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
General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)'We were shocked': RAND study uncovers massive income shift to the top 1% [View all]
The median worker should be making as much as $102,000 annuallyif some $2.5 trillion wasnt 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 incomeand the results are stunning.
A full-time worker whose taxable income is at the medianwith half the population making more and half making lessnow pulls in about $50,000 a year. Yet had the fruits of the nations 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?
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
51 replies, 5634 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (87)
ReplyReply to this post
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% [View all]
Sherman A1
Sep 2020
OP
RAND has been used and abused for decades. Sometimes they are right about something.
erronis
Sep 2020
#29
Exactly. It was also at the cost of stiffing small shareholders on what should have been dividends.
Warpy
Sep 2020
#39
We need to start taxing wealth, high incomes, stock sales while eliminating many cuts and loopholes
LonePirate
Sep 2020
#7
Yep! "Trickle down economics" is doing exactly what it is designed to do...
Wounded Bear
Sep 2020
#15
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
Only someone truly clueless or asleep for the last four decades could be shocked
pecosbob
Sep 2020
#31
When I first graduated from college in 1984, my supervisor said that incomes double every 15 years.
aggiesal
Sep 2020
#40
Dear Tea Partiers, Trumpers, all Republicans: Your wealth has officially been redistributed.
Beartracks
Sep 2020
#45