We hear a lot about how outsourcing reduced cost and the corporations have improved the quality of life for us all.
Just some figures drawn from http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/
1965
Average Cost of new house $13,600.00 [2.1 times average income]
Average Income per year $6,450.00
Loaf of bread 21 cents [0.0033% of income]
Average Cost of a new car $2,650.00 [41% of income]
Gas per Gallon 31 cents [0.0048% of income]
Average Rent per month $118,00 [annual 22% of income]
2008
Average Cost of new house $232,880.00 [5.9 times annual income]
Average Income per year $39,423.00
Loaf of bread $1.68 [0.0043% of income]
Average Cost of a new car $30,000 [MRSP] [76% of income]
Cost of a gallon of Gas $2.73 [0.0069% of income] [now much higher]
Average Monthly Rent $675.00 [annual 27% of income]
Mother Jones also has a few charts that tell the story, I have chosen one:
In the past 20 years, the US economy has grown nearly 60 percent. This huge increase in productivity is partly due to automation, the internet, and other improvements in efficiency. But it's also the result of Americans working harder—often without a big boost to their bottom lines. Oh, and meanwhile, corporate profits are up 20 percent.
So we really should be better off?
Meanwhile
Over the last 40 years, the U.S. federal tax system has undergone three striking changes, each of which seems to move the federal tax system in the direction of less progressivity. First, there has been a dramatic decline in top marginal individual income tax rates.
and
For example, the top 0.01 percent of earners paid over 70 percent of their income in federal taxes in 1960, while they paid only about 35 percent of their income in 2005.
So the myth of trickle down is busted wide open.
What it has generated is income inequality. If you look at the charts we are now in a similar position as in the 1920's and we all know what happened next.
So the question is how is progress of a Nation judged? If it based upon the average citizen then we are in steady decline. If it is based on a miniscule minority then we are doing great.
So these last two graphs should come as no surprise?
Politicians should beware the dips, things tend to change.
.
It seems to me that Americans in general have been being paying much more attention than they are often credited for; something has to give.