Workers share of income at record low...

[RobsanX]

There are a lot of factors to consider when hiring or laying off. A lot of it depends on the skills of the workers, training costs, etc.

[ABW]

It never helps that companies are terrified to invest in new workers when they feel the government is going to make them pay more taxes, more healthcare, and they never know what around the corner..

[truthwolf1]

Sorry for no future optimism but I am envisioning most of the population will be thankful for a $10 dollar a hour job at one of the Corporate chains that offers health benefits in the years to come.

The spending culture will grind to a even further halt because most families will be scraping by just to purchase food and pay even higher government taxes which will go for entitlements for the unemployed, elderly, illegals immigrants and pockets of corruption within the government.

This has been the steady decline of the American worker for years. As long as they can keep somekind of control on society, fix a few roads/schools and keep the rich getting richer we still have a way's to go before the bottom.

Things are bad but dont think for one minute they could not get worse.

[devilock76]

Yeah it is much worse now than it was for workers during say the the dawn of the industrial revolution, or say the great depression, or for that matter under the feudal system in Europe. I know, hyperbole, but still part of the problem you allude to is the spending culture, and that is us. Heck might as well blame the GMAC for the crisis, they started it all. Buy what you cannot afford now, and instead of saving for it benefiting from interest borrow for it and we enslave you with the interest. We do it to ourselves sometimes too, and that just makes it easier for others to do it to us.

Ken

[sgreger1]

Robansx, here is the reason why things are the way they are. Read this and you will understand exactly what is happening in America and why you see the trend observed in your OP:

• There is around 15% new money in the system each year (this does vary)
  
  
• Production increases by ~2% each year.
  
  
• This means you have 15% more money, chasing 2% more goods.
  
  
• Most of the new money stays in the hands of the rich, and hardly any trickles down to the working class.
  
  
• As a result of the new money, there are price increases. The largest price increases are in capital goods. Consumer goods rise only a small amount, usually because the biggest factor in their production is labor. If you keep wages down, you keep down the price of consumer goods.
  
  
• There are consumer increases in price (CPI), meaning workers need to fight to get 2-4% pay-rises per year just to stay even with consumable goods, in order to stay even with capital, you need more. Increasing the difficulty for the worker to obtain capital makes it harder for regular people to go from the working class to the capitalist class.
  
  
• New money is available the cheapest (interest rate) to the largest corporations, and the richest people. If you take a loan for a business, you might pay 7%, a large business might pay 4%, meaning, if you want to compete with them, their costs are already smaller.
  
  
• Credit is available based on assets. Therefore, if you are already rich, you can get credit to monopolize assets/business/etc fairly easily if needed.
  
  
• Money comes from a central source, everyone around that source takes their cut, then the next person takes their cut, by the time it gets to the end person, some privileged people have made money simply by being closer to the center than you.
  
  
• As there is more and more money, and the lower classes get a smaller percentage than the upper classes, it helps to widen the gap, and the middle class never keeps up with the upper classes.
  
  
• Inflation takes the value from your money. If you put $10,000 in the bank, in 10 years it is worth less, so in order to stay even, you need to invest your money to earn interest, hence exploit the labor of someone else, just to stay even (which you must then pay taxes on that too). This creates a rat race where everyone must always be either investing or spending their money, just to keep even. Savers are punished, and consumption is rewarded.
  
  
• Instead of big business wanting to work for the people, they would rather work for the banks, as they make more money. The entire economy becomes distorted towards the central bank.
  
  
• As the banks create money, they have the most to spend, so talented graduates can make more money serving the system, than they can serving the people.
  
  
• Banks produce no wealth, yet they have the biggest buildings and most money, and consume a lot of resources (think of CEOs with billions of dollars, and all of the bonuses). Banks should serve the people, not the other way around.
  
  
• Central banks must be managed VERY CAREFULLY. Indonesia, Argentina, Ireland, Iceland, Zimbabwe are all examples of the middle class being royally ****ed. Can people be trusted to do the right thing? What happens if they make mistakes? Already we have seen our Fed give millions of dollars for free to the wives of friends/etc. They have propped up foreign regimes with dictators/etc.
  
  
• If we did want to keep a central bank, transparency is key. Right now it is very secretive, which is harmful to regular people, as insiders know how to bet against the ignorant. Also, instead of 15% actual monetary inflation, it would make sense to do 2% to match the greater productive output, keeping prices 'stable'.
  
  
• The ability to print money is prone for abuse, and has being abused over the ages. Most wars thoughout history (including now) are funded because of the debasement of currency. War would be very unpopular if the government actually had to tax each citizen for what it was worth. Sure we want protection from terrorists, but if taxes had to be raised to 60% on everyone, maybe we wouldn't be so keen.
  
  
• The ability for a government to monetize debt means our children and grandchildren are put into debt all to easily, with little oversight/etc..
  
  
• Keynes talked about government using savings in recessions to help the economy. Money isn't savings or capital, it's a debt/promise to pay. There are some issues around this, and neo-Keynesians seem to believe that new inflated money/debt is just as good as savings. (I don't believe so)
  
  
• In order to keep the system working, new debt must constantly be created, and you need an increase in GDP to back it. Our economy is 70% consumption, and if GDP must raise very year (exponentially too), we must increase consumption exponentially. This is impossible for a few reasons, first being scarcity of resources. Also, from an environmental point of view, this is horrible! If anything, if we could consume less, or have goods that last longer, our economy, environment, and souls would be much better for it.

Ron Paul 2012. Take down the central bank. Institute competing currencies. That is all.

[RobsanX]

Yes, fighting over the scraps indeed...

[sirloot]

Thats broken down too simply .. the Govt cant understand simplicity !

[bakerbarber]

can't I just sit on my lazy ass and suck off the teet of public assistance?

Maybe if I get an emotional support pet, get diagnosed with a chronic debilitating illness and land a recurring role on some reality documentary.

Making money is just part of the equation. Making the money you have grow is where the disparity multiplies. Give a man $10,000 and see if he invests it productively or blows it on crap and fleeting trivial nonsense. We've been brainwashed to spend more than we have, and be part of the system since day one. To truly break from the cycle you need to achieve independence. So many people are slaves to fancy cars, big houses, or expensive technology. The short sighted desires force them into long term mediocricy.

There is a sustained effort to hamper innovation and small start up businesses. The bureaucracy that is one million layers thick was instilled by lobbyists of mega corporations. There is no such thing as anti-trust enforcement now. It's actually the opposite. The push for consolidation and standardization is disgusting. A little girl can't even run a lemonade stand anymore.

When industry condenses down to a super vertically integrated conglomerate the disparity is wide between the bottom dwellers and those in the ivory towers.

When the pole flip and the next ice age gets rolling, what good is that lifetime membership at the golf club going to be? All that time in a boardroom will make the upper crust soft and disconnected from real survival instincts. 'Mad Max' will be a total reversal of roles.

Besides don't they deserve more money for making the tough decisions? They probably have activist shareholders breathing down their necks crying about dividends. Cut them some slack. I almost had to skip a pedicure this month because the girl-scouts cried about orangutans and unsustainable palm oil deforestation and my thin mints were almost held up. Like we can't subsidize a little slash and burn agriculture? Next we'll be complaining about medicine shortages because big pharma discontinued non-profitable ventures and break even SKUs. *ughh that did happen* Well at least we don't do anything stupid like turn 40% of our corn into ethanol when global supply and demand numbers are less than 5% carryover from old crop to new crop.. *ughh.. we do that too?*

It's not about what you know, it's about who you blow. That's what I heard..

Just sayin.