Falling Fortunes of the Wage Earner -NYT

[Rose Siding]

Beginning in the mid-1990's, pay increases for most workers slowly but steadily outpaced the rate of inflation, improving the living standards for nearly all Americans. But an unexpected reversal last year in those gains has set off a vigorous debate among economists over whether the decline is just a temporary dip or portends a deeper shift that may cause the pay of average Americans to lag for years to come.

Even though the economy added 2.2 million jobs in 2004 and produced strong growth in corporate profits, wages for the average worker fell for the year, after adjusting for inflation - the first such drop in nearly a decade.

"Pay increases are not rebounding, even though the factors normally associated with higher pay have rebounded," said Peter LeBlanc of Sibson Consulting, a division of Segal, a human resources consulting firm.

The problem is not with the jobs themselves. Most economists dismiss as overblown the widespread fear that the number of jobs will shrink in the United States because of foreign competition from China, India and other developing nations. But at the same time many of these economists argue that the increasing exposure of the American economy to globalization, along with other forces - including soaring health insurance costs that leave less money for raises - is putting pressure on wages that could leave millions of workers worse off

http://nytimes.com/2005/04/12/business/12wages.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1113278722-k7pVM5hr7QWQbx66mnGgUQ

[Tux]

1. Where I live

$6.75 is a damn good wage. Most places start at min wage and for jobs that require a degree, you have to attend WKU or be labeled a liberal thus denied a job.

[lovuian]

2. Healthcare is destroying this costs!!!

This price increases are ridiculous!!!

[UpInArms]

3. Special Report: Executive Pay 2004

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2004-ceo-pay-total-chart.htm

How 225 of the USA's largest companies compensate their chief executives. USA TODAY's compensation report is based on data from Aon Consulting's eComp Data Services: www.ecomponline.com, for the 225 largest companies by revenue that filed annual proxies through March 25. Click on the top of each column to sort by category, except CEO.

Company (Ticker)	
CEO
Salary
Bonus1
Potential
options value2
TOTAL PAY3
United Technologies (UTX)	George David 	
$1,200,000
$3,500,000
$9,717,012
$98,038,622
Capital One Financial (COF)	Richard D. Fairbank 	
$0
$0
$28,577,467
$85,062,076
Occidental Petroleum (OXY)	Ray R. Irani 	
$1,300,000
$3,380,000
$11,386,529
$77,787,694
Genentech
(DNA)	Arthur D. Levinson 	
$894,042
$1,310,000
$31,202,127
$74,562,776
Wells Fargo
(WFC)	Richard M. Kovacevich 	
$995,000
$7,500,000
$22,246,719
$73,615,534
KB Home
(KBH)	Bruce Karatz 	
$1,000,000
$5,000,000
$11,396,646
$61,284,832
Oracle
(ORCL)	Lawrence J. Ellison 	
$675,000
$3,179,000
$7,786,236
$53,590,276
Qualcomm 
(QCOM)	Irwin Mark Jacobs 	
$1,062,282
$1,701,500
$8,636,484
$52,759,062
Harley Davidson (HDI)	Jeffrey L. Bleustein 	
$875,034
$3,531,310
$4,810,442
$51,525,478

...more...

[Selteri]

6. At the very bottom is Steve Jobs at $1 N/T

[leveymg]

11. The List Has It All: War, Real Estate Bubble, Peak Oil, Genetic Food, and

fat middle-aged guys on Harleys.

A pantheon of every social ill that afflicts Shrub's America.

:evilgrin: :party: :eyes: :bounce: :argh: :freak: :dunce: :nuke:

[wschalle]

4. Back in my day...

We worked for beans! Magic beans, that is...

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Hold it, both the LAT and the NYT ran this story

folks something is going on

[Erika]

7. Maybe it's a rebellion by the working class

It's no secret that the middle class is down the tubes financially under W and that the poor are endangered for basic needs.

We have an elitist GW, George the King, as our corporate globalist ruler. Pumping more of our money into the rich while taking away safety nets of the needy. Barf, true Christians.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. that's teh point

from data we have available we have been able to calculate the
missery index in the low to mid 60s, what is we are wrong and it breached the 70% mark and they are just getting ready for a very hot summer.... as in riots?

[leftofthedial]

8. republican policies are screwing the middle and working classes

(the poor remain screwed)

They are winning the class war. Bigtime.

[Erika]

10. Just another reason why we should be angry

and start talking about it.

[Delphinus]

12. This is key, here.

Even though the economy added 2.2 million jobs in 2004 and produced strong growth in corporate profits, wages for the average worker fell for the year, after adjusting for inflation - the first such drop in nearly a decade.

The corporate profits are ALL they care about!

[fasttense]

13. Corporate profits are what funds the b*shites. That's all they

really want. Is for corporation to make more money. If the middle class goes away in the process, well who cares. Rome lived on for hundreds of years with no middle class. America can do it too.