Median always. Per capita income doesn’t give anything meaningful except in the aggregate.
And I’d suspect that median income as a percentage of total per capital income has decreased over the years adjusted for inflation.
Economics Thread
- Thread starter sturg33
- Start date
And I’d suspect that median income as a percentage of total per capital income has decreased over the years adjusted for inflation.
This is happening even when the labor market is constrained and there are job openings. I don’t buy for a moment that a return to increased American manufacturing will usher in a return to the past where a single income from a floor job will lead to the economic outcomes we are chasing.
I personally think the bigger issue is that companies have refined their employment practices in ways that benefit them at the expense of employees, and that ineffective anti-trust enforcement has allowed such practices to overwhelm the labor market. That’s where we disagree on the efficacy of protectionist economic policies. I’m not just anti-wage increase, man.
We have tons of industries within this country with labor needs that cannot possibly be outsourced, and yet wages remain lower. I don’t personally think the type of labor being demanded is what’s going to drive the growth you’re expecting.
Also, please do explain the tangible economic benefit of American history.
The thing that’s so damn maddening about Trump’s specific approach to trade is that there absolutely are sectors that could benefit from a focus on driving American manufacturing when we have the proper comparative advantages domestically to make that manufacturing make economic sense. And rather than target ways to increase that specific production (still not a personal preference, but if you’re going to go down the tariff road that is), we’re just slapping tariffs on everybody no matter what and pretending it’s smart and intentional.
CNAs come to mind immediately.
I’ll give you a hint: it’s the same thing that will happen if we increase domestic manufacturing in industries that are propped up by barriers to trade rather than actual demand. Why wouldn’t you *at least* push for a tariff policy that doesn’t increase the price of things we can’t produce domestically or industries like textiles that we aren’t ever going to be able to affordably produce here?
Because cheaper prices haven't exactly helped Americans as we have seen so many struggle.
What does help Americans are good full time jobs at higher wages.
That happens in manufacturing. It would happen with CNA's too but thats another issue (coincidentally enough another disastrous result of Globalist type policies).
They absolutely have helped. If you’re not an American with a high paying job, cheaper pricing is the only thing keeping you afloat. You can’t just make things more expensive as step one and then hope the other steps come along for the ride later.
I suspect I know what your causes are for scoffing at me bringing up low CNA wages, but you can’t just lump free trade in with other “globalist” policies as if they are directly related.
Its one in the same. Its the erasing of 'America' as an entity. Wages for CNA's are down because of unfettered migration.
Wages for all other americans are down because wall street decides to bump profit margins for shareholders.
Would have been nice if the rising asset prices were available to the middle class. Sucks they had their jobs taken from them and had no discretionary cash to invest.
Do you think this is going to just stop? Or that Donald Trump and the Republican Party are comparatively keen on addressing that?
I’m not going to bother engaging on the migration point, because it’s unrelated to the topic at hand. On the subject of tariffs, migration is moot, because the two are not inherently tied to each other. You can have strong borders and free trade, and you can have protectionist trade policies and open borders. You’re just taking two distinctly different issues and combining them under the blanket umbrella of globalism.
This just seems wholly incoherent to me. Companies should be seeking higher profit margins, but costs should be higher? That’s just openly advocating for inflation?
Bernie also thinks we should be focused on the health of America, but he at least understands that comes at the expense of higher profit margins, my guy.