Higher Prices,Stagnant Wages Produce Pay Cuts...(LAT)

[katty]

Higher Prices, Stagnant Wages Produce Pay Cut for US Workers
By Nicholas Riccardi
The Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com

Monday 11 April 2005

For the first time in 14 years, the American work force has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.

The growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed the growth in prices, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs.

The result is that people such as Victor Romero are finding themselves falling behind.

The 49-year-old film-set laborer had to ditch his $1,100-a-month Los Angeles apartment because his rent kept rising while his pay of $24.50 an hour stayed flat.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

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[newsguyatl]

1. go bush

thank you to all who voted for him!

[Tux]

2. I'd like to thank

Kentucky for their Bible thumpers that require I attend their church so I can get a schedule that allows grad school.
The employers that complain I attended EMU instead of WKU and won't let me work.
Bush and the neocons for making it easy for corporations to send jobs overseas and forcing people to work more for less.
And
Jesus for having his followers believe that non-Christians are evil and make excuses why non-Christians can't work.

[Moderator]

3. katty, as per DU rules

Please be aware that DU copyright rules require that excerpts of copyrighted material be limited to four paragraphs

[Rose Siding]

4. Higher Prices, Stagnant Wages Produce Pay Cut for U.S. Workers -LAT

For the first time in 14 years, the American work force has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.

The growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed the growth in prices, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs.
....
"There's no such thing as raises anymore," Romero said. This is the first time that salaries have increased more slowly than inflation since the 1990-91 recession. While salary growth has been relatively sluggish since the 2001 downturn, inflation had stayed relatively subdued until last year, when the consumer price index rose 2.7 percent. But average hourly wages rose only 2.5 percent.

The effective 0.2-percentage-point erosion in workers' living standards occurred while the economy expanded at a healthy 4 percent, better than the 3 percent historical average.

At the same time, corporate profits hit record highs as companies got more productivity out of workers while keeping pay raises down.

.....MORE......

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wages11apr11,0,5092199.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. No Sh*t, Sherlock.

Bunch of us coulda told you that a long time ago.

[indianablue]

6. First time in 14 years, I beg top differ...

Wages have been falling for decades now as the all out assault on labor by many fronts continues and now is taking a toll on skilled white collar jobs.

[indepat]

16. Because real cost of living increases are hidden for local RE taxes,

prescriptions, higher hospitalization insurance and co-payments and deductibles, heating costs, et al just for starters.

[Deja Q]

7. Everything changes yet remains the same. As a generalization, it's

been that way since the early 1970s.

We're used to being whipped more for higher productivity while our bosses take home more. Even unions, the ones who gave us decent lifestyles, are impotent.

[UpInArms]

8. "Ah'm gonna pick up whar ma daddie lef' off"

GWB campaign 2000

[Trajan]

10. EXACTLY what I thought ....

Hasnt been this bad since .... DADDY ruled the roost ....

The GOP is always bad for the economy .... When will people learn ? ..

[Erika]

9. America on the decline

Our standard of living is going down each year. Welcome to the days of Hugo and Dickens via Bush's republicanism. His worship of the rich and his blind eye to the needs of the poor are utterly repulsive but he keeps the push going.

[DBoon]

11. Now who was president 14 years ago?

let's see, 1990. It couldn't have been another Bush, could it?

[lovuian]

12. Ya when a Republican President is in for 8 years it tends to

happen wait till there is a Depression!!!

[UpInArms]

13. kick

:kick: for Monday morning readers :hi:

[lawladyprof]

14. I was stunned

that so many Americans seemed to forget the misery Bush I delivered to the people of this country.

[Yavin4]

15. And People Are Using Their Credit Cards To Make Up The Difference

People are using high interest rate debt to make up for the difference between pay and cost of living during a time of rising interest rates and a new bankruptcy bill that won't allow people to walk away from their debts.

This is why I, and many others, have been saying that there will be either a complete economic collapse or a major economic slowdown within the year or so. This economy is not producing the kinds of jobs that will pay for this increased standard of living, and debt cannot be used to make up for the difference.

[cosmicdot]

17. kick - did someone make a pot of coffee at the LAT?

anyone waking up and smelling it?

did someone finally pick up a copy of Jim Hightower's "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos", published in 1997?

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Bu$h**'s Ownership Society is just around the corner on Herbert Hoover Avenue

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Workers Can't Afford Bush's "Ownership Society"


The Bush administration's push to privatize Social Security is part
of its broader agenda for an "ownership society," outlined in Bush's
inaugural address as the cornerstone for domestic policy for his
second term.

Bush's ownership society hinges on the accumulation of wealth. Those
who have amassed wealth and can afford to save for their retirement,
health care and educational expenses will be rewarded with an array
of tax credits and tax-favored investment options.

The vast majority of working Americans, however, will never reach
sufficient income levels to participate in Bush's "ownership
society." Before workers can begin to save at the levels that would
allow them to join this world of wealth accumulation, they will have
to increase their income and pay off their debt.

With consumer debt at record highs and real wages and income falling
for most workers, the prospects for savings are grim. Over the past
12 months, average hourly earnings rose 2.2 percent, less than the
3.0 percent increase in the CPI.

~snip~

http://www.laborresearch.org/story2.php/379


The Economic Tsunami: Coming Sooner Than You Think

The Economic Tsunami : Coming Sooner Than You Think
By Mike Whitney
Apr 9, 2005, 09:02

~snip~

It seems that there are a growing number of people who believe as I do, that the economic tsunami planned by the Bush administration is probably only months away. In just 5 short years the national debt has increased by nearly 3 trillion dollars while the dollar has continued its predictable decline. The dollar has fallen a whopping 38% since Bush took office, due largely to the massive $450 billion per year tax cuts. At the same time, numerous laws have been passed (Patriot Act, Intelligence Reform Bill, Homeland Security Bill, National ID, Passport requirements etc) anticipating the need for greater repression when the economy takes its inevitable nosedive. Regrettably, that nosedive looks to be coming sooner rather than later.

The administration is currently putting as much pressure as possible on OPEC to ratchet up the flow of oil another 1 million barrels per day (well over capacity) to settle down nervous markets and buy time for the planned bombing of Iran in June. Like Fed Chief Alan Greenspan's artificially low interest rates, the manipulation of oil production is a way of concealing how dire the situation really is. Rising prices at the pump signal an upcoming recession, (depression?) so the administration is pulling out all the stops to meet the short term demand and maintain the illusion that things are still okay. (Bush would rather avoid massive popular unrest until his battle-plans for Iran are carried out)

But, of course, things are not okay. The country has been intentionally plundered and will eventually wind up in the hands of its creditors as Bush and his lieutenants planned from the very beginning. Those who don't believe this should note the methodical way that the deficits have been produced at (around) $450 billion per year; a systematic and orderly siphoning off of the nation's future. The value of the dollar and the increasing national debt follow exactly the same (deliberate) downward trajectory.

This same Ponzi scheme has been carried out repeatedly by the IMF and World Bank throughout the world; Argentina being the last dramatic illustration. (Argentina's economic collapse occurred when its trade deficit was running at 4%; right now ours is at an unprecedented 6%.) Bankruptcy is a fairly straight forward way of delivering valuable public assets and resources to collaborative industries, and of annihilating national sovereignty. After a nation is successfully driven to destitution, public policy decisions are made by creditors and not by representatives of the people. (Enter, Paul Wolfowitz)

~snip~

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_16735.shtml

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Yeah looks like somebody left the coffee pot on

[Moderator]

18. kick to combine

[Moderator]

20. kick to combine

[NNN0LHI]

21. Higher prices, stagnant wages produce pay cuts (First time in 14 years)

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050412/REPOSITORY/504120310/1003/BUSINESS

For the first time in 14 years, the American work force has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.

The growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed the growth in prices, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs.

The result is that people such as Victor Romero are finding themselves falling behind.

The 49-year-old film-set laborer had to ditch his $1,100-a-month Los Angeles apartment because his rent kept rising while his pay of $24.50 an hour stayed flat.

"There's no such thing as raises anymore," Romero said. This is the first time that salaries have increased more slowly than inflation since the 1990-91 recession. While salary growth has been relatively sluggish since the 2001 downturn, inflation had stayed relatively subdued until last year, when the consumer price index rose 2.7 percent. But average hourly wages rose only 2.5 percent.

more

Hmmm. Who was president during the 1990-91 recession?

[mattclearing]

22. Nice that this is finally getting some press.

It has been evident to me for the past two years that wages are not keeping up with prices.