Thanks for the information.
Wake Up, America! Wake Up! PLEASE!!
- Thread starter Drillher4me
- Start date
- Status
I've heard that instead of a traditional portrait for Trump they're going to frame a mattress soaked in ******* urine
Some... interesting comments from our next president
Coonish Clown.
But, his excuse is he's bipolar so, someone please, give this man some medicine.
Kanye West Refuses to Take Medication for His Mental Health | Al Bawaba
The 41-year-old rapper has previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and his wife Kim Kardashian West has said that whilst he's "in a good place
Kanye West 'refusing to go back on medication' after White House rant
Those close to the 41-year-old 'are telling him that he needs to get back on his medication, that he’s not doing well, that he’s not making any sense,' a source told the mag.
Kanye West Is 'Struggling' with Bipolar Disorder as Rapper Says He Wants to Be President: Source
"Kanye's behavior is very unpredictable," a source tells PEOPLE exclusively. "The episodes usually last for a few weeks and then things go back to normal"
what else would you expect from a republicunt
Tom Cotton compares Portland 'insurrectionists' to ...
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/21/...
12 hours ago · Sen. Tom Cotton on Tuesday likened "insurrectionists" in Portland, Oregon, to Civil War-era secessionists, saying President Trump and the federal …
Tom Cotton: Portland Protesters Are Just Like Confederate ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tom-cotton...
Click to view
8:25
Jul 21, 2020 · Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Tuesday compared anti-racism protesters in Portland to—of all people—Confederate “insurrectionists,” likening the Trump administration’s use of federal agents ...
Tom Cotton compares Portland 'insurrectionists' to ...
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/21/...
12 hours ago · Sen. Tom Cotton on Tuesday likened "insurrectionists" in Portland, Oregon, to Civil War-era secessionists, saying President Trump and the federal …
Tom Cotton: Portland Protesters Are Just Like Confederate ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tom-cotton...
Click to view
8:25
Jul 21, 2020 · Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Tuesday compared anti-racism protesters in Portland to—of all people—Confederate “insurrectionists,” likening the Trump administration’s use of federal agents ...
- Author: Justin Baragona
And being the braggadocio that he is, if he really was we would have seen them taxes by now
What’s he been hiding all of this time 
Oh man, this falls really heavily into the "wake up, America" theme of this thread
And being the braggadocio that he is, if he really was we would have seen them taxes by now
Just Where he gets all that money!.....mom Russia!
Eric Trump: “We have all the funding we need out of Russia”
2014: Eric Trump: "We have all the funding we need out of Russia" - The Moscow Project
According to a Boston radio interview with golf journalist James Dodson, Eric Trump tells Dodson that Trump golf courses heavily relied on funding from Russia. Eric Trump denies this allegation.
themoscowproject.org
Eric Trump said dad’s golf courses were funded by Russia ...
Eric Trump said dad’s golf courses were funded by Russia: report
President Trump’s ******* Eric once said that his ******* got funding for his golf courses from the Russians, according to a report. Golf writer James Dodson said he hit the links with Eric and Donald a…
nypost.com
May 07, 2017 · At a real estate conference in 2008, Donald Trump Jr. said his family’s sprawling business enterprise is “looking all over the place, primarily Russia” to form financial relationships.
Eric Trump Reportedly Bragged About Access to $100 Million ...
...
May 08, 2017 · Donald Trump Jr. himself famously said in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia…
Donald Trump was bailed out of bankruptcy by Russia crime ...
...
Jan 09, 2017 · In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. attended a real estate conference, where he stated that Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money …
Donald Trump's businesses owe $1.8bn to more than 150 ...
www.independent.co.uk
...
Jan 06, 2017 · Donald Trump’s companies are almost $1.8 billion in debt to more than 150 institutions, a new report has suggested – raising fresh questions about potential conflicts of interests when the ...
The map of countries in which Donald Trump has a business ...
...
Nov 29, 2016 · Donald Trump was a man with fingers in many pies before he dug his tiny fist into the presidential pastry. Mr Trump holds business interests in over 20 countries around the world, with a particular focus on the developing world, as the New York Times noted.
A Guide to Donald Trump’s Huge Debts—and the Conflicts ...
www.motherjones.com
Dec 12, 2016 · One big issue with Trump’s loans from Ladder Capital is that he appears to be personally liable for at least $26 million of the debt. So if a problem with the loan emerges, Ladder Capital could …
Trump May Have A Lot Of Money, But Documents Show He Owes ...
www.npr.org
...
Jun 20, 2017 · Trump May Have A Lot Of Money, But Documents Show He Owes A Lot, Too Over the years, the president has had an up-and-down relationship with big commercial lenders. But while …
Americas
Jan 06, 2017 · Donald Trump’s companies are almost $1.8 billion in debt to more than 150 institutions, a new report has suggested – raising fresh questions about potential conflicts of interests when the ...
The map of countries in which Donald Trump has a business ...
...
Nov 29, 2016 · Donald Trump was a man with fingers in many pies before he dug his tiny fist into the presidential pastry. Mr Trump holds business interests in over 20 countries around the world, with a particular focus on the developing world, as the New York Times noted.
A Guide to Donald Trump’s Huge Debts—and the Conflicts ...
A guide to Donald Trump's huge debts—and the conflicts they present
Here's what we know he owes.
www.motherjones.com
Trump May Have A Lot Of Money, But Documents Show He Owes ...
Trump May Have A Lot Of Money, But Documents Show He Owes A Lot, Too
Over the years, the president has had an up-and-down relationship with big commercial lenders. But while in the Oval Office, he could find himself in a conflict of interest with any amount of debt.
www.npr.org
Jun 20, 2017 · Trump May Have A Lot Of Money, But Documents Show He Owes A Lot, Too Over the years, the president has had an up-and-down relationship with big commercial lenders. But while …
.
.
It's official: the United States is a Third World country ...
...
Trump's presidency promises massive tax cuts for the rich, chump change for the middle class and the working poor will get the the finger, writes Dennis Jett. "And income inequality, which is ...
Mapping Extreme Poverty Around the World - HowMuch
It can be extraordinarily difficult to collect reliable data from so many countries on a regular basis, and in fact we used the latest year in which numbers were available whenever possible. For example, in some of these maps we compare 2011 figures against 2015.
America's poor becoming more destitute under Trump: U.N. expert
By Stephanie Nebehay,Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) - Poverty in the United States is extensive and deepening under the Trump administration whose policies seem aimed at removing the safety net from millions of poor people, while rewarding the rich, a U.N. human rights investigator has found.
Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty, called on U.S. authorities to provide solid social protection and address underlying problems, rather than "punishing and imprisoning the poor".
While welfare benefits and access to health insurance are being slashed, President Donald Trump's tax reform has awarded "financial windfalls" to the mega-rich and large companies, further increasing inequality, he said in a report.
U.S. policies since President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty in the 1960s have been "neglectful at best," he said.
"But the policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship," Alston said.
Almost 41 million people or 12.7 percent live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and children account for one in three poor, he said. The United States has the highest youth poverty rate among industrialized countries, he added.
Its citizens live shorter and sicker lives compared to those living in all other rich democracies, eradicable tropical diseases are increasingly prevalent and it has the world's highest incarceration rate ... and the highest obesity levels in the developed world," Alston said.
However, the data from the U.S. Census Bureau he cited covers only the period through 2016, and he gave no comparative figures on the extent of poverty before and after Trump came into office in January 2017.
The Australian, a veteran U.N. rights expert and New York University law professor, will present his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council later this month.
It is based on his mission in December to several U.S. states, including rural Alabama, a slum in downtown Los Angeles, California, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
A U.S. official in Geneva, asked for comment, told Reuters: "The Trump Administration has made it a priority to provide economic opportunity for all Americans."
"SHAMEFUL STATISTICS"
Citing "shameful statistics" linked to entrenched racial discrimination, Alston said that African Americans are 2.5 times more likely than whites to live in poverty and their unemployment rate is more than double. Women, Hispanics, immigrants, and indigenous people also suffer high rates.
At least 550,000 people are homeless in America, he said.
"The tax reform will worsen this situation and ensure that the United States remains the most unequal society in the developed world," Alston said. "The planned dramatic cuts in welfare will essentially shred crucial dimensions of a safety net that is already full of holes."
The tax overhaul, which sailed through the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress in December, permanently cut the top corporate rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. Tax cuts for individuals, however, are temporary and expire after 2025.
Trump has said they will lead to more take-home pay for workers and has touted bonuses some workers received from their employers as evidence the law is working.
Alston dismissed allegations of widespread fraud in the welfare system and criticized the U.S. criminal justice system. It sets large bail bonds for a defendant seeking to go free pending trial, meaning wealthy suspects can afford bail while the poor remain in custody, often losing their jobs, he said.
"There is no magic recipe for eliminating extreme poverty and each level of government must make its own good-faith decisions. At the end of the day, however, particularly in a rich country like the United States, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power," he said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/americas-poor-becoming-more-destitute-under-trump-u-110313048.html
.
It's official: the United States is a Third World country ...
Trump's presidency promises massive tax cuts for the rich, chump change for the middle class and the working poor will get the the finger, writes Dennis Jett. "And income inequality, which is ...
Mapping Extreme Poverty Around the World - HowMuch
Mapping Extreme Poverty Around the World
Extreme poverty is on the decline, but there are still lots of countries with crushing rates of subsistence living. Our new series of maps highlights where the have’s and have-not’s live around the world.
howmuch.net
America's poor becoming more destitute under Trump: U.N. expert
By Stephanie Nebehay,Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) - Poverty in the United States is extensive and deepening under the Trump administration whose policies seem aimed at removing the safety net from millions of poor people, while rewarding the rich, a U.N. human rights investigator has found.
Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty, called on U.S. authorities to provide solid social protection and address underlying problems, rather than "punishing and imprisoning the poor".
While welfare benefits and access to health insurance are being slashed, President Donald Trump's tax reform has awarded "financial windfalls" to the mega-rich and large companies, further increasing inequality, he said in a report.
U.S. policies since President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty in the 1960s have been "neglectful at best," he said.
"But the policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship," Alston said.
Almost 41 million people or 12.7 percent live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and children account for one in three poor, he said. The United States has the highest youth poverty rate among industrialized countries, he added.
Its citizens live shorter and sicker lives compared to those living in all other rich democracies, eradicable tropical diseases are increasingly prevalent and it has the world's highest incarceration rate ... and the highest obesity levels in the developed world," Alston said.
However, the data from the U.S. Census Bureau he cited covers only the period through 2016, and he gave no comparative figures on the extent of poverty before and after Trump came into office in January 2017.
The Australian, a veteran U.N. rights expert and New York University law professor, will present his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council later this month.
It is based on his mission in December to several U.S. states, including rural Alabama, a slum in downtown Los Angeles, California, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
A U.S. official in Geneva, asked for comment, told Reuters: "The Trump Administration has made it a priority to provide economic opportunity for all Americans."
"SHAMEFUL STATISTICS"
Citing "shameful statistics" linked to entrenched racial discrimination, Alston said that African Americans are 2.5 times more likely than whites to live in poverty and their unemployment rate is more than double. Women, Hispanics, immigrants, and indigenous people also suffer high rates.
At least 550,000 people are homeless in America, he said.
"The tax reform will worsen this situation and ensure that the United States remains the most unequal society in the developed world," Alston said. "The planned dramatic cuts in welfare will essentially shred crucial dimensions of a safety net that is already full of holes."
The tax overhaul, which sailed through the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress in December, permanently cut the top corporate rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. Tax cuts for individuals, however, are temporary and expire after 2025.
Trump has said they will lead to more take-home pay for workers and has touted bonuses some workers received from their employers as evidence the law is working.
Alston dismissed allegations of widespread fraud in the welfare system and criticized the U.S. criminal justice system. It sets large bail bonds for a defendant seeking to go free pending trial, meaning wealthy suspects can afford bail while the poor remain in custody, often losing their jobs, he said.
"There is no magic recipe for eliminating extreme poverty and each level of government must make its own good-faith decisions. At the end of the day, however, particularly in a rich country like the United States, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power," he said.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/americas-poor-becoming-more-destitute-under-trump-u-110313048.html
Last edited:
Why Aren't Wages Keeping Up? It's Not The Economy, It's Management
In the decade since the 2008 recession we’ve had an enormous runup in the stock market, accelerating growth in GDP, and a steady increase in job growth. Yet despite these positive economic trends, wages are not keeping up.
Yes, they ticked up in the most recent jobs report, but they're still lagging in a significant way.
In this article, this may not a problem of economics, but rather an issue of management – and one which we can address by changing the nature of the discussion.
Point 1: Wages Are Not Keeping up.
Let’s just discuss the issues of wages: they are not keeping up with inflation. While the GDP has risen (after inflation), real incomes have barely budged.
In fact, if we look at U.S. wages over the longer term, wages after inflation have barely budged over the last 44 years.
It’s frightening to consider, but my parents, who were a young couple in the 1960s, could buy a house for less than 25% of their take-home pay. They owned two cars and put my brother and me through college on a middle-income salary. (My ******* was a scientist with a mid-level job.) That dream is elusive today.
As Heather Boushey, an economist with The Washington Center for Equitable Growth puts it,
The economy is growing. Why aren’t people feeling it?” Boushey says. “The answer is: Because they literally aren’t feeling it.
And it seems to be getting worse. Despite an increase in wages most recently (2.9% as of August of 2018), income inequality has increased, leading even more to feel they aren't keeping up. While the stock market has benefited those with savings and 401(k)s, most don’t feel it.
Point 2: Workers Are Struggling
The second piece of evidence I want to point out is the level of financial stress we see among workers. Look at some of these statistics:
40% of Americans had trouble paying for food, medical care, housing, or utilities in the last year.
In my industry, the domain of Human Resources, the demand for “real-time payroll” is so high that companies like ADP and SAP are rewriting their payroll software. This is one of the most massive re-engineering projects in HR software I have seen in 20 years.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and although wages are rising, almost everyone I talk with tells me they feel like they are falling behind. Housing prices in many cities are skyrocketing, the cost of transportation continues to rise, and the Deloitte Global Millennial survey shows that 45% of Millennials now believe they will never achieve the financial status of their parents. Unbelievably, almost 40% of them are doing side-hustles to make more money.
Point 3: Companies Are Sitting On Cash But Not Raising Wages
HR and business leaders are well aware of these financial issues, yet are afraid to raise wages.
Apple, for example, recently announced that its quarterly revenue grew to $61 billion (making it a $250 billion company) and that it generated $13.8 billion in profit (almost 23% profit). This means that for every dollar you spend on an Apple product or service, 23 cents goes to the bank.
What is Apple doing with this money? They’re returning it to the shareholders. The company announced it will distribute $210 billion to shareholders through stock buy-backs and will increase its dividend as well. If you own Apple stock, you see a good return, but if you’re an Apple employee, you may or may not see a thing. (P.S. Apple pays only a 14.5% tax rate.)
Apple, by the way, has about 80,000 employees, so if the average employee makes $100,000 per year (which is high), Apple could give them all a 5% raise, and it would only cost the company $400 million per year, which is less than 0.2% of the cash the company is using for stock buybacks.
In other words, Apple management believes it is better for the company to return cash to the shareholders (which enriches its stock price) than it is to invest in the salaries of its employees.
I’m not saying Apple is underpaying its people. Apple employees are well paid (software engineers make well over $100,000) and sales and service representatives are fairly paid. The point is to consider how management is thinking: at a time when the company is flooded with profit, management chose to invest in its share price. Companies do not see employees as an investment.
(A recent article in Business Insider shows that companies repurchased $4.4 trillion since the 2008 recession, $191 billion in this last quarter alone). This is money just being returned to the shareholders – why isn’t it being invested in employees?
Why are companies afraid to raise wages? Economists often point to the “Sticky Wages” effect.
As economists teach in school, management hates to raise wages because once you raise them, it’s hard to take them back down. And in the inevitable time of a recession or slowdown, you’re stuck with a high cost of labor.
Managers are acting this way now. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points out how bonuses and benefits are going up, but wages are relatively flat. Companies are willing to pay as much as $25,000 bonus to diesel electricians and train crew members, but they don’t want to raise base pay. (Even Amazon’s announcement to raise wages to $15 per hour was coupled with a reduction in stock rewards.)
Point 4. The Sticky Wage Theory Has Flaws
Economists talk about this issue, and the “sticky wage” theory is firmly embedded in peoples’ minds. In this theoretical construct, wages are slow to rise because they’re even slower to fall. So managers hold onto cash and delay salary increases because they know how hard it will be to cut them later.
But my research shows this philosophy has flaws, especially in a skills-driven economy like we have today.
Suppose a company like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Goldman, or another “trillion dollar cap” digital disruptor decides to pay people more. They bid up the price of labor and pay people high wages to attract the very best.
(Amazon, for example, gives all its employees stock options, which are often worth tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in only a few years.)
These high performing companies just ignore the sticky wage theory and act like winning sports teams, bidding high prices for the super performers. Do they create wage inflation and make inequality worse? Not necessarily.
When a company raises the wages of all its workers, including the frontline service workers, something entirely different happens. Employees feel more committed; their financial lives become less stressful; they are proud to be part of the company; their attitude and service to customers and client get better. In fact, the company’s employment brand becomes more positive, so every position now attracts more committed, passionate, ambitious people – and ultimately the company performs better.
Zeynep Ton, in the heavily researched book The Good Jobs Strategy, clearly points this out as she compared wages between Costco, Mercadona, Tesco, and Wal-Mart. Her research showed that higher wages in retail result in a more profitable operation. The reason? Well paid employees are better trained, they are more engaged, and they spend more time helping customers buy the right products. In one of the studies, they found that a $1.00 increase in hourly wages resulted in a 40% increase in total profits, a hugely positive return on investment.
What about the problem of a business downturn? The sticky wage theory would say that you have less flexibility to reduce cost.
Well, in fact, the opposite is true. If managers are underpaying people now, the option of “reducing pay” is limited, so when the business turns down managers have to lay people off. While layoffs are common, they almost always result in a negative outcome. Not only does the company’s employment brand suffer, but the “survivor syndrome” of those who remain dramatically reduces their loyalty and engagement.
Extensive studies done by Wayne Casio at the University of Denver and academics at MIT and Wharton prove that companies that lay people off then later underperform for years. I distinctly remember how Circuit City tried to “layoff its way to profitability” and eventually went out of business. American Express and other great brand have seen this problem when they lay people off, so it’s not just an indication of a company with a poor product or out of sync offering. Layoffs are permanently damaging.
On the other hand, if you pay people well from the start and they feel a genuine commitment to the company, they will do anything to help manage a downturn. Southwest Airlines did not lay people off during the 2008 recession, and they continue to thrive. Steve Jobs famously reinvested in innovation during the 2000 recession and gave birth to the iPad.
When people are well paid you have enormous flexibility to ask people to take a temporary pay cut, and they will stick around and work even harder. (Intel, a company that has been through many business cycles, is famous for investing during recessions because it’s a time to attract some of the brightest and most sought-after people.)
Point 5: This Is A Management Issue, Not an Economic Issue
The bottom line is this: lagging wages in the U.S. is not an economic issue, it’s really about management. The spirit is there, but the actions are not.
Just as Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce believes “inclusive capitalism” is his mission, and Jeff Bezos is funding a $2 billion fund to help homelessness, and many other CEOs are trying to take on social causes, they are reluctant to act with their paychecks. And this old way of thinking is holding the economy back.
Let me make another important point. In business school we are taught that labor is an expense to be managed. CFOs look at the cost of payroll (which is often 40 or 50% of revenue) as one of the biggest discretionary expenses on the income statement.
But in reality people aren't an expense, they are an investment. people are an appreciating asset: the more we invest in them, the more we see productivity, customer service, innovation, and growth. And in today's labor market, raising wages lets employers attract the most ambitious people, something every company is striving for now.
We have to rethink our accounting practices too: consider labor an investment like machinery. But one that goes up in value, not down.
Also, Pay Practices Are Out Of Date
One of the problems is that pay practices are out of date.
Recently a large study of pay practices and found that only 7% of companies believe their pay system is aligned with their corporate goals and 30% told us it was misaligned.
Why? The way we pay people is based on legacy models. We only review wages annually; we are afraid to overpay high performers; we are afraid to explain to people why they are paid what they are.
When we asked employees and HR people to rate their pay practices, we found a net promoter score of -15, the lowest of any HR practice we have studied.
Why is it so hard to fix pay practices? Not only are CFOs holding companies back, but the HR department is partly in the way. Companies are concerned about pay equality, salary bands, carefully staying within benchmarks, and not providing a holistic view of pay. People want to be paid more frequently, they want a wider range of benefits, and they want programs that meet their particular needs, not just lists of programs they never plan to use.
The pressure to fix pay is building. Research from TIAA Institute found that 40% of U.S. adults rate C, D, or F in financial literacy; 1/3 of Americans pay their minimum credit card balance and the average credit card debt is $5,839, and the median retirement balance is only $3,000 (50% of American households have no saving). In other words, there’s plenty of pain out there, and if employers fill these gaps they gain tremendous engagement from their people.
If you want to put a simple ROI on better pay, consider the impact of poor financial wellbeing. The same TIAA research I cited earlier shows that 64% of millennials feel financially stressed (15% of their salaries goes toward student loans), 32% say it impacts their daily work, and 33 peer-reviewed studies proved that financial stress leads to heart attacks.
A Call To Business Leaders and Management
HR managers, employees, and young professionals and despite the job numbers they are not happy with their pay and they are scrambling around to keep up. The problem isn’t the mystical “economy,” it’s simply the way CEOs and managers think.
Imagine if the top companies who purchased back stock int least ten years (Apple, $102 billion; Microsoft: $878 billion; Cisco: $228 billion; Oracle: $67 billion; JPM Chase, $63 billion; Wells Fargo, $56 billion; Intel: $55 billion; Home Depot: $51 billion) took a tiny percent of this money and raised the wages of their lower-wage customer-facing employees. Would the company feel it? I believe not – and their performance as a business would rise.
We need a new paradigm of management, one where CEOs and CFOs must understand that every employee provides an outsized value to the company. And if we consider them as an asset and not an expense, we find that the return on higher pay is greater than we thought.
If you don't want to raise wages, I'd ask another simple question. Given the highly competitive nature of the job market, what will you do? Well-being programs and other benefits are growing, but they aren't enough.
Let's not just blame the "economy" for income inequality and slowly rising wages. In today's service-driven economy, people are the product. Invest more in people, and profits will follow.
In the decade since the 2008 recession we’ve had an enormous runup in the stock market, accelerating growth in GDP, and a steady increase in job growth. Yet despite these positive economic trends, wages are not keeping up.
Yes, they ticked up in the most recent jobs report, but they're still lagging in a significant way.
In this article, this may not a problem of economics, but rather an issue of management – and one which we can address by changing the nature of the discussion.
Point 1: Wages Are Not Keeping up.
Let’s just discuss the issues of wages: they are not keeping up with inflation. While the GDP has risen (after inflation), real incomes have barely budged.
In fact, if we look at U.S. wages over the longer term, wages after inflation have barely budged over the last 44 years.
It’s frightening to consider, but my parents, who were a young couple in the 1960s, could buy a house for less than 25% of their take-home pay. They owned two cars and put my brother and me through college on a middle-income salary. (My ******* was a scientist with a mid-level job.) That dream is elusive today.
As Heather Boushey, an economist with The Washington Center for Equitable Growth puts it,
The economy is growing. Why aren’t people feeling it?” Boushey says. “The answer is: Because they literally aren’t feeling it.
And it seems to be getting worse. Despite an increase in wages most recently (2.9% as of August of 2018), income inequality has increased, leading even more to feel they aren't keeping up. While the stock market has benefited those with savings and 401(k)s, most don’t feel it.
Point 2: Workers Are Struggling
The second piece of evidence I want to point out is the level of financial stress we see among workers. Look at some of these statistics:
40% of Americans had trouble paying for food, medical care, housing, or utilities in the last year.
- Nearly half of Americans have no retirement savings, creating increases in stress-related illnesses and heart disease
- 63% of Americans do not have $500 of cash on hand to handle emergencies or other significant expenses
- 70% of college grads have $15,000 or more of loans outstanding in their first year of work
- 4 in 10 Americans now have a “sides hustle” to make more money to help make ends meet[9]
- Employers like Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Ubers, and Outback Steakhouse are now building programs to pay people every day, so
- they can better manage their cash.
In my industry, the domain of Human Resources, the demand for “real-time payroll” is so high that companies like ADP and SAP are rewriting their payroll software. This is one of the most massive re-engineering projects in HR software I have seen in 20 years.
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and although wages are rising, almost everyone I talk with tells me they feel like they are falling behind. Housing prices in many cities are skyrocketing, the cost of transportation continues to rise, and the Deloitte Global Millennial survey shows that 45% of Millennials now believe they will never achieve the financial status of their parents. Unbelievably, almost 40% of them are doing side-hustles to make more money.
Point 3: Companies Are Sitting On Cash But Not Raising Wages
HR and business leaders are well aware of these financial issues, yet are afraid to raise wages.
Apple, for example, recently announced that its quarterly revenue grew to $61 billion (making it a $250 billion company) and that it generated $13.8 billion in profit (almost 23% profit). This means that for every dollar you spend on an Apple product or service, 23 cents goes to the bank.
What is Apple doing with this money? They’re returning it to the shareholders. The company announced it will distribute $210 billion to shareholders through stock buy-backs and will increase its dividend as well. If you own Apple stock, you see a good return, but if you’re an Apple employee, you may or may not see a thing. (P.S. Apple pays only a 14.5% tax rate.)
Apple, by the way, has about 80,000 employees, so if the average employee makes $100,000 per year (which is high), Apple could give them all a 5% raise, and it would only cost the company $400 million per year, which is less than 0.2% of the cash the company is using for stock buybacks.
In other words, Apple management believes it is better for the company to return cash to the shareholders (which enriches its stock price) than it is to invest in the salaries of its employees.
I’m not saying Apple is underpaying its people. Apple employees are well paid (software engineers make well over $100,000) and sales and service representatives are fairly paid. The point is to consider how management is thinking: at a time when the company is flooded with profit, management chose to invest in its share price. Companies do not see employees as an investment.
(A recent article in Business Insider shows that companies repurchased $4.4 trillion since the 2008 recession, $191 billion in this last quarter alone). This is money just being returned to the shareholders – why isn’t it being invested in employees?
Why are companies afraid to raise wages? Economists often point to the “Sticky Wages” effect.
As economists teach in school, management hates to raise wages because once you raise them, it’s hard to take them back down. And in the inevitable time of a recession or slowdown, you’re stuck with a high cost of labor.
Managers are acting this way now. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points out how bonuses and benefits are going up, but wages are relatively flat. Companies are willing to pay as much as $25,000 bonus to diesel electricians and train crew members, but they don’t want to raise base pay. (Even Amazon’s announcement to raise wages to $15 per hour was coupled with a reduction in stock rewards.)
Point 4. The Sticky Wage Theory Has Flaws
Economists talk about this issue, and the “sticky wage” theory is firmly embedded in peoples’ minds. In this theoretical construct, wages are slow to rise because they’re even slower to fall. So managers hold onto cash and delay salary increases because they know how hard it will be to cut them later.
But my research shows this philosophy has flaws, especially in a skills-driven economy like we have today.
Suppose a company like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Goldman, or another “trillion dollar cap” digital disruptor decides to pay people more. They bid up the price of labor and pay people high wages to attract the very best.
(Amazon, for example, gives all its employees stock options, which are often worth tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in only a few years.)
These high performing companies just ignore the sticky wage theory and act like winning sports teams, bidding high prices for the super performers. Do they create wage inflation and make inequality worse? Not necessarily.
When a company raises the wages of all its workers, including the frontline service workers, something entirely different happens. Employees feel more committed; their financial lives become less stressful; they are proud to be part of the company; their attitude and service to customers and client get better. In fact, the company’s employment brand becomes more positive, so every position now attracts more committed, passionate, ambitious people – and ultimately the company performs better.
Zeynep Ton, in the heavily researched book The Good Jobs Strategy, clearly points this out as she compared wages between Costco, Mercadona, Tesco, and Wal-Mart. Her research showed that higher wages in retail result in a more profitable operation. The reason? Well paid employees are better trained, they are more engaged, and they spend more time helping customers buy the right products. In one of the studies, they found that a $1.00 increase in hourly wages resulted in a 40% increase in total profits, a hugely positive return on investment.
What about the problem of a business downturn? The sticky wage theory would say that you have less flexibility to reduce cost.
Well, in fact, the opposite is true. If managers are underpaying people now, the option of “reducing pay” is limited, so when the business turns down managers have to lay people off. While layoffs are common, they almost always result in a negative outcome. Not only does the company’s employment brand suffer, but the “survivor syndrome” of those who remain dramatically reduces their loyalty and engagement.
Extensive studies done by Wayne Casio at the University of Denver and academics at MIT and Wharton prove that companies that lay people off then later underperform for years. I distinctly remember how Circuit City tried to “layoff its way to profitability” and eventually went out of business. American Express and other great brand have seen this problem when they lay people off, so it’s not just an indication of a company with a poor product or out of sync offering. Layoffs are permanently damaging.
On the other hand, if you pay people well from the start and they feel a genuine commitment to the company, they will do anything to help manage a downturn. Southwest Airlines did not lay people off during the 2008 recession, and they continue to thrive. Steve Jobs famously reinvested in innovation during the 2000 recession and gave birth to the iPad.
When people are well paid you have enormous flexibility to ask people to take a temporary pay cut, and they will stick around and work even harder. (Intel, a company that has been through many business cycles, is famous for investing during recessions because it’s a time to attract some of the brightest and most sought-after people.)
Point 5: This Is A Management Issue, Not an Economic Issue
The bottom line is this: lagging wages in the U.S. is not an economic issue, it’s really about management. The spirit is there, but the actions are not.
Just as Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce believes “inclusive capitalism” is his mission, and Jeff Bezos is funding a $2 billion fund to help homelessness, and many other CEOs are trying to take on social causes, they are reluctant to act with their paychecks. And this old way of thinking is holding the economy back.
Let me make another important point. In business school we are taught that labor is an expense to be managed. CFOs look at the cost of payroll (which is often 40 or 50% of revenue) as one of the biggest discretionary expenses on the income statement.
But in reality people aren't an expense, they are an investment. people are an appreciating asset: the more we invest in them, the more we see productivity, customer service, innovation, and growth. And in today's labor market, raising wages lets employers attract the most ambitious people, something every company is striving for now.
We have to rethink our accounting practices too: consider labor an investment like machinery. But one that goes up in value, not down.
Also, Pay Practices Are Out Of Date
One of the problems is that pay practices are out of date.
Recently a large study of pay practices and found that only 7% of companies believe their pay system is aligned with their corporate goals and 30% told us it was misaligned.
Why? The way we pay people is based on legacy models. We only review wages annually; we are afraid to overpay high performers; we are afraid to explain to people why they are paid what they are.
When we asked employees and HR people to rate their pay practices, we found a net promoter score of -15, the lowest of any HR practice we have studied.
Why is it so hard to fix pay practices? Not only are CFOs holding companies back, but the HR department is partly in the way. Companies are concerned about pay equality, salary bands, carefully staying within benchmarks, and not providing a holistic view of pay. People want to be paid more frequently, they want a wider range of benefits, and they want programs that meet their particular needs, not just lists of programs they never plan to use.
The pressure to fix pay is building. Research from TIAA Institute found that 40% of U.S. adults rate C, D, or F in financial literacy; 1/3 of Americans pay their minimum credit card balance and the average credit card debt is $5,839, and the median retirement balance is only $3,000 (50% of American households have no saving). In other words, there’s plenty of pain out there, and if employers fill these gaps they gain tremendous engagement from their people.
If you want to put a simple ROI on better pay, consider the impact of poor financial wellbeing. The same TIAA research I cited earlier shows that 64% of millennials feel financially stressed (15% of their salaries goes toward student loans), 32% say it impacts their daily work, and 33 peer-reviewed studies proved that financial stress leads to heart attacks.
A Call To Business Leaders and Management
HR managers, employees, and young professionals and despite the job numbers they are not happy with their pay and they are scrambling around to keep up. The problem isn’t the mystical “economy,” it’s simply the way CEOs and managers think.
Imagine if the top companies who purchased back stock int least ten years (Apple, $102 billion; Microsoft: $878 billion; Cisco: $228 billion; Oracle: $67 billion; JPM Chase, $63 billion; Wells Fargo, $56 billion; Intel: $55 billion; Home Depot: $51 billion) took a tiny percent of this money and raised the wages of their lower-wage customer-facing employees. Would the company feel it? I believe not – and their performance as a business would rise.
We need a new paradigm of management, one where CEOs and CFOs must understand that every employee provides an outsized value to the company. And if we consider them as an asset and not an expense, we find that the return on higher pay is greater than we thought.
If you don't want to raise wages, I'd ask another simple question. Given the highly competitive nature of the job market, what will you do? Well-being programs and other benefits are growing, but they aren't enough.
Let's not just blame the "economy" for income inequality and slowly rising wages. In today's service-driven economy, people are the product. Invest more in people, and profits will follow.
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Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts
Report • By Lawrence Mishel, Elise Gould, and Josh Bivens •
https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/
Other factors behind stagnating American wages
This paper provides a brief overview of some of the causes of wage stagnation and inequality. Sources in the references section provide a more complete analysis. Excessive unemployment, not only during and after the Great Recession but over most years since 1979, has suppressed wage growth, adversely affecting low-wage workers more than middle-wage workers but having little impact on high-wage workers. Global integration with low-wage countries, accelerated by particular trade policies (e.g., admission of China to the World Trade Organization in the late 1990s) has adversely affected wages of non–college educated workers. The erosion of labor standards (beyond the decline in the real value of the minimum wage) and weak enforcement have also put downward pressure on wages. Extensive wage theft, worker misclassification, weakened prevailing wage laws and overtime protections, and the failure to modernize our labor standards to provide sick leave, family leave, or minimum vacation schedules all hurt wage growth. The increased presence of undocumented workers who are vulnerable to employer exploitation also undercuts not only the wages of these workers but also those in similar fields.
Report • By Lawrence Mishel, Elise Gould, and Josh Bivens •
https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/
Other factors behind stagnating American wages
This paper provides a brief overview of some of the causes of wage stagnation and inequality. Sources in the references section provide a more complete analysis. Excessive unemployment, not only during and after the Great Recession but over most years since 1979, has suppressed wage growth, adversely affecting low-wage workers more than middle-wage workers but having little impact on high-wage workers. Global integration with low-wage countries, accelerated by particular trade policies (e.g., admission of China to the World Trade Organization in the late 1990s) has adversely affected wages of non–college educated workers. The erosion of labor standards (beyond the decline in the real value of the minimum wage) and weak enforcement have also put downward pressure on wages. Extensive wage theft, worker misclassification, weakened prevailing wage laws and overtime protections, and the failure to modernize our labor standards to provide sick leave, family leave, or minimum vacation schedules all hurt wage growth. The increased presence of undocumented workers who are vulnerable to employer exploitation also undercuts not only the wages of these workers but also those in similar fields.
I read an article this morning about the three friends killed here in FL recently while on a fishing trip. Made me think of our conversation. Three white people were arrested.You said again?
So you are aware how this is looked at and you just ignore what actual black people say, and tell us how we should think? You?
“This is evil incarnate,” Judd said in regards to Tony Wiggins. “His criminal history should shock your conscience. It shocks mine. He was first arrested at 12, and has had 230 felony criminal charges in his arrest history...He’s a thug. He’s a criminal. He is pure evil in the flesh.
I never said don't speak up for your beliefs. I am saying do it on your time not the bosses or the people who came for NOTHING else but to be entertained. I'm sorry I don't see the correlation of head trauma risk and speaking up about your beliefs. Would you be allowed to go into work and push your agenda on your co-workers by posting signs at your desk or standing on your chair spouting your beliefs once an hour for everyone to hear and/or see? I doubt it. I know I couldn't. Kap was an employee like anyone else who works for someone. The fans (who pay his salary), the owners, and co-workers should not have to be subjected to his beliefs at a workplace. I have zero problem with his message.
As far as me standing for BLM. I'm a 1000% behind the message but I'm sorry I cannot get behind an organization that promotes violence. Statements such as thats' how America was built is an old and tired excuse. It obviously hasn't worked in the past and if you ask me has weakened BLM's original support. And no I don't support groups like alt-right, KKK, and others for some of the same, not all, reasons.
The founders of BLM openly state that the movement is about overthrowing capitalism, the “patriarchy” and western enlightenment ideals in general. When co-founder Alcia Garza says" I need to give up stuff" how does that fix the problem?
Painting BLM on public streets. Kinda of like the Kap sitch. Go home and paint YOUR driveway, YOUR house, YOUR car with anything you want. What I see with allowing the street paintings is liberal mayors doing exactly what has been done in the past...Patronizing and throwing money at it like it can be bought.
I have said before I don't know the answer because if i did I'd be collecting a Nobel Peace prize. What I think would help would take years to see progress but in my mind is a far better solution than tearing ******* up. It starts in the home. I've mentioned this a couple of times but I absolutely thought it was one of the coolest things I've seen. We need a lot of this:
We have to separate the two issues, right?
There is racism, and sometimes crimes are based on it.
Then there are just law breaking criminals.
The first issue of racism, can be addressed partially through policy. That is what I support and write about. I believe you change the policies then eventually people will change their minds and hearts.
The second is crime and criminals. These are evil or wayward individuals breaking the law for whatever reason. I do not make excuses for them or support it. I often fight to stay on topic. For instance, when we discuss blacks being killed by the police vs being murdered in their own neighborhood by a civilian.
The police issue is priority because they are given the responsibility of enforcement and are sanctioned by the government, thus usually protected. Abusive behavior of that authority can be addressed through public policy. It won't make the cops like you more, so don't expect to go have beers with them, but it will supposedly guide their actions.
Crime/criminals are different. *******, assault, criminal damage to property, etc., all have nothing to do with race, and is an individual choice. Lot's of factors come into play of why that individual/s at that moment had a gun, possessed stolen property, got into a fight, or caused suspicion in some type of way. Our criminal justice system from law enforcement to the courts are supposed to fairly sort it out. Sometimes, you gotta shoot a dude, other times you have to detain all in a certain area to enforce the law.
The two intertwine, when you have a corrupt, or racist, or lazy criminal justice system. Then you have incidents where maybe a person was committing a crime and deserved to be arrested, or questioned, or detained, and the cops do lazy police work, or take short cuts, or just follow the norms and either get caught doing it, or something happens out of the norm.
99% of the people active in BLM or supporting them or putting black squares on their instagram pages don't know who founded the organization or what those two may said over 5 years ago. We do know today, their message that they advocate for, fairness and equality, are supported by most people, black and white (and others).
The confusion comes in with tactics. People see protests, riots and violence al conflated together. They are not. As within a lot of movements, you have those that want more radical action, and you always have a criminal element that will see a situation and take advantage of it.
Think about the senior scams when Katrina hit, or the mortgage scams during the mortgage crisis, or The Trumps baby Cancer Charity that they used as a personal bank.
It's hard to separate the three (protestors, radicals and criminals) when you have simultaneous action. People exercising their constitutional rights do not like being told they cannot do it. Doesn't matter if it's gun, speech, religion, illegal search and seizure or rights to a lawyer. So what do you think is going to happen when Trumps Troops come in to break up peaceful protests over and over, he's going to start a fucking war in our cities. Just the thing he needs to look like a leader while trying to get re-elected.
Painting BLM on the street was done legally. They got permits to do it. Same kind of thing they give out for inane bullshit like Thanksgiving Day parade, or the Yankees win, or to advertise some new club opening or such. It was a smart thing. Now conservative groups want to write *******. These are temporary permits protected under that pesky First Amendment, and doesn't violate decency laws, or local codes.
I agree with pretty much everything you said and you made some valid points.
So what do you think is going to happen when Trumps Troops come in to break up peaceful protests over and over, he's going to start a fucking war in our cities. Just the thing he needs to look like a leader while trying to get re-elected.
We are a country of rule and law. Laws are obviously passed by both Democrats and Republicans. It is not a right of anyone regardless of a position to willfully break the law(s) of the land. Protest 24/7 it is our right but the second you break a window on privately owned businesses and/or steal from said businesses your rights as far as I am concerned go right out the window. I don't care the reason. When these people in Portland threaten to burn down a federal building are the feds supposed to stand by and watch like the cops did in other cities? Maybe bring their marshmallow sticks to the fire? If the local police who are obviously incapable of upholding the law, order, and peace then it's time to bring in someone who can. When a business is robbed who do they call? When a business is being threatened who should be there to protect the business owners? But to suggest it's tolerable and should go unchecked in mind boggling.
It's like immigration. The immigration law was passed by both parties in the 1800's. A law that has been a pain in the ass for Presidents of both parties. Obama nicknamed "deporter in chief", Harry Reid said a country would be crazy to allow undocumented immigrants entry, both Bill and Hillary had a strong stance on immigration. Trump takes a strong stance and he's a racist. I know totally off subject just making a point. And that is we don't have a right to pick and chose the laws we want to break.
Painting BLM on the street was done legally. They got permits to do it. Same kind of thing they give out for inane bullshit like Thanksgiving Day parade, or the Yankees win, or to advertise some new club opening or such. It was a smart thing. Now conservative groups want to write *******. These are temporary permits protected under that pesky First Amendment, and doesn't violate decency laws, or local codes
Yes they were done legally. My point is it's another act of patronizing. IMO a painting on a street doesn't come anywhere near close to solving this issue. Maybe it creates a touchy feely vibe?
I wonder if another group with a ,name your cause, would be issued permits to paint the streets? I'm not talking about parades or sports. And no I am definitely not suggesting groups like alt-right should be able to counter with their own painting. I'm just sayin.
So what do you think is going to happen when Trumps Troops come in to break up peaceful protests over and over, he's going to start a fucking war in our cities. Just the thing he needs to look like a leader while trying to get re-elected.
We are a country of rule and law. Laws are obviously passed by both Democrats and Republicans. It is not a right of anyone regardless of a position to willfully break the law(s) of the land. Protest 24/7 it is our right but the second you break a window on privately owned businesses and/or steal from said businesses your rights as far as I am concerned go right out the window. I don't care the reason. When these people in Portland threaten to burn down a federal building are the feds supposed to stand by and watch like the cops did in other cities? Maybe bring their marshmallow sticks to the fire? If the local police who are obviously incapable of upholding the law, order, and peace then it's time to bring in someone who can. When a business is robbed who do they call? When a business is being threatened who should be there to protect the business owners? But to suggest it's tolerable and should go unchecked in mind boggling.
It's like immigration. The immigration law was passed by both parties in the 1800's. A law that has been a pain in the ass for Presidents of both parties. Obama nicknamed "deporter in chief", Harry Reid said a country would be crazy to allow undocumented immigrants entry, both Bill and Hillary had a strong stance on immigration. Trump takes a strong stance and he's a racist. I know totally off subject just making a point. And that is we don't have a right to pick and chose the laws we want to break.
Painting BLM on the street was done legally. They got permits to do it. Same kind of thing they give out for inane bullshit like Thanksgiving Day parade, or the Yankees win, or to advertise some new club opening or such. It was a smart thing. Now conservative groups want to write *******. These are temporary permits protected under that pesky First Amendment, and doesn't violate decency laws, or local codes
Yes they were done legally. My point is it's another act of patronizing. IMO a painting on a street doesn't come anywhere near close to solving this issue. Maybe it creates a touchy feely vibe?
I wonder if another group with a ,name your cause, would be issued permits to paint the streets? I'm not talking about parades or sports. And no I am definitely not suggesting groups like alt-right should be able to counter with their own painting. I'm just sayin.
You're coming different issues in here and it makes it confusing to argue out.
First, we both agree, there is a right way, and wrong way to do things.
Protests are fine. Property damage is not. Sweeping violence is not. Criminals commit crimes. Tear gassing hundreds or thousands for something one or two or five did is not police work, and military tactic. I take that back, even in the military you have to separate enemy combatants from civilians. So is Trump sending in troops to help sort out the radical and criminal elements using the movement? Or protect the federal buildings? So far, that hasn't been the case in Portland. Tear gassed the Mayor and other at a peaceful rally, put a kid in the hospital, not even a protestor, when a can of tear gas hit his face causing the need for reconstructive surgery- of his face! And roughly arrested four moms who were peacefully protesting. Not to mention grabbing individual protesters off the street, interrogating them, and detaining them. He's causing more chaos, and guess what, it doesn't stop the criminals from tearing ******* up. It's the wrong way. But you just try to tell the President that.
You are from that area. You know how big Portland is. To characterize one park as representative of the whole city being under siege is complete bullshit and done to fire people up with fear and anger. Like the caravans of illegals coming to the south border back in 2018. Where are they???
Anyway, it such a fuck up, that the DOJ, yes Trump's DOJ, can't ignore the excessive ******* used and launched an investigation today. Let's see how long before he or AG Barr fires this guy.
Yes, it's done to piss off Trump. And, the mayors lean left. So what? That's freedom. It ain't always going to be your bowl of soup, and it not always easy to defend but you should defend it.
I looked for examples of Republicans taking out permits for murals (technically that's what this is) and could not find any. Then when I saw where, I knew. These are mostly community organizations, in the cities, places and organizations Republicans ridicule and have no use for. They do not operate in the city at a community level so, they have never used these types of permits unless its for a parade.
I work in America, so employees at my company are totally allowed to talk about their beliefs, including BLM (which people do all the time).
Nobody stands up at their chairs shouting once an hour, but I'm fairly sure Kapernic was also not standing up at a chair and shouting every hour.
Sorry you don't live in a free country.
Ahahahahahahahahahaha
Sure you don't buddy. That's why you're totally against Hobby Lobby or Chick Fil-A getting involved with politics and religion
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