Trucker Pay Has Fallen When Adjusted For Inflation

I have read Ayn's work. She has good points. Ayn (fascist) is also a extremist, just like Marxs (communist) and Smith (capitalist).

Alan Greenspan was a huge follower of Ayn's work, he used to go to her house for lessons. Alan also deregulated the banking industry and made it to where a homeless man could pull out a $100,000 home loan. We saw where that led. He even admits today how his ideology screwed things up.

Alan Greenspan unequivocally did not employ Ayn Rand's ideas during his two decades as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He employed the opposite.

I don't want to get completely on my soap box here, but you left out one big word that explains why wages across all industries are stagnating while corporate profits, corporate liquid assets (cash), and corporate executive salaries are all at record highs: greed.

The moderator will probably edit me out for this but I must point out that the problem could be easily solved with tax increases (or mandated wage hikes) to suck that corporate cash out of their coffers and back into the economy. Just sayin'.

I have read Ayn's work. She has good points. Ayn (fascist) is also a extremist, just like Marxs (communist) and Smith (capitalist).

Alan Greenspan was a huge follower of Ayn's work, he used to go to her house for lessons. Alan also deregulated the banking industry and made it to where a homeless man could pull out a $100,000 home loan. We saw where that led. He even admits today how his ideology screwed things up.

Alan Greenspan unequivocally did not employ Ayn Rand's ideas during his two decades as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He employed the opposite.

Thanks Jared for that... When I read Attila's post I almost had steam rolling out of my ears. He also doesn't seem to remember Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957... not so fascist for those times.

I don't want to get completely on my soap box here, but you left out one big word that explains why wages across all industries are stagnating while corporate profits, corporate liquid assets (cash), and corporate executive salaries are all at record highs: greed.

The moderator will probably edit me out for this but I must point out that the problem could be easily solved with tax increases (or mandated wage hikes) to suck that corporate cash out of their coffers and back into the economy. Just sayin'.

Increasing the corporate taxes won't solve the problems. That will just exacerbate the problem of driving companies out of our country. We already have the highest corporate tax in the modern world. Now if we lowered taxes and made it easier for money that has been sent offshore to be repatriated that would help. Also by setting up a system that rewards employers for actually creating jobs that pay a living wage you would do wonders for our country as a whole.

Brett, throwing out the data... Cool. I am glad you included that the real numbers are worse than what is presented by the Government. That is truth.

I can easily blame the baby boomers for this crap, or, blame my generation for being apathetic towards politics and morality and watch the politicians turn the people in this country into a bunch of whiny, politically correct, well... sheeple. I`m not going to though. It is good to know how we got to this point so as not to repeat it. I am going to focus my energy on making it right again for my, and your, kids and grand kids.

I will no longer demand "something change" because of emotion that is being stoked by some talking heads on TV. I believe making laws, or regulations based on emotion are always wrong. Good intentions without any forethought to the long term effects.

I will Work my ass off with an ethic that puts me in the position to get that higher pay. Where is the incentive for the evil corporations to pay us more? Right here.

Think about it. Generations before ours were hard working, gritty and resourceful. Nowadays we have technology pushing that mindset out under the guise that it is making our job "easier". Bulls**t.

That`s just me though

Here`s to a great new year for the trucking family

One has to admire the determination and positive motivation but it has been that psychology that has cleared the way for the 1-percenters to fool us into thinking it is our fault for earning less. We're lazy. We aren't making the most of our opportunities. We're expecting more than we have a right to. The fact is that 95%....yes, 95%...of all new income created in the American economy goes to the top 1% of earners. I think that is the $250,000 crowd. That is just plain wrong!

Nothing but a pathetic government and greedy corporate leadership. If the government did their job and slowly raised min wage to keep up with inflation other wages would of gone up with them.

The really tragic thing is there is no quick way to fix it. Inflation must be lowered as a minimum wage increase at this point will cause inflation to spiral out of control.

That is an absolute myth! There is no sign of inflation in our economy to speak of. A higher minimum wage will not procuce any new monetary supply pressure on inflation. It will merely redistribute (yes, I said the R word) existing monetary supply.

I have nothing intelligent to add to this conversation really except I don't think there's a way to dig ourselves out this hole with out a revolution. May sound extreme but the powers that be have to firm a grip on the system at this point. Voting won't help because you're only given choices between two rich guys with other rich guys in their back pockets. Sure you could write one in but that's going to nothing but waste your vote. Creating unions only helps a little and in the industry it's set up in. Nope we need a complete restart of this country and that's all I have to say about that.

I don't want to get completely on my soap box here, but you left out one big word that explains why wages across all industries are stagnating while corporate profits, corporate liquid assets (cash), and corporate executive salaries are all at record highs: greed.

Ah, greed. One of the seven deadly sins. Did anyone on the boards ever doubt huge corporations are driven by it. Pardon the pun. It just worked out that way. But I'm still making more here soon (just started this week) than I've ever made in my life in any pink-collar jobs. But I do seriously consider the work and the money. I think it's so very sad that the govt. has basically sucked the life out of the general population. People are just being used up to support the establishment and the politicians. (One and the same?) Maybe. Just remember, they can't take it with them, and everyone will one day face their Maker.

OK, I just slugged through 5 pages after driving all day but I still want to reply to Brett and everyone else.

Unions were a thing for their day. The American economy was new phenomenon and the only previous experience anything like it was the English economy of the 18th & 19th centuries where the industrial revolution took place in coal rich England fired by the "behemoth" known as steam power . . . England was - and is - the home of the Imperial attitude which led them to create a world wide empire where "the sun never sets . . ." Their abuses of the newly freed farmer - indentured servants, (really, based on the land ownership laws, England was a cast system, still is to an extent) was an outgrowth of their overall disregard for humans in general ("Please sir, can I have more?" ). Transfer the new technology, the foundation of the Industrial Revolution - steam power - to an entrepreneurial culture such as ours where there really is no cast system and allow the American Ingenuity to work on this new technology and the rest is history, as they say. Here too, people were quick to discount the basic worth of the working man - which, most people don't realize, was a completely NEW phenomenon, an outgrowth of the very revolution taking place in manufacturing which neatly corresponded to a surplus of available workers due to the immigration of the starving masses in Europe to the U.S. (more Irish in America as a result of the potato famine than in Ireland) . . . this is not just a characteristic of evil "corporation" types, it has been the typical human reaction to employing others to do labor for the rich since the practice has been practiced - used to be called slavery and was a part of EVERY culture on the planet at one time or another. Unions were formed to combat this situation, just like anti-slavery societies were formed prior to the civil war to try and outlaw slavery. Both understandable reactions for their times to situations that needed changes made. NOTE: FOR THEIR TIMES!!

Now, the above mentioned Industrial Revolution (IR) caused a sea change in all societies that has not been taken into account by ANY economy to date. It is a simple thing called "leverage." In the ancient times, a farmer could grow food for himself and maybe ten other people. If you needed to feed a lot of people, you needed a lot of farmers. Come the IR and everything is different. Now, one American farm can feed literally THOUSANDS of people. The result? You don't need so many farmers anymore. Now extrapolate that same new "law" and apply it to every industry we used to count on for jobs in this country. Yes, Europe & Asia were devastated and hungry and cold & tired as a result of WWII and we were the only ones standing, really. Great market, no limits to growth and a job for every worker, a chicken in every pot and car in every garage. BUT, due to the multiplying effects of efficiency and productivity, workers work themselves out of a job. Once the Asians learned how to do what we used to do, it became cheaper to let them do it and send it here to consumers who had some accumulated wealth to spend. Once that wealth is gone, what are we going to consume with? Also, economics is still taught as the science of SCARCITY . . . it doesn't work when you can build a car for every man, woman & child on the planet in a matter of two years . . . who's going to keep consuming stuff they already have? Unionize and demand that Corporations pay a "living wage" and they'll just hire Asians (or others) to do the same job for a wage THEY can live on, which is considerably LESS than what it takes to live here.

Sorry, but you can point fingers all day at the supposed problems and the supposed remedies. Until you take into account that technology has ELIMINATED the need for most labor (otherwise known as what workers do with their time to make a "living wage") you are just pitting one "ideology" against another and have not even recognized the problem, let alone started on a solution. It really is a very complex problem that demands INFORMATION about its nature before we can start to suggest solutions. Unions? We got 'em by the dozens in California - they represent the government worker - all levels from county to federal - and THAT'S why California used to be the FOURTH (yes, that's correct - 4th) LARGEST ECONOMY in the world . . . larger than almost every other NATION on the planet but is now so far in debt it will likely never recover. Unions cannot begin to solve the problem because the problem THEY were developed to address doesn't even exist any more.

BTW, you know those evil corporations like Apple and Chevron and others who hoard all of that cash whilst you and I beg for a pittance ("Please, sir, can I have more?")??? Owned by SHAREHOLDERS who are entities like retirement funds and other entities that represent a broad spectrum of people who are just working stiffs who want to retire. All corporations - by law - have a fiduciary responsibility to their share holders to MAXIMIZE profits for the benefit of the share holders. Not really "evil" in that sense, just doing their job as required BY LAW.

Jopa

Oooo, just get me started . . . I have gobs of this kind of "facts & information" because it has been a hobby of mine for YEARS . . . I had one grandfather who was a member of the American Communist Party - he quit once the initial "bloom was off the flower" and he found out what evil really IS . . . I HATE Communism and all it stands for . . . the other grandfather was a member of an organization not 1 out of a hundred people have ever heard of . . . it was (still is?) call Technocracy, Inc. and was founded by an economist named Howard Scott. He and his organization was an outgrowth of a survey done at the request of the Wilson white house prior to our committing to the Great War in Europe (WWI). The things he discovered about economics and Capitalism in particular are VERY interesting and worthy of research for anyone wondering what is going on today. Much more interesting and relevant than a novel by a Russian, ex-patriot who smoked herself to death . . .

Jopa