These interests want us all to believe that the only way for American business to compete globally is by lowering wages. They preach that government is inefficient and must be reduced and that the marketplace can do it better and cheaper. They claim that the budget deficit is the source of most of the nation s problems, and that it can only be reduced by cutting Medicare and converting Medicaid and other programs like job training, food stamps, welfare, and child nutrition into block grants to the states with drastically fewer dollars. And they also say that unions should be weakened, that the right to strike should be abolished, and that employers and employees cannot work together more productively unless the boss has increased control over workers. The bosses are not sharing with the workers.
Real wages are the best indicator of workers living standards.
Simply stated, they tell us what our paychecks can buy. From 1989 to 1995, corporate profits rose and workers became more productive, but real wages stayed the same or went down for over three-quarters of all wage earners. From 1950 to 1980 wages and productivity both rose at the same pace. Since 1980, however, workers have not benefitted from their increased efficiency. The benefits have gone instead to owners and stockholders.