40 Years of Economic Policy in One Chart
January 15, 2015
Down the Plughole
40 Years of Economic Policy in One Chart
by MIKE WHITNEY
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/15/40-years-of-economic-policy-in-one-chart/
Growth of Real Hourly Compensation for Production/Nonsupervisory
Workers and Productivity, 19482011
Is America in the throes of a class war?
Look at the chart and decide for yourself. Its all there in black and white, and you dont need to be an economist to figure it out.
But, please, take some time to study the chart, because theres more here than meets the eye. This isnt just about productivity and compensation. Its a history lesson too. It pinpoints the precise moment in time when the country lost its way and began its agonizing descent into Police State USA. Thats what it really means.
It all began in the 1970s, thats when everything started going down the plughole. Once wages detached from productivity, the rich progressively got richer. They used their wealth to reduce taxes on capital, role back critical regulations, break up the unions, install their own lapdog politicians, push through trade agreements that pitted US workers against low-paid labor in the developing world, and induce their shady Central Bank buddies to keep interest rates locked below the rate of inflation so they could cream hefty profits off gigantic asset bubbles. Now, 40 years later, they own the whole f*cking shooting match, lock, stock and barrel. And its all because management decided to take the lions share of productivity gains which threw the whole system off-kilter undermining the basic pillars of democratic government. Heres how FDR summed it up:
Continued
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/15/40-years-of-economic-policy-in-one-chart/
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)thanks for posting. The wheels started to come off the wagon a bit before I realized, but only by a few years. Unfortunately for most of my time in the workforce things have been on this rather distressing path.