Low Wages

8 Random Items for 12/5/2008 #1

We are told, time and time again, that people make too much money. I'm not talking about the CEO's, I'm talking about blue color workers, retail workers, technical workers, etc. Wall Street rewards companies who keep their wages low. We are now in the midst of a financial crisis that exists, largely, because of a decline in the purchasing power of the average American. The near death of the union movement in the 70s has been a major factor in the financial situation our country finds itself. Trapper John at Daily Kos talks about it and brings us a speech from Damon Silvers of the AFL-CIO.

For thirty years, America’s economic elites and their political allies have pursued a combination of economic and social policies designed to produce a low wage economy. These policies—our labor laws and our broader system of labor market regulation, our tax policies and our approach to globalization, have yielded decades of stagnant wages and rising economic inequality.