Thursday, January 30, 2014

What does this chart tell you?

It tells me that 40 percent of Americans live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. And that the richest one percent can't even spend half their incomes.

So what if we raised the minimum wage to, say, ten bucks or so? Wouldn't that put more money into the pockets of those who actually spend it? And wouldn't that be good for the economy?

1 comment:

Ed Crotty said...

Agreed. On a related note, the BI commenters are painfully right wing. They equate hedge funders paying only 15% with "small business owners". Uh-huh. They are afraid of *any* tax increase because it will somehow trickle down to them. That savings is "private investment" - in the Caymans.

I have a relative in the banking industry and he is a constant apologist for the 1%. Wall Streeters getting $750k bonuses cannot be taken down a peg because they "spend that money on Lexuses and lawn service, so if you cut their compensation, you're putting all of those folks out of work". It is an economy made of Sharks and Remoras. They live off the scraps of the sharks and so vigorously defend the uber-wealthy. It sickens me.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ~ Upton Sinclair