Date: 2024-04-20 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00021377
WAGES -V- PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITS
EPI ... close correlation from 1945 to 1974, then wages flatlined while productivity and profits grew.
Original article:
Burgess COMMENTARY
It took me a while to figure out what this graphic has to say ... but the information is truly important.
* Government response to a low performing economy prior to 1980 was substantial government stimulus.
* The most government spending in response to recession took place during the Reagan administration ... a Republican administration.
* The least government spending in response to recession tool place during the Obama administration ... a Democratic administration with Congress in the control of Republicans with Senator Mitch McConnell as the Majority Leader.
* Both President Bush (41) and President Bush (43) ... both Republicans ... presided over substantial government spending in response to the economic conditions early in their presidencies.
One probably should conclude from this is that Republicans say one thing but do another ... that they will do what is needed to improve the economy when they have power, but will do anything to ensure that the Democrats have a tough time when the Republicans are in opposition. It seems that Republican political leadership is all about political wins and very little about the people of the United States as a whole. Shame on them.
Worse ... the Republicans have a world view that is at odds with the realities of the modern world. During the past 40 years ... since the Reagan administration put in place its views of economic freedom, US social and economic performance has deteriorated relative to the rest of the world. Clearly, China has been a major beneficiary of US socio-economic decline, but the US situation is a lot more than just China. The Republican idea that individual liberty and freedom is the best way forward really does not stand up to intellectual scrutiny, yet it seems to be at the center of Republican thinking ... or is it merely a cover for something a whole lot more sinister as evidenced by the rise of Trumpism and all that that involves.
Peter Burgess