Taking a page from NYT's Stephen Greenhouse's new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker,
- Since 1979, hourly earnings for 80% of Americans rose only 1% after inflation
- Hourly wages for male workers has actually declined 5% since 1979 after inflation
- In 2005, the top 1% of Americans earned 21.2% of ALL income (a new high)
- The bottom 50% (read: HALF OF AMERICA) earned a paltry 12.8% of all income, down from 2000
- The typical American works 1,804 hours/year (vs. 1,669 hours for Brits, 1,564 hours for the French, and 1,434 hours for the Germans - 9 full time weeks less than Americans)
So, Americans work more than anyone else in the industrialized world with stagnant wages, healthcare costs that rose 78% in 5 years, a mortgage crisis, credit crisis, a food crisis - all while 1% of the population earns almost double what half the country combined earns.
WHY AREN'T WE BITTER?
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1 comment:
Every system is designed to achieve the results it does. We're not bitter because we can always just change the system. We're not bitter because everything is in a state of flux and stagnancy, whether politically or economically or socially, is very much a short term phenomenon. We should condition ourselves to not be surprised nor bitter by the events we know can happen and are happening. We should also condition ourselves to think of solutions and ACT on those thoughts. Not only will we see change, but we won't feel bitter.
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