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income inequality debate

I was a little confused because that report came out last year.

Yeah, we all know that dumb rich kids get a leg up but Carnevale and his team figured out how to isolate that effect. Using kindergarten as a marker is even somewhat misleading because so many advantages accumulate even before children get formal schooling.
 
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Dont know where to put this but about that economic recovery, and the supplemental unemployment hasnt even ended yet.

 
Cool paper. Finds that banning companies from asking about salary history resulted in an 8% increase in women's salaries and a 13-16% (!) increase in salaries of African Americans who change jobs.

 
A few factoids that play into this issue as the massive fiscal stimulus starts to get burned off by recipients and the PPP is getting ready to halt.

1 - We have spent the equivalent of roughly 46 Marshal Plans in present USD (i.e. adjusted for inflation) propping up our own economy - fiscal and monetary stimulus. And we have yet to spend it on anything especially productive longer term - like, say, funding an infrastructure build to help bridge income gaps for some of the unemployed.

2 - So far that fiscal stimulus has helped plug a gap and has helped those most in need based on zip code analysis. This suggests the bottom 25% of earners saw their incomes fall the least and have received more of the help. That is good. But it still begs who was most likely to lose a job and stands to suffer the most longer term as a result (and I think we all know the answer).

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3 - What we are doing on the monetary policy side of the equation should end up ultimately exacerbating economic inequality over time. That is not to bash what was done but we should be questioning the level to which it is now being done. We are creating a longer term mess potentially.

4 - As a percent of GDP we've done a lot more than any other industrialized area of the world on the fiscal side. And more likely will be needed, especially if what is now happening with Covid in Florida, Texas, Arizona, etc. becomes a norm for a while (hits us in phases in different parts of the nation). I'd like to see it geared more towards something that aids economic productivity than just sending checks - infrastructure fits that prescription.
 
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

https://www.propublica.org/article/...ds-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

Our analysis of tax data for the 25 richest Americans quantifies just how unfair the system has become.

By the end of 2018, the 25 were worth $1.1 trillion.

For comparison, it would take 14.3 million ordinary American wage earners put together to equal that same amount of wealth.

The personal federal tax bill for the top 25 in 2018: $1.9 billion.

The bill for the wage earners: $143 billion.
 
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So being a "gig worker" is not a path to financial success? Who knew?

Meanwhile, McDonald's is paying $15/hour with $500 signing bonuses and can't find people to work, and our commodities supply chain is in shambles because there aren't enough truck drivers willing to drive for $5/mile, and FedEx can't get people to work weekends for $22/hour, because they can make more money sitting home waiting for those sweet, sweet government checks to roll in. Seems like the "gig worker" career path is a poor choice at the moment given those readily available alternatives.
 
So being a "gig worker" is not a path to financial success? Who knew?

Meanwhile, McDonald's is paying $15/hour with $500 signing bonuses and can't find people to work, and our commodities supply chain is in shambles because there aren't enough truck drivers willing to drive for $5/mile, and FedEx can't get people to work weekends for $22/hour, because they can make more money sitting home waiting for those sweet, sweet government checks to roll in. Seems like the "gig worker" career path is a poor choice at the moment given those readily available alternatives.

We just need more government assistance. We're so close to turning things around. I can feel it. Who can be sure how much more? Not me. I just know we need more.
 
This article kicked off the Senate Finance testimony today with IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. Just a massive breach of privacy and a major violation of the Code. Internal and external investigations kicking off immediately.

I agree the leaks of the information isn't great.

But also there are issues with the article in terms of framing the tax rate vs wealth increases since people don't pay a tax on unrealized gains in stock prices. However, there are serious loopholes that millionaires and billionaires can take to avoid taxes and draw on unrealized gains through loans and using the gain as collateral that probably needs to be taxed for the very wealthy.

The real issue though is tax laws are extremely complex and rich people are always going to have the best lawyers and accountants to get around paying. I don't think there will ever be a solution to that.
 
We just need more government assistance. We're so close to turning things around. I can feel it. Who can be sure how much more? Not me. I just know we need more.

Perfect distillation of the GOP right here. Mocks working people for needing government assistance. Not a word about billionaires not paying taxes. Bezos even took a $4000 child tax credit. jhmd and his ilk love to punish the poor and protect the wealthy.
 
Perfect distillation of the GOP right here. Mocks working people for needing government assistance. Not a word about billionaires not paying taxes. Bezos even took a $4000 child tax credit. jhmd and his ilk love to punish the poor and protect the wealthy.

We've been trying the government assistance route for 70 years. It. Is. Not. Working.
 
Also, no word from the #bootstrapcrew about this effectively forcing companies to start inching toward paying living wages (albeit probably only temporarily), which I guess they consider a bad thing anyway because they hate poors so never mind.
 
We've been trying the government assistance route for 70 years. It. Is. Not. Working.

That is not factually accurate, unless you want to suggest that since 1980, the 24 years that a republican president has been in control and the 14 years pubs have had control of both sides of congress have led to no change in the status quo.

But again, lets go with platitudes instead of solutions, if it helps you get to sleep.
 
So being a "gig worker" is not a path to financial success? Who knew?

Meanwhile, McDonald's is paying $15/hour with $500 signing bonuses and can't find people to work, and our commodities supply chain is in shambles because there aren't enough truck drivers willing to drive for $5/mile, and FedEx can't get people to work weekends for $22/hour, because they can make more money sitting home waiting for those sweet, sweet government checks to roll in. Seems like the "gig worker" career path is a poor choice at the moment given those readily available alternatives.

not sure work in fast-food, trucking or warehouse operations is a dependable path to financial success either

especially when some of these bonuses/rates are contingent on high demand - as if all gig workers changed jobs that'd solve the problem
 
Too means tested

Meanwhile the #efficient market solution hasn’t produced a real wage increase in nearly 20 years while productivity has skyrocketed. Of course if you don’t pay people enough money to live in the private sector they may seek alternative solutions. There’s no inherent right declared in the Constitution to own a McDonalds franchise being impinged on here.
 
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