Where has all the growth of the last ten, twenty, forty years gone? It’s gone to the rich, super-rich, and ultra-rich. The wealthy 1% of the US income distribution have seen massive gains since 1973 – but especially since 1999.
All Australian workers are entitled to benefits that are extended only to the richest Americans: parental leave, caregiver’s leave, extra vacation for shift workers etc. How does Australia do it? Most Australians bargain collectively with their employers instead of one on one.
For the 22 million Americans who are either entirely unemployed or unable to find full-time employment, the situation has barely changed. The Realonomy has hit them the hardest. There are no jobs for them.
We were all worried about the most affluent luxury customers. After all, sales growth at Tiffany’s has recently slowed to the low double-digits. Its stock has taken a beating.
The greatest injustice in the entire tax code is the fact that the poor pay more while the rich pay less. Congress should stop playing politics with the payroll tax cut and make it permanent by extending Social Security taxes to everyone.
Using the chained COLA idea to cut future Social Security benefits would have been an even bigger disaster than the supercommittee itself. On the day you retire, your Social Security benefits are fixed forever.
No one wants to pay taxes. But when we have to choose between a tax break for those making over $110,100 a year or a tax increase for those making over $110,100 a year, the choice is clear.
The United States had the highest level of inequality among G-7 countries both in 1980 and in 2008. France is the only G-7 country to have experienced declining inequality over that period. Inequality rose in all of the other six.