedheads have their perks that way. Lowering the marginal rate meant they could go for the money without shoving themselves into a confiiscatory tax bracket.

It started the ball rolling on the Gilded Age we have now.

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
33. Granted you're correct
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 07:24 AM
Sep 2020

As we know there are many who do not pay attention and struggle everyday unaware of the reasons behind their plight. I believe that anything that helps explain the reasoning behind what is going on to be helpful.

LonePirate

(13,379 posts)
7. We need to start taxing wealth, high incomes, stock sales while eliminating many cuts and loopholes
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 04:00 PM
Sep 2020

Chief among them is the carried interest loophole and the deferred compensation/stock options income for corporate executives. Put Warren or Sanders in charge of federal tax law and we’ll soon see changes.

catrose

(5,035 posts)
11. Shocked? With Rs in charge since Reagan?
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 04:22 PM
Sep 2020

“It explains almost everything. It explains why people are so pissed off. It explains why they are so economically precarious.”

YA THINK?

Wounded Bear

(58,362 posts)
15. Yep! "Trickle down economics" is doing exactly what it is designed to do...
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 05:41 PM
Sep 2020

hoover shitloads of cash upwards to the 1%.

japple

(9,767 posts)
28. Trickle down equals piss on 'em economics.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 06:25 PM
Sep 2020

And you're right. It is doing what it was designed to do.

liberalla

(9,131 posts)
30. 2.5 Trillion! "Reverse distributed" OMG !!!
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 06:43 PM
Sep 2020

I never heard it stated that way before... stunning.



Y E A R L Y !

pecosbob

(7,482 posts)
31. Only someone truly clueless or asleep for the last four decades could be shocked
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 07:44 PM
Sep 2020

Semi-skilled wages in this country are the same as they were in 1980. Trickle down was actually vacuum up.

Dr. T

(93 posts)
35. Trickle up poverty
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 12:39 PM
Sep 2020

is about to become very real for these snobby f**kers when nobody can afford to buy the things that the workers produce. Much as I hate Henry Ford, the idea that the people who produce the products should be able to buy the products needs to make a return to the corporate boardrooms.

aggiesal

(8,849 posts)
40. When I first graduated from college in 1984, my supervisor said that incomes double every 15 years.
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 08:19 PM
Sep 2020

So I was making $27,000 in 1984
If he's right, then a college graduate in ...
1999 = $54,000
2014 = $108,000
2020 = $151,200

Imagine a college graduate with a Bachelors Degree making $151,200
at their first job in 2020.

Beartracks

(12,750 posts)
45. Dear Tea Partiers, Trumpers, all Republicans: Your wealth has officially been redistributed.
Tue Sep 15, 2020, 10:59 PM
Sep 2020

And Democrats didn't do it. But progressive policies and priorities could have prevented it.

========

Grins

(7,111 posts)
49. Link: "the blame lies..."
Wed Sep 16, 2020, 08:29 AM
Sep 2020
"...the blame lies...allowing the minimum wage to deteriorate, overtime coverage to dwindle, ...effectiveness of labor law to decline, undermining union power ...shareholders over ..workers, ... University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman." (I hate Friedman.)

All true, but there is more. This clip was sent to me in 2007 from a friend. I was busy, saw it was an hour long clip, decided that was too much time, so I would watch the first 10-minutes and then move on to other things.

After 10-minutes it was so damn good I gave it another 10-minutes. Then another. And another. Watched the whole damn thing! Absolutely fascinating.

At the time I did not know of the speaker, but I never forgot her after this clip.



Latest Discussions»General Discussion»'We were shocked': RAND s...