while the better-off are, by definition, better off than the poor, they have been hit harder by layoffs, have been less able to secure wage increases that keep up with rising prices and have been more affected by the slump in profits that began to take hold last year. In other words, it is still looking like a richcession, where amid economic uncertainly, the rich feel more more of the sting. And this, in turn, is beginning to have knock-on effects, with richer Americans reining in their spending relative to others.
Layoffs are still making headlines, and they are still disproportionately affecting higher-earning workers.
Bank of America did a study of 30 states that direct deposit unemployment benefits.
A 40% increase of benefits to households that formerly were earning $125,000 and up. And California [home of much of the tech industry] was not one of the states analyzed.
A tight labor market and in-demand skills mean that many well-off workers who lose their jobs can probably find new jobs fairly quicklyâbut maybe not at the same level of pay. Meanwhile, labor demands from industries that employ lower-paid workers remain elevated, and that is helping drive wage gains.
And they did not even go to college. Life is sooo unfair!
Economists David Autor, Arindrajit Dube and Annie McGrew estimate low-wage ability to switch into higher-paying jobs has unwound one-quarter of the wage inequality between top and bottom earners that built up in the four decades before the pandemic.
So a few quarters where the unwashed had improved circumstances over their betters. I donât expect that phenomenon to last for long.
The WSJ article points out that bonuses are down [26%] too! Horrors! I bet not for CEOs though.
The Bank of America study also found that the better-off folks were spending less on their credit & debit cards.
A full-blown recession might or might not arrive. But the richcession could still place a drag on the overall economy in the meanwhile.
A short discussion about: What to Do about Cognitive Inequality?
10% of the population has an IQ of 80.
Inequality unrestrained can be dangerous to the stable social order. The losers are going to have a say one way or the other. If they donât have a stake in the social order and have a sense of purpose and dignity, they will strike out.
I really dislike the person interviewed in that video. He always sees males as threatened and threatening. He does not have his act together so no one else does according to him. His personally life must be incredibly messed up but this is the internet so he has a voice. His sort of claim is force is organization. Shameful stuff.
As far as âCognitive Inequalityâ that will never change. I did not know so many people were lower IQ. I am actually surprised by that.
My IQ is 130 to 135. I am blinded to the bottom of the ladder.
The reason IQ is rising is the introduction to systems in the cities compared to farming. The more systems a person is introduced to the better the person does. That still excludes lower IQ people. He is talking mildly retarded and worse off.
He is really repackaging ideas that have been around for decades. He is just adding as usual his take that there is a threat to society.
Seriously Denny some 40 years ago promises were made. The promises were made often year in and year out. None of the promises came true.
I do not want to silence those promises or those voices. The reason to have them shouting from the mountaintops is to actually have it my way. The complete opposite. Those prior voices were so wrong the words âReagonomicsâ or âSupply Side Economicsâ never cross anyoneâs lips any longer.
So yes scream the message and lose every battle. Because the majority outside of the boomers see it for what it is worth. The lost jobs, the financial messes, the loss of factories, the bankrupt companies, the national debt and the harm to anyone who is not of a very specific group.
So scream your message far and wide. You have never any of you needed my permission but when the lies are pointed out, when the lack of any evidence that it works is pointed out, when the 40 years of failure is pointed outâŚman up!
Not only the âIQ spectrumâ with half of all people below average intelligence and very few that are actually very bright, but also various other âtalent spectrumsâ
â artistic temperaments, skills, sensibilitiesâŚ
â interrelational skills such as kindness, empathy, prophetic insightâŚ
â and zillions more such as doggedness/courage in adversity, skill despite boredom, easy amity with animals, mechanical comprehension, idiot savantism,âŚ
all that value that lies outside of IQ underlines this crucial too often overlooked by elites fact:
Humans are necessarily primarily COMMUNAL and INTERCONNECTED by fundamental necessity, both before and underlying economics and other modes of more abstracted interaction (religion, stamp collecting,âŚ). We pull together or we pull apart to the benefit or peril of all; âwe must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all âhangâ separatelyâ [Thank you Ben Franklin and Happy and thoughtfilled 4th of July to all].
Huge complex modern cultures and world civilization as a whole still rely primarily on too often scorned talents that were and are essential on the level of the nomadic bands, such as work crews, family life, bowling leagues, and METAR.
Smartadzes like us here may pump the economy or dominate in media, etc., but Life and Love and Friendship have far deeper roots.
Bell curves being what they are, it might be better expressed as âhalf the population is average, a quarter is below average and a quarter is above average.â
