Sageman's Blog

With wages increases at an all time low while productivity at an all time high, do you think that the federal government is ignoring the plight of the working man? As corporate executives’ wages and bonuses are increasing at a record high for certain industries do you think that the federal government needs to hold these companies accountable?

The theory behind corporate tax breaks are that companies take the money they receive from tax breaks and reinvest those savings into their employees as well as providing new jobs for their communities. This is not the case for most companies, in fact it’s the exact opposite. Most companies are laying off or cutting employee wages while providing bonuses (most of the time due to increases in productivity) for their executives. They are also shipping jobs overseas or outsourcing for positions. With many corporations moving their factories overseas, investing less in research and development and as a result letting our national infrastructure lag, the United States has the highest rate of poverty on any industrialized nation, and the highest level of inequality of wealth as well.

Comparing us to the rest of the industrial world, we have a declining education system, a lower life expectancy and a higher infant mortality. All of these are just the tip of the iceberg when we are also looking at a sagging economy. Experts have a few ideas as to what is causing this, low wages and a lack of health care.

The federal government has kept minimum wage down to an amount that is lower than the average wage 40 years ago at $5.85 per hour.  That means that we have lagged behind the cost of living increases by over $4.00 per hour. Also the amount of money put into taxes has lagged behind as well and failed to keep up with the cost of living increases as well.  Many experts state that to improve our economy we need an increase in minimum wage and we need to provide national health care plans to those working for small business unable to provide health care for their employees.

Do you think that federal guidelines need to be declared to protect employees and hold corporations accountable for their tax breaks.