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http://www1.salary.com/Heavy-Equipment-Operator-Salaries.html http://www1.salary.com/Heavy-Equipment-Operator-Salaries.htm... that source says the median salar

http://www1.salary.com/Heavy-Equipment-Operator-Salaries.html http://www1.salary.com/Heavy-Equipment-Operator-Salaries.htm... that source says the median salary for heavy equipment operator is $60K/year. If we assume 2000 working hours per year, that divides out to $30/hour, so your estimate seems pretty on target. cost of living numbers based on Consumer Price Index (does not take into account major dislocations in specific sectors like housing though, so this is actually undercounting costs) http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-price-index-and-annual-percent-changes-from-1913-to-2008/ http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/consumer-pric... 1972 avg CPI was about 40. 2016 avg CPI was about 240. the cost of living went up about 6 times. 2x wage increase vs. 6x cost of living increase. yeah, we're feeling the squeeze alright. mind you during this same period GDP https://www.thebalance.com/us-gdp-by-year-3305543 https://www.thebalance.com/us-gdp-by-year-3305543 in 1972 the real dollar GDP was 4.8 trillion. in 2016 it was 16 trillion. that's an almost 4x increase in real dollars. in inflation adjusted dollars its even more. 1972 nominal GDP was 1.2 trillion. 2016 nominal GDP was 18.5 trillion. YES THE NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY WENT UP BY ALMOST 18 TIMES IN THAT PERIOD. so the nation is approximately 18 times wealthier, by a deeply flawed but widely accepted metric, but wages only went up by 2 times, and cost of living increased by 6 times. Where did all the rest of the money go? Not to the workers, that's for sure.

sssilver 10y ago
This is what I don't understand, and I would appreciate if anyone explained it to me. The money went to "the top 1%", whatever. Where do they keep it? Probably either in a bank, which invests it back into the economy, or in other form of investments. Definitely not under a pillow. So entering back into the free market economy, the money, pretty much in its entirety, gets distributed into the hands of the millions of "regular people" in form of investment. They buy a McLaren or a mansion? Great, that money goes to the people who make those things. All in all, because the entire "1%" money is circulating in the economy anyway, what does it matter who it actually belongs to? What am I missing here?
- metaphorm 10y ago
  > The money went to "the top 1%", whatever. Where do they keep it? That's a complex puzzle but the answer is some combination of all of the following: financial assets (this is a big one, stocks and bonds soak up a lot of money), real estate, luxury goods, re-investment, off-shore tax havens, and under a pillow (gold or other commodities that have low utility but high scarcity). > All in all, because the entire "1%" money is circulating in the economy anyway, what does it matter who it actually belongs to? this is the theory behind the now discredited and disproved "trickle down economics" theory. the money doesn't really circulate very well, actually. it is far less liquid in the possession of the wealthy than it is in the possession of the working class. wealth stockpiles in the form of longterm held financial assets sucks a huge amount of money out of the economy.

sssilver 10y ago

This is what I don't understand, and I would appreciate if anyone explained it to me. The money went to "the top 1%", whatever. Where do they keep it? Probably either in a bank, which invests it back into the economy, or in other form of investments. Definitely not under a pillow. So entering back into the free market economy, the money, pretty much in its entirety, gets distributed into the hands of the millions of "regular people" in form of investment. They buy a McLaren or a mansion? Great, that money goes to the people who make those things. All in all, because the entire "1%" money is circulating in the economy anyway, what does it matter who it actually belongs to? What am I missing here?

metaphorm 10y ago
> The money went to "the top 1%", whatever. Where do they keep it? That's a complex puzzle but the answer is some combination of all of the following: financial assets (this is a big one, stocks and bonds soak up a lot of money), real estate, luxury goods, re-investment, off-shore tax havens, and under a pillow (gold or other commodities that have low utility but high scarcity). > All in all, because the entire "1%" money is circulating in the economy anyway, what does it matter who it actually belongs to? this is the theory behind the now discredited and disproved "trickle down economics" theory. the money doesn't really circulate very well, actually. it is far less liquid in the possession of the wealthy than it is in the possession of the working class. wealth stockpiles in the form of longterm held financial assets sucks a huge amount of money out of the economy.