Inequality

Due to the pandemic we have millions of unemployed and thousands waiting in food lines. Yet billionaire wealth has increased during this time. This chart from Statisca.com shows the increases of some of the wealthiest:

Image Source: www.statista.com/chart/22068/change-in-wealth-of-billionaires-during-pandemic

This is an often-cited graph that illustrated the rising gap between productivity and worker pay. Up until about 1980, compensation rose steadily with prodcutivity. This changed beginning in 1979 with the continuing increase in productivity but a leveling off of hourly compensation.

Image Source: https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

But what would the minimum wage be if it were tied to the increase in productivity?

The problem is that federal law sets the minimum wage in nominal dollars; it doesn’t automatically increase with inflation, productivity, or anything else. In more recent decades, Congress has badly slacked off about raising it, and today’s minimum wage is actually lower than 1968’s once you adjust for inflation. In fact, if Congress had kept step with productivity growth, the minimum wage would’ve been $18.42 in 2014. And that’s according to a conservative measure of productivity growth. By other productivity measures, the minimum wage should be $22.49 by 2024.

https://theweek.com/articles/854375/there-economic-case-20-minimum-wage

Data Source: Washington Post: June 4, 2020

Image Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EajtUXZXQAgwsX2.jpg

From the Institute for Policy Studies: https://ips-dc.org/billionaire-bonanza-2020/

The wealth of America’s billionaires increased 10.6 percent between the Forbes global billionaires lists released in 2017, when Trump was inaugurated, and 2020. That number may be rising even more sharply now.

On April 10, 2020, Forbes’ daily tally showed both an increase in the number of billionaires and a surge in billionaire net worth. Billionaire wealth increased by 9.5 percent in just 23 days during the COVID-19 crisis.