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The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org

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Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#121

Post by wqaatwt »

imightbebatman wrote: post #75
kevmo wrote: post #10

This is clearly heading in a direction where the USA is going to elect a huge number of socialists, who in turn are going to enact massive taxes on billionaires and break up the monopolies.[1] This is why I think the billionaire oligarchs are literally mentally ill. They've won the entire game. They control everything. They live like gods, they twitch a pinky and millions dance. But their response to all of this powe…

I very much doubt that. There isn't enough class solidarity to pull it off. There will be a few who brand themselves as such. But actually seizing the means of production and handing them over to the people? -- The oligarchs will burn this country to the ground before they permit that to happen.

It would of course be lose-lose for everyone. But if a significant proportion of the population starts believing (rationally or not) that they have nothing left to lose it could be problematic.

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#122

Post by ToucanLoucan »

arjie wrote: post #70
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we want to increase the labor share then we'll drive down healthcare spending. It may not be simple but it's clear the United States is doing something catastrophically wrong. All the other healthcare systems on the planet in developed countries have problems, sure. But we spend magnitudes more money to receive middling-to-shit healthcare. Medical debt and bankruptcy is a unique American problem that also happen…

If the insurance companies disappeared tomorrow, presumably all medical care is paid for at point of use by patients? That would mean stochastically facing catastrophic bills from providers. I am sympathetic to the idea that healthcare providers and systems here should be making no more than in, say, Europe, but an orthopaedic surgeon being paid the $300k USD-equivalent in Germany instead of his $750k USD income toda…

> but an orthopaedic surgeon being paid the $300k USD-equivalent in Germany instead of his $750k USD income today at median would be very unhappy.

I'm sure he'll manage.

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#123

Post by saghm »

wqaatwt wrote: post #73
ambicapter wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mandated low margin is part of the problem. When your margins are regulated, the only way to increase profits is to just make everything more expensive. More revenue, same margin, more profits. Humane health care is incompatible with free market economics.

Perhaps its not compatible. But that’s tangential to the situation in the US, at the very minimum you need to have price transparency in any ‘free market’ system.

I think the point is that we might as well just give up the pretense of a free market healthcare solution and just focus on what's humane.

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#124

Post by idiotsecant »

vdqtp3 wrote: post #112
dozerly wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have one of the worlds most prosperous economies, and half of the US is living in abject poverty while quality of life for everyone is decreasing.

> half of the US is living in abject poverty Anyone who believes this has absolutely no concept of what abject poverty looks like.

This is quickly going to devolve into 'nobody suffers unless their suffering as at least as bad as the worst suffering that exists', so let's just go ahead and get that out of the way and move on to something less pointless.

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#125

Post by FloorEgg »

cool_dude85 wrote: post #87
TrackerFF wrote: post #57

Obviously the solution here is for workers to also become shareholders.

The US has historically been quite opposed to the workers becoming shareholders.

Except for all the companies that issue shares and options as part of employee compensation.

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#126

Post by zer00eyz »

dozerly wrote: post #90
legitster wrote: post #61

People are misreading the conclusion - the Covid related drop is normal and matches previous episodes, but the massive overall drop since 2000 is not. The situation on the ground is unchanged - the amount of labor being generated per person has not really changed, but the overall pie has grown massively around us.

We have one of the worlds most prosperous economies, and half of the US is living in abject poverty while quality of life for everyone is decreasing.

> half of the US is living in abject poverty while quality of life for everyone is decreasing.

The 350 million Americans looking at the top of the US economy and crying need to turn around and take a look at what's behind them.

There are something like 7 billion people behind them, worse off.

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#128

Post by wqaatwt »

simianwords wrote: post #23

I find this metric misleading. Where is the extra money going? To whom? Turns out most of it is not going to billionaires. Bulk of it is going to future investments. If we choose not to do that, we lose out on future gains.

Speculation or actual investment? Assuming that the allocation of capital is somehow aligned with what’s optimal for the economy/society seems naive

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#129

Post by panzagl »

nickff wrote: post #39
ck_one wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capital gains tax is clearly lower than income tax. So why did you change your mind?

Not the commenter you replied to, but one thing to note is that capital gains tax (at least in the context of investments in corporate equities) is applied after corporate taxes. Profits and reinvested earnings are taxed as profits, and they're two of the key components to valuing an equity. As such, when comparing income tax and capital gains, you should add the impact of corporate taxes. Incidentally, corporate tax…

So if I buy and sell Pokeman cards I shouldn't have to pay any tax because WotC pays corporate taxes?

Re: The labor share of income in the US is at its lowest post-war level

#130

Post by idiotsecant »

carlosjobim wrote: post #113
scrumbledober wrote: post #3

it feels like every share of income is at its lowest except for the ultra wealthy.

Not at all. The real estate share of income is probably at its highest among a lot of people who belong to the non-labouring class, but are far from ultra wealthy. But it's nice to have a scapegoat, isn't it?

If you belong to the 'non-laboring class' you are by definition the ultra wealthy. It's wild how much people are willing to slide goalposts to make themselves feel better.
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