Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
is a bankruptcy court breaking union contracts "governemnt intervention?"
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It seems like the NLRA is gov't intervention.
My impression is that a lot of cost is healthcare and pensions (i.e., past promises), not wages. I was reading somewhere (somewhere NORMAL, like the Economist or Yahoo news, or something) that blue collar workers, and I think even the lower levels of white collar workers, have experienced, in real terms, a decline in wages not only over the near term but also over the last 30+ years (from sometime in the 70s). I don't know if the "start date" for the comparison was timed to coincide with some particular year in the stagflation era, such that it would make now look particularly bad (whereas a year later or earlier would not produce so dramatic a result), but it was interesting.
The article did point out, and I agree, that you get more bang for your buck on a lot of products nowadays -- like, a car that costs the same in real terms would be safer/more reliable/have more features. But, the lack of growth for lower-wage workers, where higher-wage workers have been experiencing significant growth in real terms, does highlight that there is a gap between haves and have-nots. I personally think that such a situation is not politically sustainable unless the lower class a real lower class of peasants with very low expectations, and I don't think we can get there from here.
