Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Hourly Pay in U.S. Not Keeping Pace With Price Rises
NYTIMES ^ | 07/18/04 | EDUARDO PORTER

Posted on 07/17/2004 1:31:26 PM PDT by Pikamax

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-55 next last
To: Doohickey

Nonsense. His position is clear to all. I am under no obligation whatsoever.


21 posted on 07/17/2004 3:23:19 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green; Wolfie; ex-snook; Jhoffa_; FITZ; arete; FreedomPoster; Red Jones; Pyro7480; ...
So far, spending was fueled mostly by debt, as consumers took advantage of bedrock-low interest rates to whip out their credit cards and refinance their mortgages.

Don't worry, be happy!

22 posted on 07/17/2004 5:15:59 PM PDT by A. Pole (Capt. Lionel Mandrake: "Condition Red, sir, yes, jolly good idea. That keeps the men on their toes.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikamax
Silvia Vides, 43, who earns $11 an hour in a union job as a housekeeper at the Universal City Sheraton hotel in Los Angeles, said, "Sometimes I don’t know how I pay the bills and food and rent." She has cut back on all nonessential expenditures and she is four months behind on payments on $4,000 in credit-card debt.

$11 per hour to be a maid is pretty good, particularly when you factor in the tax-free tips.

23 posted on 07/17/2004 6:07:45 PM PDT by NYCVirago
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYCVirago

Did you noticed that the illegal workforce as a tool for low end job wage stagnation was not mentioned?

DK


24 posted on 07/17/2004 6:15:02 PM PDT by Dark Knight
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Dark Knight
Did you noticed that the illegal workforce as a tool for low end job wage stagnation

Another thing that's never mentioned in regards to illegals and work is that not only will they work for less, but their sheer numbers that keep increasing drive those wages down even further. When labor pools expand, the wages drop. More illegals means lower wages for all illegals.

25 posted on 07/17/2004 6:19:51 PM PDT by Lizavetta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

Not me, I'm on my third raise this year (past 6 months), and I might just manage a fourth.

It's not bad to see your income increase 40% in one year without having to switch companies.


26 posted on 07/17/2004 6:22:49 PM PDT by Brellium
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Lizavetta

Good point. They are also not covered by the miriad of paperwork costs usually associated with permanent employment. So that cost is saved.

DK


27 posted on 07/17/2004 6:23:02 PM PDT by Dark Knight
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Brellium
Not me, I'm on my third raise this year (past 6 months), and I might just manage a fourth. It's not bad to see your income increase 40% in one year without having to switch companies.

So?

28 posted on 07/17/2004 7:07:44 PM PDT by A. Pole (Capt. Lionel Mandrake: "Condition Red, sir, yes, jolly good idea. That keeps the men on their toes.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Lizavetta

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/back504.html

This study is pretty good done in May this year.


29 posted on 07/17/2004 7:11:39 PM PDT by PersonalLiberties
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: NYCVirago
Tips wouldn't be tax free. I imagine the IRS has calculated the general amount of tips, like in the case of waitresses, and assumed a gross income at that level.

30 posted on 07/17/2004 8:23:34 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole

Republicans owe much of their electoral success to crossovers from patriotic, socially conservative, working-class voters. Their views on non-economic issues are the reason why. But if this trend continues, it gives the 'Rats an opening. Republicans are already hobbed by an image as the anything-business-wants-to-hell-with-everybody-else party. Issues such as stagnant wages and offshoring could drive these voters away.


31 posted on 07/17/2004 8:25:07 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Brellium

How 'bout a loan? ;-)


32 posted on 07/17/2004 8:28:23 PM PDT by I-53 (God is love.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: All
No mention of the impact of increased health care cost on wage increases (that I saw).

No mention that the "Pew Hispanic Center found that workers who were not U.S. citizens claimed 378,496 jobs out of a net increase of 1.3 million from the first three months of 2003 through the first three months of this year." To wit, no mention of ILLEGAL "cheap" labor on labor supply / wage rates. nyt employees value diversity so the topic is off limits.

Altogether I'd say the article had little value though it did point out widely known factors such as in recent years spending was fueled mostly by debt, as consumers took advantage of bedrock-low interest rates to whip out their credit cards and refinance their mortgages.

Census Bureau numbers support the sagging earnings at the bottom end (and middle) as the higher earners get more and more of the aggregate income. At least it's not always the same people year to year, I suppose. This is a trend that been tracked through Republican and Democrat administrations. Why it's now "anti-Bush" to talk about it is a puzzle.

33 posted on 07/17/2004 9:54:46 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (Benedict Arnold was a hero for both sides in the same war, too!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: William Terrell
Tips wouldn't be tax free. I imagine the IRS has calculated the general amount of tips, like in the case of waitresses, and assumed a gross income at that level.

I don't think it's a given that these will be deducted, the way waitresses get taxes deducted on the amount of their tips, because tipping the maid is not an expected thing, the way tipping a waitress is. At any rate, the amount of tips this maid was getting certainly wasn't mentioned in this whinefest about how much she's struggling.

34 posted on 07/18/2004 2:29:00 AM PDT by NYCVirago
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Dark Knight
Did you noticed that the illegal workforce as a tool for low end job wage stagnation was not mentioned?

Shocking! How could that have been left out? ;)

35 posted on 07/18/2004 2:29:46 AM PDT by NYCVirago
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: A. Pole
I said "What the heck", yesterday and decided to BBQ a couple of steaks since we hadn't done that for about 6 months, the price being so high and all.

I bought two little rib-eyes, a half-pint of sour cream for the potatoes, and a head of lettuce and two tomatoes for the green salad. (I already had the potatoes, Texas Toast, steak sauce, and frozen veggies at home).

The grocery bill was $18, not counting the gas to drive to the store.

I wonder how restaurants are coping with syrocketing food prices. Beef, chicken, pork, dairy products, vegetables...all about double from last year.

Thank goodness beer is still the same.

36 posted on 07/18/2004 4:13:41 AM PDT by snopercod (I've got skin and you've got bark; What's the difference in the dark? - Deborah Henson-Conant)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Dark Knight
Did you noticed that the illegal workforce as a tool for low end job wage stagnation was not mentioned?

Yet that's the whole reason for uncontrolled immigration --- to decrease wages by bringing in millions of unskilled who will work for less than they can live on but use Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, and government housing subsidies gladly.

37 posted on 07/18/2004 5:38:39 AM PDT by FITZ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Clintonfatigued; Willie Green; Wolfie; ex-snook; Jhoffa_; FITZ; arete; FreedomPoster; Red Jones; ...
Republicans owe much of their electoral success to crossovers from patriotic, socially conservative, working-class voters. Their views on non-economic issues are the reason why. But if this trend continues, it gives the 'Rats an opening.

The opening is already there and huge! But the Democrats are ever more pigheaded - as abortion, athesim and pederasty are the most important for them.

So when so called Reagan Democrats are given choice between promotion of decadence or undermining their wages they are forced to chose the second as smaller evil.

If ever Democrats returned to the old style New Deal with the concern for working class and morality they would win with the one hand tied behing their back each time like FDR was winning.

38 posted on 07/18/2004 6:34:45 AM PDT by A. Pole (Capt. Lionel Mandrake: "Condition Red, sir, yes, jolly good idea. That keeps the men on their toes.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: WilliamofCarmichael
No mention of the impact of increased health care cost on wage increases (that I saw).

What solution do you propose? That American workers go without medical care? (if they pay from their own pockets it has to come from somewhere, if not from wages then from credit cards or else). Or that the medical costs are somehow lowered?

39 posted on 07/18/2004 7:08:48 AM PDT by A. Pole (Capt. Lionel Mandrake: "Condition Red, sir, yes, jolly good idea. That keeps the men on their toes.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: snopercod

the downward spiral of the US into a 3rd world nation of a few rich, many poor, and almost no middle class has just begun.

The free-traitors are succeeding in starting the drive of the US down to the levels of India and China.


40 posted on 07/18/2004 7:15:36 AM PDT by XBob (Free-traitors steal our jobs for their profit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-55 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson