Another study just released indicating that CEO pay continues to grow in relation to the compensation paid to everyday workers. While the study that I initially read about emanated from a New York Times article, I though it best not to provide a link to that reference as I know many people feel the Times is a biased (left) news source. Instead I am providing a link to an article from the Christian Science Monitor about the topic.
CEO pay.
This is not the first post about that subject, nor will it be the last. While it may be hyperbolic to say that this is the biggest problem facing our county today, and the world for that matter, given the rise of authoritarianism across the globe, the continued wars that are funded by both sides of the ideological equation, and the simple facts that child poverty, lack of potable water and sanitation facilities and basic health care still exist in our lifetime, I often find my thoughts engaged in this What If.
What if income was distributed more equitably, how would all of these problems be addressed.
In a post from 2017, I used the term bottom up economics (not my invention), to discuss the economic theory I embrace the most. It is fairly simple, and in direct contrast to the trickle down theory that began in the 1980's during Reagan's presidency. More money in the hands of everyday workers, produces a demand in goods and services, since it is known that consumers drive upwards of 2/3 of our economy, which then encourages companies to hire more workers to meet the demand, producing more employed people, etc.
Here is a link to that post.
In April of 2018, I posted two consecutive entries specifically titled income inequality. In those I refer to some historical data about this subject, and even defend instances when income inequality can be productive for everyone. If you read both posts, links below, you will find that I conclude that all money in few hands does not generally work, but that equitable consequences, where no one earns more than anyone else, is also equally not effective. That it is a balance that needs to be reached, but that even this balance may skew in one direction or the other depending on the situations of the times.
Then in 2022, I took a slightly different tact with this subject. In The 90% Boat, link below, I bemoaned the media ads that were attacking the student loan forgiveness program that ultimately was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
In that post, I attempted to remind people that decrying a government program that assists other middle income Americans, simply because that money was not benefiting oneself directly, was selfish and shortsighted. Such thinking was generally encouraged, and the ads paid for, by rich people trying to drive a wedge among us commoners, or the 90% who are doing all the maintenance and rowing of the boat we share but receiving a pittance of its benefits, most of which are going to the 10%.
What was really shocking about some of those ads was the use of "union" workers who didn't want to pay the debts of those blue haired, gender studies college kids who couldn't find a job because they chose a meaningless or easy major. I say shocking, because it was union workers who were vilified in the 1980's and 1990's for demanding higher wages, forcing companies into bankruptcy or to send jobs overseas.
Funny how they were now suddenly hard working Americans.
Folks, the rich, if nothing else, have the resources to create all kinds of narratives to make us turn on each other, to fight for the scraps that they so magnanimously allow to fall from their tables. They are the masters of the wedge issues, and we seem to succumb to their propaganda far too easily.
At this point, I frankly don't know when, or if, Americans will wake up to the fact that most of our money problems are the result of reduced tax rates for the super rich, the acceptance that hundreds of billions of dollars are offshore in foreign bank accounts specifically to allow the avoidance of paying taxes, and the belief that redistributing money from the 10% to the 90% somehow leads to inflation and debt. While this may be true on occasion, it is always true that tax laws, lax IRS auditing of the rich, and media ads which tell you who in our boat is at fault, always leads to the rich getting richer.
And, it is not just the GOP and its business above all ideology. The Dems are just as guilty, although at least they try to pass laws that increase minimum wage, provide assistance to the neediest among us, and tax the super rich at appropriate rates.
Which brings us the concept of the universal basic income, or UBI. If you have not heard of it, or have only heard it mentioned by a conservative pundit in a derogatory manner, it is easy enough to research the concept on your own to see how many successful programs have been run in various cities across our country.
UBI is coming, perhaps to a county near you, so do some investigation on your own. While I don't see Biden embracing it anytime soon, I hope that in the near future we will have a Democratic presidential candidate who explains it well enough to counter the onslaught of rich people driven ads that will inevitably be produced, ads which will appeal to our most selfish nature.
Perhaps they will even use blue haired, gender studies young people to bash the concept of giving money with no strings attached.
Finally, here is a link to my story, The Change, written in 2010, and, to be honest, one of the reasons why I started this blog. It was that story that had been percolating in my head for a while, along with my thoughts on nuclear war, health care, guns, immigration, discrimination, etc, that inspired me to express my thoughts, publicly.
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