Tuesday, April 12, 2005
George Bush's America, or Fuck the Workers
The New York Times in a story about the fate of workers in America after four years of George Bush's tax cut induced nightmare notes that, "Even though the economy added 2.2 million jobs in 2004 and produced strong growth in corporate profits, wages for the average worker fell for the year, after adjusting for inflation - the first such drop in nearly a decade." This wouldn't be so bad if Georgie & his cabal of Radical Republicans hadn't touted the tax cuts for the rich as benefiting the average worker, or if health benefits for workers had improved over the same period, or if CEO pay hadn't continued to increase, or....But realy, no matter how you slice it, this is bad news, especially when you stop to consider, "[w]age growth has trailed far behind productivity growth over the last four years, and the share of national income going to employee compensation is low by historic standards." While some of blame for the stagnant wage growth, much can be blamed on corporate greed. Productivity since 2001 has risen by 4.1%, but wages have only risen by 1.5%. Combine that with sky rocketing medical insurance premiums for those lucky enough to have a job with benefits and sky rocketing gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas prices for for everybody else and it's not a good time to be a wage earner. Add to this the steady round of tution increases at most state universities and community colleges because of shrinking contributions from the state because of the "need" to cut taxes on investments and capital and it's becoming increasingly to not become downwardly mobile (let alone upwardly mobile) in George Bush's America. Many in corporate America cite the cost of health benefits as fueling the downward pressure on wages. If this is the case, and the recent news coming out of GM makes it likely that it is in part true, then killing the Clinton health plan doesn't look like such a smart move now. Of course George Bush and the Radical Republicans have no interest in "reforming" health care in the U.S. because it isn't a government program.
If we let George Bush and the Radical Republicans continue on this path we're going to start seeing a brain and talent drain where those with skills and intellectual capital will start moving to countries that provide health care as a basic right and where a social saftey net exists. If and when that starts to happen....
The New York Times in a story about the fate of workers in America after four years of George Bush's tax cut induced nightmare notes that, "Even though the economy added 2.2 million jobs in 2004 and produced strong growth in corporate profits, wages for the average worker fell for the year, after adjusting for inflation - the first such drop in nearly a decade." This wouldn't be so bad if Georgie & his cabal of Radical Republicans hadn't touted the tax cuts for the rich as benefiting the average worker, or if health benefits for workers had improved over the same period, or if CEO pay hadn't continued to increase, or....But realy, no matter how you slice it, this is bad news, especially when you stop to consider, "[w]age growth has trailed far behind productivity growth over the last four years, and the share of national income going to employee compensation is low by historic standards." While some of blame for the stagnant wage growth, much can be blamed on corporate greed. Productivity since 2001 has risen by 4.1%, but wages have only risen by 1.5%. Combine that with sky rocketing medical insurance premiums for those lucky enough to have a job with benefits and sky rocketing gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas prices for for everybody else and it's not a good time to be a wage earner. Add to this the steady round of tution increases at most state universities and community colleges because of shrinking contributions from the state because of the "need" to cut taxes on investments and capital and it's becoming increasingly to not become downwardly mobile (let alone upwardly mobile) in George Bush's America. Many in corporate America cite the cost of health benefits as fueling the downward pressure on wages. If this is the case, and the recent news coming out of GM makes it likely that it is in part true, then killing the Clinton health plan doesn't look like such a smart move now. Of course George Bush and the Radical Republicans have no interest in "reforming" health care in the U.S. because it isn't a government program.
If we let George Bush and the Radical Republicans continue on this path we're going to start seeing a brain and talent drain where those with skills and intellectual capital will start moving to countries that provide health care as a basic right and where a social saftey net exists. If and when that starts to happen....