The new $15 hr fast food cashier

Boy we really won that war on poverty didn't we?

If wages had kept up with worker productivity the way it used to, victory would have been declared long ago.

Forkie, I agree with you, but the question is what do we do about it. I note Hillary seems to go kind of wishy washy when asked about the minimum wage. The best I can tell is that she supports local governments setting the minimum wage, but won't say much about increasing the Federal minimum wage.

Expensive energy. OPEC had this nation by the nose in the 1970's, and the costs of doing business quickly rose. That has continued, but now ObeyMe and his EPA are intentionally trying to drive up energy costs.

This nation was built on production using natural resources to make stuff. You still have to cut down trees to build houses. You still need to mine minerals to produce every metal needed in every form of production, even if the end production is organic - machinery is needed at almost every step.

We need the cheapest energy available to bring back manufacturing to this country. When it is more expensive to produce here, production moves offshore. ObeyMe is intent on closing down clean coal power plants in this country, while China is building new coal power plants at a rapid pace. He is giving them a distinct advantage, not just in manufacturing, but also cost of living for this nations citizens. This nation charges very high corporate income tax rates, and people wonder why companies offshore jobs and move corporate headquarters to nations that have lower rates? Really?

The government needs to get the hell out of the way of businesses in America. That won't happen under any liberal leadership. If you want to see more unemployed Americans, keep voting Democrat.

Wages have more than kept up with productivity. Wages have surpassed productivity. That is, for those responsible for the increase in productivity.

You throw out a graph that shows overall productivity versus overall wages. There's a whole lot of averaging going on in that graph. "Statistics" nuff' said.

Amen, Bob

Like Forkie, Boiler wished that American "middle income" wages had continued to climb. However, for various reasons, American companies are no longer as competitive in the World market. Complaining about this fact doesn't change this truth.

I believe that there are many reasons that we are no longer competitive. Our government has made doing business in America difficult and expensive. I see the EPA having an endless ability to do what some believe is wonderful, but be careful what you wish for. Each EPA regulation costs jobs, and that's a balancing act. We want a clean place to live, yet we also want jobs. Corporate taxes are high which chases enterprise to move or start elsewhere. Unions lead to inefficient work policies and high wages leading to a loss of competitiveness. We need a more technically astute work force. The list goes on and on.

Long story short, it's a World market and only those who compete well will survive. Find a way to differentiate yourself and provide value and you will have a happy life. This is what I'm teaching my 24, and 21 year old boys. They've both started well in their journey.

The American Labor Force is constantly changing. Why just since 2007 we've had a significant decrease of manufacturing workers and an equally significant increase in the number of bartenders, pr'bly with good reason.



DonDiego'll drink to that !

Nonetheless, DonDiego supposes there is a difference in the hourly wage of these occupations. He leaves investigation into the differential as an investigation for the curious reader.