40% Of US Workers Now Earn Less Than 1968 Minimum Wage

originally posted by: Boadicea

Obviously the tax code we have now is grossly unfair and needs to be overhauled.

I agree.

It is absolutely unconscionable that unearned income should be taxed at a lower rate than the sweat of our brow. In my seldom humble opinion, I find the income tax on earned income to be unconscionable period, and I would eliminate it altogether. I would also eliminate income taxes on self-proprietors and family owned and run businesses, and instead let those government entitled and created fictional entities called "corporations" pick up the lion's share of the tax burden.

All the family owned businesses are corporations, just like mine were.

Soooo, in my little paradigm, we completely eliminate income tax on earned income; institute one flat tax on unearned individual income and corporate income which follows the B&J model, with a higher flat tax on corporate income which chooses not to follow the B&J model. If the CEO accepts a salary, it will be untaxed just like every other employee... if the CEO takes all or part of his/her pay in stock options, etc., then that part will be taxed just like all other unearned income, and the corporation will be taxed at the higher rate.

I am not for any type of arbitrary, government-created number used to calculate what someone else thinks I should be paying myself or my employees.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

Why do you have animosity for companies that do pay much better? The parent company I work for is Boeing with 180,000 employees, and the typically pay there is well over 50k a year for everyone. So who cares if the CEO made 2 million last year and 15 million in dividends. If the CEO took the 15 million and split it all with the employees each one would get about a 80 bucks a year raise. Personally I want the CEO to make the company profitable for many years to come over the 80 extra bucks. If the company is profitable then he gets his money if not we all are out on the streets.

Unless you truly have a communist view point that everyone should be paid equally the dream since day one in America is to become successful.

I have no issue with companies paying whatever they want to whoever they want. My goal is probably the same as their goal, make as much as I can while I can.

My issue was that Buffet makes an enormous amount of money but pretends he is somehow still an Average Joe when he is certainly not.

I like the meme that says minimum wage back then was 5 silver quarters an hour...today in silver that would be over $20/hr and that we have a money problem, not a minimum wage problem. I think these people crying for $15 minimum wage have no idea how inflation works. It will help ease the pain temporarily but ultimate inflation will catch up and exceed $15 min wage.

a reply to: AnonymousMoose

Yeah its definately not a solution.

I think the point of the article is not to advocate for an increase in minimum wage but to highlight the decimation of the middle class and how America has lost all of its purchasing power.

When more Americans have less purchasing power that means we have less leverage in the global financial markets weakening the economy for everyone.

Everyone should care about this because this means the dollar is weakening meaning the amount of money that everyone at the top thinks they have is actually worth less then they think it is and getting worse.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
I am not for any type of arbitrary, government-created number used to calculate what someone else thinks I should be paying myself or my employees.

Then of course you are welcome to do as you so choose and simply pay the higher tax rate... or simply don't incorporate and take special government entitlements and privileges... or you could actually do all the work yourself and not hire anyone... or work for someone else instead of yourself... or just don't use government sanctioned federal reserve dollars... or whatever creative thinking you can come up with.

Or we can just eliminate corporations and all the special entitlements and privileges and tax loopholes and criminal impunity and actually force companies to operate in a true free market on a level playing field. That works for me too.

a reply to: Boadicea

Or we can just eliminate corporations and all the special entitlements and privileges and tax loopholes and criminal impunity and actually force companies to operate in a true free market on a level playing field. That works for me too.

I'm in.

Interesting - I find several 'different' values at:

www.measuringworth.com...

Based on $1.60 as the minimum wage in 1968 the results I find are:

In 2014, the relative worth of $1.60 from 1968 is:

$10.90 using the Consumer Price Index
$8.40 using the GDP deflator
$11.10 using the unskilled wage
$13.40 using the Production Worker Compensation
$18.60 using the nominal GDP per capita
$29.60 using the relative share of GDP

Data for the consumer bundle is only available through 2013.

See the website for details on how the 'value' of $1.60 in 2014 dollars was calculated.

a reply to: onequestion


yup your Right


you can thank the Reagan Administration for that!!


a Little thing called Free Trade ...

You know the people , that allowed corporations from the Grand Ol USA have there industries go Overseas to communist china .....

The Swell Cheap Labor Cost! over there ..

All kinds of things coming in from China back in the 80s

And thing's were Great! ... 35 years ago..


How is that working for Us Now ... ?

How Ronald Regan Gutted the middle Class with Free trade
archives.politicususa.com...

Reagan had lasting impact on world's economic future
usatoday30.usatoday.com...

Lessons of the 40 years since Nixon went to China
www.cnn.com...


Hell, we even Have Commie China Owned / Controlled Ports In America Now . on the west coast..

Why Are Any U.S. Ports Owned or Operated by Foreign Corporations or Governments?
Posted: 02/24/2006 9:49 pm EST Updated: 05/25/2011 11:50 am ED
www.huffingtonpost.com...

We have Small Towns leaching off The Major Towns and Cities Now that Once had industries , aka Plants that went overseas ,

or like where I am From ,, Alcoa and General Motors wants to close down Plants and want there plants closer to their founding home town headquarters. That's what happened to my own town , and Now their talking of closing the eastern Alcoa "aluminum" Plant here so they can do the same as General Motors.. and Since then My Town has been falling apart ..

The average income here in around 25,000 to 40,000 , Some towns are in the County is just around 19,000 more less the leach towns ! as those Towns are NOT ABLE to Hold their Own People. for Jobs

Minimum Wage is Like 8.75 Now in New York, from the regular 7.25 an hour minimum wage

Sadly in St Lawrence County Only 4 Major Places of Employment 2 Collage Towns and 1 Industrial and 1 A Prison Town State Hospital Town The Rest are Leach Towns and its the Biggest County of New York

and the Other Problem is American keeps, on getting Immigrants in the Country Legal and Illegal

taking the American Born Citizen Jobs Away ...

At first I didn't Belive it until I saw it with my Own EYES!

went on a Trip in the OL South Chattanooga Tennessee..

and Saw More Pakistani's, Indians ( INDIA ) and Koreans, Mexicans, South Americans Owning Businesses of Retail to tourist attractions
majority of the place's I went , Their Mall might as well been BOLLY-Market!

As it Seems the Government, just hands out loans to Foreigners for Businesses... Here in USA

Influx of immigrants into Chattanooga
en.wikipedia.org...


I Say that Liberty needs to Close the Book and take care Of our Own First..

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: Boadicea

Or we can just eliminate corporations and all the special entitlements and privileges and tax loopholes and criminal impunity and actually force companies to operate in a true free market on a level playing field. That works for me too.

I'm in.

How about production for use (peaceful use) rather then production for profit.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Not sure i understand correctly.

originally posted by: dashen
Back then you could buy a house free and clear at minimum wage pay

That's because the economy these days is set for two earners, those days mostly men worked, and the misses stayed at home...

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

My issue was that Buffet makes an enormous amount of money but pretends he is somehow still an Average Joe when he is certainly not.

He is a very eccentric person, living in a house he bought 30 plus years for 200k, as example. The best advice I can give to people is to forget about the .01%, they might as well live on Mars, but it seems people want to invest a lot of thought over them. My focus is at a very micro level, a level that directly affects me, that is where I put the vast majorly of my efforts and thought.

a reply to: onequestion

There's money to be made and jobs to be had making the robots that replace the humans.

a reply to: onequestion

thank you, did not know a lot about this...but i like you....
lets poke these fat ugly greedy baztardz bellie to see if they giggle....

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: FyreByrd

Not sure i understand correctly.

Produce only what is needed. Make things to last, with proper maintenance.

Instead of 'planned obsolence' or 'rent seeking' or other forms of consumption only to enrich the wealthy.

Build things to last, take care of them, reuse and repurpose.

Don't generate electricity that is never used to be able to meet 'peak' demands - that alone would save millions of dollars and megatons of carbon emmissions.

The industrial revolution and the crass capitalism that it brought us was (IS) based not only on endless growth of markets but assumed an unlimited supply of raw resources. It's stupid to continue in this fashion.

a reply to: onequestion

It was 1968 when I got my first summer, off-farm, "paycheck" job. I made $100/wk as a contract worker. My job was to address 10,000 envelopes/week for a real estate development company. It was a great job because I could set my hours. I could do the usual farm jobs during the day and do the envelopes at night or on rainy days. The wages for the farm jobs varied from $1.50/hr for driving a tractor up to $2/hr for hauling hay or working tobacco. Lunch and snacks were included in the farm jobs. I made and saved a pile of money during the summers when I was a teen. There were endless ways to make money in those days.
Today, a goodly number of the jobs I did as a teen are no longer available. No-till farming methods and pesticide/herbicide usage greatly reduced the manual labor needed for mainstream agriculture.
Babysitting jobs have been taken over by daycare centers.
Envelopes are addressed by computer.
Automated car washes cut into teen earnings.
Local newspapers have all but disappeared. (In 1968 our town had home delivery of six daily and three weekly newspapers. Today only two dailies are available.)
I'm sure there are myriads of new ways for tweens and teens to earn money via the net but I'm totally ignorant of what they are. The kids of that age that I know who are working are in fast food, grocery or a family business. Local lawn services won't hire anyone under the age of 16 or female.

In 1970 I was offered a job at one of the local pharmacies for $1.75/hr. but I told the boss I'd have to have at least $2/hr since I could stay at home and walk to the farm and make $2/hr. without the fuss and bother of getting dressed up and driving into town. He was a bit startled by my "spunk" but hired me anyway. I made sure that he never regretted that decision.

The point of that ramble is that in 1968 nobody expected to be making minimum wage once they had a high school diploma under their belt. We worked several jobs, minimum wage or lower, to save up for: 1. a car when we turned 16, and 2. to have the cash to get out of the family home upon graduation from high school.

But I don't recall anyone in those days expecting to live singly in a two-bedroom apartment. Most of the two bedroom apartments I visited housed up to 4 people---with one bathroom. "No phone, no pools, no pets..."
We rented a 3 bedroom farmhouse in 1972 for $60/month, water, phone (local service only on a party line.) and electricity included. Split four ways, we were very happy with the arrangement. Our expenses in those days were few. Rent, food, gas & insurance for the car, and entertainment.

I see the decline in jobs. When we ran a state-wide campaign in '99 my running mate and I tried to make people aware of the consequences of the exodus of jobs to foreign nations where a fair wage was four bowls of rice, a mat on which to sleep and the equivalent of $.30/day.
I know that there has a been a steep decline in the non-to-low skilled jobs in the automotive manufacturing industry. However, with the advent of the technology that automated those lower-skilled workers' jobs, came a huge increase in the need for people to design, build and maintain the industry, creating jobs that pay far above minimum.
The other factor that I see in this equation is the level of expectations of today's teens and youth in general. They seem to expect to leave school and resume the standard of living their parents worked 20 or more years to attain. It is puzzling to those of us who valued our freedom and independence above having an apartment with a pool.

originally posted by: Boadicea

Then of course you are welcome to do as you so choose and simply pay the higher tax rate... or simply don't incorporate and take special government entitlements and privileges... or you could actually do all the work yourself and not hire anyone... or work for someone else instead of yourself... or just don't use government sanctioned federal reserve dollars... or whatever creative thinking you can come up with.

Huh? The majority of the benefits of incorporating a small business are legal and not financial; personal indemnity, brand protection, perpetual existence, etc. While there are some monetary benefits (subchapter S) they do not make you exempt from paying quarterly taxes.

Or we can just eliminate corporations and all the special entitlements and privileges and tax loopholes and criminal impunity and actually force companies to operate in a true free market on a level playing field. That works for me too.

Or, you can eliminate a host of redundant and superfluous laws that teams of corporate attorneys scour to find the loopholes among.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

He is a very eccentric person, living in a house he bought 30 plus years for 200k, as example.

Yet they fail to mention he owned two house in Laguna Beach, one which he sold for an immense profit.

Not that I have an issue selling a house for an immense profit, if I could do that with mine I certainly would. I do not begrudge anyone their money.

The best advice I can give to people is to forget about the .01%, they might as well live on Mars, but it seems people want to invest a lot of thought over them. My focus is at a very micro level, a level that directly affects me, that is where I put the vast majorly of my efforts and thought.

I agree. The changes I would like to see are more geared towards easing the burden of the middle class.

a reply to: onequestion

Also keep in mind that back in the 60's there were fewer minimum wage jobs and more GOOD jobs. Ever hear stories from you parents or grandparents about how great it was to work at Kodak back in the day? We had more factories and industrial jobs back then.

The United States post WW2 was an economic golden age that I don't think we will ever see again. The cost of living was low, jobs paid more, there were enough jobs for everyone, only one parent needed to work to support a family and still have spending money after paying all the bills. These days it's the opposite, and I don't see our current government ever being able to fix that. We would need another Revolutionary War to fix things, I think.

My dad used to tell me how he would stop at a burger joint after school and spend a quarter and get a burger, fries, and a drink, and get a nickel back (think about that the next time you see McD's dollar menu!). This was back when we were still on the silver standard and before all this inflation happened - people living today have NO IDEA what inflation has done to our country. No idea at all.

If you read stories hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic, we aren't nearly that bad - we aren't printing 50,000,000 dollar bills yet, but the little inflation we have had so far has been enough to destroy what our Middle Class used to be. Yes these days two educated, hard-working parents can raise a family and live a MIddle Class lifestyle, but that's not a given anymore. Back in the 50's and 60's it was a given that if you were a US citizen and was willing to work, you would have a Middle Class lifestyle. Back then you didn't need an education and you didn't need both parents to be both working. It's not the same anymore - they've raised the bar.

I blame a combination of the following:
1. Taking our currency off the gold and silver standards, and allowing unchecked inflation
2. The rise of mega-corporations that can produce goods outside the country and sell them here. Local businesses who hire US citizens can't compete.
3. Increasing taxes on the Middle Class while simultaneously lowering them for the extremely rich.

The combination of the above, is intended to wipe out small businesses, reduce the wealth of the Middle Class, and increase the wealth of the rich. And I say "intended" because it was intentional. The people running our government and economy don't want a Middle Class anymore - they want to bring back the aristocracy, like the nobility back in the Middle Ages. There will be a small number of the extremely rich and powerful, and the rest of us will be poor and powerless.

I think President Kennedy was aware that there was a conspiracy afoot and tried to warn us what was going on, and that's why he was assassinated.
Kennedy's speech about Secret Societies

Kennedy also tried to keep us on the silver standard by stripping the Federal Reserve of it's power to create silver certificates and returned the ability to issue silver certificates to the US Treasury department, allowing the government to create currency. This was executive order 11110.
An article about Executive Order 11110

After Kennedy was assassinated, Executive Order 11110 was never used and was just swept under the rug and forgotten about. It's still in effect and the US Treasury department could issue silver certificates if it wanted to, but that's not part of TPB's plan.

So that's two good reasons why TPB would have wanted him dead. He was the only president I think we ever had that had gone "rogue". But who are "they"? The international bankers? The Illuminati? The Rothschilds? The G20? The world's top 0.1% of the rich (people like George Soros)? Are all of these groups and people just parts of it? I don't know.

Now were presidents before him part of the conspiracy? I don't know - but I think everyone after him has been. Starting with Lyndon B. Johnson we see more and more welfare programs, increasing inflation, and increasing debt. I think which is all designed to undermine the US economy.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

Huh? The majority of the benefits of incorporating a small business are legal and not financial; personal indemnity, brand protection, perpetual existence, etc. While there are some monetary benefits (subchapter S) they do not make you exempt from paying quarterly taxes.

And it's the qualifiers that raise the red flags: "the majority of the benefits"... "some monetary benefits"... and some corps get better bennies than others... which has no foundation in a free market, hence crony capitalism on steroids for the lucky few and the rest of us bear the burden. Which is exactly why 40% of US workers now earn less than 1968 minimum wage, while others are hoarding money under color of law -- incorporation law.

Or, you can eliminate a host of redundant and superfluous laws that teams of corporate attorneys scour to find the loopholes among.

Okay. And who's going to do it? Certainly not the congress critters making a fortune from their corporate constituents. That's how we got into this mess.