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Generally they do yes. Average wage in 1970 was about $3.40 an hour, which is about $23.60 today when inflation linked. Today average wage is $25.60/hr But th
by iso1210 5y ago
Generally they do yes. Average wage in 1970 was about $3.40 an hour, which is about $23.60 today when inflation linked.
Today average wage is $25.60/hr
But that's only part of the story - while wages haven't gone down over the last 50 years, the economy has increased, and normal people haven't benefited from that increase unless they've been able to pump their money into things like stocks. That means those who had wealth and no debt back in 1970 are doing great (put $1k in the Down Jones in 1970, reinvest the dividends, and instead of an inflation linked $7k, you'd have a whopping $260k today)
This means that boomers (the ones with most of the wealth and control) are very rich, but Gen-X and especially millennials are massively lagging behind where previous generations were.
- kbenson 5y ago> normal people haven't benefited from that increase unless they've been able to pump their money into things like stocks. Except that the U.S. isn't cut off from the world economy, and over a billion people have moved out of extreme poverty. How much of the difference in what we expect buying power should be compared to what it is is on account of globalization and sharing some of that wealth with other countries? It seems a bit suspect to assume monetary policy is the only or the majority of the reason for these observations without considering things such as that.
- iso1210 5y agoSo farmers in China have benefitted, rich boomers have benefitted, the environment has suffered, and working americans are going nowhere.