Greenspan says the reason for the wage disparity is that we're too stupid

Greenspan told a Senate panel today that the reason the nation is suffering wage disparity is that educated workers are earning more. The multi-millionaire is oblivious to the fact that employers are paying less for jobs which don't require great skills, but are nonetheless important and vital.

These jobs will not be displaced by educatedapplicants, no matter how necessary job training and education may prove helpful. To suggest that these workers are not getting paid a living wage because they are less educated is an elitist slap that devalues the timeless contributions and preeminence of, so-called, unskilled laborers.

Greenspan Doublespeak:

*He said the slow recovery in employment since the last recession is due to unusually strong productivity gains by businesses.

He also said the benefits of the economic recovery should start being seen more by employees through improved wages and hiring levels, rather than going primarily into improved corporate profits.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/15/news/economy/fed_greenspan_hearing/index.htm?cnn=yes

Productivity= Workers toiling harder and longer for less. Employers benefiting from lower wages. Greenspan approves.

**Fears of losing customers should dissuade businesses from fully passing along to consumers the higher labor, energy and other costs, Greenspan said.

On the labor market front, Greenspan welcomed the recent increases in the nation's payrolls.

"The exceptional reluctance to expand payrolls also appears to have waned this year and businesses are once again hiring with some vigor," he said. Still, the Fed chairman said companies' use of temporary workers suggests that continuing wariness on the part of businesses about the sturdiness of the recovery.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/18/national/main618175.shtml

So, he expects employers to be paying workers more in the future, rather than use up their increasing earnings with corporate profit-taking. But he acknowledges that they are not passing the earnings on to workers, instead, they are relying on temporary labor.



Kerry: Caught! Administration's Own Numbers Contradict Bush Campaign; Out of Touch Bush Campaign Claims Wages are Increasing, While Government Report Shows Opposite

"Once again, the Bush campaign is trying to mislead the American people about the economy. On the same day the Bush Administration reported that real wages are decreasing, making it tougher for middle class families to make ends meet, the Bush campaign claims wages are rising. It's another sign that George W. Bush is out of touch and out of credibility," said Kerry campaign spokesman, Chad Clanton.

BUSH CAMPAIGN CLAIMED WAGES ARE INCREASING

Today, the Bush campaign tried once again to mislead the American people on the economy, with a statement from Ken Mehlman claiming credit for "higher wages." (BC04 Release, 6/15/04)

ADMINISTRATION'S OWN REPORT OUT TODAY SHOWS THAT IS FALSE

Today the government reported that Americans are being increasingly squeezed as wages are failing to keep up with skyrocketing prices. As prices have soared, wages have not.

According to the new government report, real average weekly earnings decreased 0.4 percent last month and 0.5 percent in the last year. (BLS, 6/15/04)

WHAT DOES DON EVANS HAVE TO SAY TO AMERICA'S WORKERS TODAY?

Yesterday Don Evans said "More Americans are going on spending sprees at shopping malls as more people are finding well-paying jobs." (NYT, 6/15/04)

Please see below for today's Bureau of Labor Statistics Release (emphasis added):

REAL EARNINGS IN MAY 2004

Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.4 percent from April to May after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. A 0.3 percent increase in average hourly earnings was more than offset by a 0.7 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).


http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=132-06152004

___________________________________

World's richest worth $28.8 trillion in 2003 survey

LONDON (Reuters) — There were an estimated 7.7 million millionaires in the world at the end of 2003, half a million more than at the end of 2002, as stock markets and economic growth picked up and the rich took more risks with their cash.
These wealthy individuals saw their riches increase 7.7% to $28.8 trillion in 2003, recovering to levels seen before the global recession took hold in 2001, according to a survey Tuesday from U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch and technology consultancy Capgemini.

And the rich are set to get richer, with their wealth forecast to grow 7% a year and to exceed $40.7 trillion by 2008, the survey predicted.

These wealthy individuals are classed as those with financial assets of at least $1 million, excluding the value of their homes.

As stock markets revived last year, the wealthy were quick to shift their money back into higher yielding investments, particularly equities, but also specialized products and alternative investments, including hedge funds, the survey found.

_________________________________

1.4 million jobs recovered after a loss of over 3 million do not portend a recovery for the 1.6 million who are still out of work, or for those who are underemployed with less wages and longer hours, as well as those in households who had not had to enter the job market before, who find themselves having to reenter the job market to survive the inflation and rising health care costs, and the rising energy costs.

As Al Sharpton told Judy Woodruf on CNN, "Bush sticks a knife deep in American's backs and pulls it halfway out." No recovery there.

Isn't it a hoot that those who are claiming that the economy is recovering already have more money than they can spend? The price of Brie and caviar have stabilized and they proclaim the recession over. one CNN report claimed that gas prices were going down, and held that up as a sign of recovery. The price cited was $2.11. Shameful.

If these prognosticators had to struggle to survive in this sorry economy they would sing a different tune, but they are out of touch with how the rest of us struggle to survive and will never see the value of those workers who form the backbone of our society, who, as Jimmy Stewart pointed out in "Wonderful Life', do most of the living and the dying in our communities.

Come November.


Me Book

but he serves at the pleasure of the rich and powerful, so what more could we expect? Honesty?

Yeah, right.

but it isn't for any lack of intellectual capacity that low wage pigeons vote for Repubs against their own self-interest.

Nooooooo, couldn't be that.

stoked by Lee Atwater's 'wedge politics', which he repudiated and apologized for prior to his death.

This generation of republican thugs have recklessly taken every wedge issue and arrogantly rammed them through an apathetic public anxious for scapegoats and reluctant to accept the folly of their last vote and initial support for the manufactured wars of opportunity.

One hope though is that our votes are made in private. Too many folks now know the duplicity of Bush's rhetoric and should reject his mindless puffery in favor of their own self interest.

The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think. You may preach to a congregation by the year and not affect its thought because it is not called upon for definite action. But throw your subject into a campaign and it becomes a challenge.

John Jay Chapman (1862–1933), U.S. author. Practical Agitation

He really needs to retire(right now!). I am serious isn't he pushing eighty? Bush wants to reappoint him again for a fifth term.

Though he can only serve for two more years. To be the Chair you have to be on the board and he is only elegible for two more years.

People are poor because they damn well deserve to be poor. :eyes:
:wtf:

Nice job!

The whole field of study is a sham. Take the economists concept
of efficiency for example. Efficiency is defined not as the
most effective use of energy to create a product but as the higher
rate of the transfer of wealth to the capitalist class, i.e. the
corporate boards and stockholders. This conceptual framework
is what drives the shipping of jobs overseas.

As well, current economic theory is based on the assumption of
endless expansion and we are about to hit a wall due to physical
limits.

the discrepency?

According to the study by United for a Fair Economy, More Bucks for the Bang: ", the median CEO salary at the 37 largest publicly traded defense contractors rose 79% between 2001 and 2002 whereas overall CEO salary increased only 6%. In 2002, defense industry CEOs earned an average of $5.4 million - or 577 times as much as a private in Iraq - while other U.S. CEOs, on average, earned "only" $3.7 million."

http://www.ufenet.org/press/2003/BucksforBang.pdf

Quotes that preface the report:

“I don't want to see a single war millionaire created in the
United States as a result of this world disaster.”
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or
unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”
— President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

“Most of the guys are former military,
and you make a lot of money.”
— L-3 Communications Executive Gen. Jay Garner (ret.), 2003

I was referring to the greed of ceos's like Skilling, Lay etc but this adds new light. Thanx.