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Post by duke on Mar 6, 2013 19:27:08 GMT -5
Why Wall Street Soars as Main Street Suffers By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog 06 March 13 Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 14,270 - completely erasing its 54 percent loss between 2007 and 2009. The stock market is basically back to where it was in 2000, while corporate earnings have doubled since then. Yet the real median wage is now 8 percent below what it was in 2000, and unemployment remains sky-high. Why is the stock market doing so well, while most Americans are doing so poorly? Four reasons: First, productivity gains. Corporations have been investing in technology rather than their workers. They get tax credits and deductions for such investments; they get no such tax benefits for improving the skills of their employees. As a result, corporations can now do more with fewer people on their payrolls. That means higher profits. Second, high unemployment itself. Joblessness all but eliminates the bargaining power of most workers - allowing corporations to keep wages low. Public policies that might otherwise reduce unemployment - a new WPA or CCC to hire the long-term unemployed, major investments in the nation's crumbling infrastructure - have been rejected in favor of austerity economics. This also means higher profits, at least in the short run.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/16346-why-wall-street-soars-as-main-street-suffers
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Post by Fredo on Mar 6, 2013 19:32:48 GMT -5
QE is just like magic... until the music stops.
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