The Grand Illusion
Recently, in response to one of my blogs about the excessive salaries paid to university administrators here in the U.S., and particularly in Utah, one of my readers sent me a link to a UK site, which, interestingly enough, contained a news story about how university administrators there had received a five figure pay increase while faculty got, as I recall, less than a one percent increase, after almost a decade of essentially no pay increases. Unfortunately, this trend isn’t confined to universities; it’s also a trend in business, and that trend is to stiff the people actually doing the work and reward the executives and managers for keeping costs down and profits up – effectively by keeping pay as low as possible and piling more and more work on those under them.
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, observed just several weeks ago that the 99% versus the one percent was a highly inaccurate and deceptive depiction of income inequality, in that nine-tenths of the uppermost one percent had seen modest real gains in income, perhaps less than ten percent after inflation, accompanied by as much as a twenty-percent increase in hours worked… and that didn’t take into account that this group already worked long hours. In short, 99% of the working people in the United States have seen real wages and salaries decline, the next nine-tenths of a percent have managed modest gains in income by working much longer hours, while the income of the top tenth of one percent has skyrocketed.
To make matters worse, at least here in the United States, wealthy business types, such as the DeVos and Koch families, have embarked on what amounts to political crusade to reduce the bargaining power of “labor” at all levels – except very upper management – while also pressuring politicians at all levels to keep taxes low and to reduce support services to the poor and working poor, as well as the unemployed…and, of course, to provide a wider range of “business” tax subsidies. The result is, of course, more of what we’re already experiencing – increasing income inequality as the real income of the top tenth of one percent goes up and the real [after taxes and inflation] income of everyone else goes down, or perhaps holds steady or rises slightly for a “fortunate” few; slow, almost non-existent job growth; and an anemic economy at best.
I’m as incensed as anyone about the comparative handful of the “professional poor,” and the grifters, especially huge agribusiness combines and special interest loophole users, who employ every angle to con money from the federal government, and I’m not exactly pleased by couples who have far more offspring than they can support, and knowing that, who continue to have more children. BUT… statistics show that the majority of those receiving unemployment assistance are still looking for work… and the vast majority of working Americans are getting screwed.
Meantime, the top one tenth of one percent, such as hedge fund managers, and the DeVos and Koch families, are doing just fine, and all too many of them are trying to find ways to lower their taxes and keep down labor costs, regardless of the devastating impact on most working Americans.
Ms. Mossiness,
I believe it is rude to repeatedly post a link to your website on another’s website. If you have a comment please post it here as I would love to read it without being redirected to your website and a slew of advertisements.
I did make a comment about Mr. Modesitt’s blog post on my own blog. I merely wanted to share his wisdom with my followers.
However, it is quite tedious to compose eloquently and eruditely on a small screen smartphone, so I opted for a one sentence endorsement.
Furthermore, I have no control over Mr. Modesitt’s blog automatically reposting the link as a comment here. If I could prevent that from happening when I reblog his posts, I would and thus alleviate your annoyance. Yet, I did not force you to follow the link above. You did that of your own free will.
Might I also suggest that you take advantage of the many free ad blocking plugins available for most web browsers?
The same thing is still happening in British universities and professional life. There was a strike at my university last week over this exact issue. I don’t think it will make any difference though, as society seems to have become as divided as before the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and the people with the money are doing everything in their power to keep ir, while making sure everyone else gets screwed over. The days of relatively small income gaps in developed countries seem a long time ago, even for someone only just into their 20’s. Somehow, I can’t seem to visualise any of these top tenth of a percent earners entering into any kind of meaningful form of philanthropy like the titans of business and industry in the 19th/early 20th centuries. I really do despair sometimes.
I am in fair despair. No one listens, so much should be obvious. My personal problem is that I am heavily invested in the stock market as it seems the only game in town. I do have multiple avenues of income since I have not trusted the system since I took bus. ad in 1968. What I would like is a safe investment that does not reward the bad guys. For me, I will die before anything big happens but I really worry about my kids and their kids as well as…well, as a Humanist I believe we are all in this together. Anyway,any suggestions for covering myself while not helping the .05%? Any party not party to this crap?
Gordon
In practice, from what I can see, there’s no such thing as a “safe” investment [i.e., comparatively risk free]that pays a significant positive rate of return after inflation. Anything that pays more incorporates a higher risk. Spreading moderate risk and having multiple sources of income — as you do — are probably the best anyone can do.
Consider investing in family. Parents, children, brothers and sisters. My father has passed but my mother has nothing to worry about. She has a modest amount put away but has five children who would take her in in a heartbeat.
Perhaps this is because when we were children my father and mother took in my ailing grandfather and healthy grandmother. I watched my parents care for my grandfather as he went from a strong, intelligent man to a shell of his former self due to Alzheimer’s. My job as a 16year old was to lift. I lifted even with sweating, stinking, dripping diarrhea, cursing, crying, scratching and slapping (him not me).
Sometimes it wasn’t much fun at all but there were rewards. My grandmother buried my grandfather and father before passing on at the age of 107. It wasn’t always easy for my mother but we children learned that it is what family does. My mother does not have to worry about investments. She made the best of investments.
I hope to be able to leave a large inheritance for my children. I have an even greater hope that I will have taught them enough about the importance of family that if there is no inheritance, or even retirement, that I will have no worries.