Why has the income disparity in US skyrocketed in the past 20 years? (Clinton, revolution)
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There are a couple potential explanations. One is that the American worker is getting more productive, but is not getting compensated for it. Instead, productivity gains have been captured by the upper 1%.
CEO's have turned into rock stars and many insulate their pay with through compensation committees and inbreeding of boards of directors.
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One study of 1,500 firms that found that the compensation earned by the top five corporate officers in 1993-5 equaled 5 percent of their firms' total profits during that period; by 2000-2, that ratio had more than doubled to 12.8 percent. The trend was caused in equal parts by arbitrary pay decisions by corporate boards and by the showering of stock options on CEOs, they conclude.
After observing what has happened across the globe I sadly agree that this is indeed possible. Unfortunately that will further damage the ability of the average citizen to gain and obtain wealth and give even more power and wealth to those already holding it en mass. It is not as though the plight of the average Egyptian has improved since their "Arab Spring" nor has the life of the average greek improved with each bailout.
There are a couple potential explanations. One is that the American worker is getting more productive, but is not getting compensated for it. Instead, productivity gains have been captured by the upper 1%.
CEO's have turned into rock stars and many insulate their pay with through compensation committees and inbreeding of boards of directors.
The corporate model worships profit above all else, so this is a natural consequence of such a model.
As for American workers, plenty of those, just few jobs.
No coincidence there is a direct correlation w/ millions and millions of US jobs sent to China and their rise from back of the line to 2nd and looks to be first in GDP ranks.
I'm not sure why any of this information matters..... Why does anyone care about the income or wealth gap?
To prevent the US from having income disparity such as is seen in third world countries. I believe the income disparity we are seeing in the US is unhealthy for the progression of any country.
There are a couple potential explanations. One is that the American worker is getting more productive, but is not getting compensated for it. Instead, productivity gains have been captured by the upper 1%.
CEO's have turned into rock stars and many insulate their pay with through compensation committees and inbreeding of boards of directors.
I agree. CEO's have little responsibility or little risk anymore. They have an endless source of money from investors (stock market in which the little guy invests hoping for a return) and even if the company fails, they have this source available to pay themselves out with umbrella benefits, compensation, etc....
When more and more people rely upon government for a living, then the obvious result is that those who do not rely upon government can and will earn more. The bottom gets poorer, the top gets richer.
Your 2nd graph proves this to be true. More and more on the bottom, remaining relatively flat, leaves more and more money for everyone else. There is more money in circulation now than before, so where else would it go?
Why do you think that more people rely upon assistance to get by?
Because they want to? I don't think so....
And, isn't the deck stacked in favor to reward those who have the power to direct it to themselves?
Where else would it go? I don't know... back in the days when the disparity wasn't so great it was available to more folks than it is now.
LOL, this social conservative is sitting in a split level executive on a lake and my children are in private school. You should have more respect for the rich and wealthy who employ you. The reaeaon for the despairity is the great societies hand outs that gave power to the government to steal money from those who would earn it and give it to the lazy, corrupt unions and their own special interests
Woohoo! Let me kiss your ring. Noone said no conservatives were wealthy, but the majority simply are not.
Yes, all the victories won by unions and government investment are why the last century was just an abject failure in America...
There are a couple potential explanations. One is that the American worker is getting more productive, but is not getting compensated for it. Instead, productivity gains have been captured by the upper 1%.
CEO's have turned into rock stars and many insulate their pay with through compensation committees and inbreeding of boards of directors.
How dare you talk about wealth redistribution. Those CEOs earned every penny! And those workers should just watch their step. They can be replaced.
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