It seems the media is doing its job in successfully kneecapping Biden to keep the horse race going for ratings, like they did for Trump.
We've seen plenty of pieces on the higher price of milk and gas et al, but none on the child tax credit and how its helping families and lifting kids out of poverty, or the massive job creation and low …
It seems the media is doing its job in successfully kneecapping Biden to keep the horse race going for ratings, like they did for Trump.
We've seen plenty of pieces on the higher price of milk and gas et al, but none on the child tax credit and how its helping families and lifting kids out of poverty, or the massive job creation and low unemployment, or the millions of lives saved by Biden's successful vaccine rollout, or the incredible positive impact the infrastructure bill is already having nationwide, or Biden's influx of millions to help families pay for heating, or how he just raised the minimum wage to $15 for federal workers.
Mostly, we've been treated to numerous, relentless hit pieces on Afghanistan, the constant pounding of inflation (which, if the media was honest, is to be expected in a pandemic), and interminable droning on his lousy poll numbers, created in large part by the media. It's all negative, all the time. It's truly frustrating and sad.
The media tends to kneecap anyone who is in power. They see it as kind of a righteous goal but it is also a natural outcome of the type of reporting that is done and the fact that it is profit driven.
There is more profit in horse race coverage and bitching about how things are, than in actually dealing with issues or complexity or in complaining about people who are not in power.
Here is a link to a federal Office Personnel Management's report on federal salaries. As of 2017, average federal employee salary is $85,284. 25% of the federal workforce makes greater than $105,839. It doesn't look like any of those federal workers are close to $15 an hour which is roughly $30,000 a year. If Biden's order just applied to federal workers, I'd say it was just for PR purposes with no actual effect on pay.
Talking about average wage is kind of meaningless. Here is an example of why. I will use military pay and ranks because it is fairly clear and readily public info.
Average monthly pay in the US military is about $9,400 (mathematical average of the high and low pay).
There are about 43 people making the highest wage (4 star generals). There are over 95,000 people at or near the bottom of the scale.
NO enlisted man makes the average wage (not really a surprise). You have to get to Warrant 5 or O-5 (Lt Col) to make that or slightly better.
Just as a FYI, median wage is a better measure as the median wage is the wage that 50% of the people make more than and 50% of the people make less than.
There are a number of federal workers who make the federal minimum wage.
Per CNN: "Most of the federal employees paid below $15 hourly are currently employed by the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and Veterans Affairs. Federal workers in a variety of roles across the country will benefit from this new minimum wage policy, including about 130 wildland firefighters, 400 plant protection technicians, 3,800 custodial workers and roughly 50,000 Defense Department employees at military bases around the US, among others." That's a pretty significant number.
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15.00 is a first step in raising it for all.
The average federal worker was making $85,000 a year before benefits several years ago, with 1/5 of the work force making six figures. I highly doubt there were any federal workers making below $15 an hour. Maybe state and local government workers, but certainly not federal. Possibly you're referring to federal government contractors? There might be some very low level workers at those companies making below $15 an hour, but they'd be few and far between if anyt.
I'd like to tout Biden's successes, but there is no ignoring that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was completely bungled. And the cause of inflation is not directly because of the pandemic, but the dramatic increase in money supply needed to pay for pandemic relief handed out by government.
Again, I'd much rather have Biden than Trump in office during these difficult times, but we can't be blind to how Biden has failed. Because that's the only way he's going to get better so we can avoid Trump 2.0.
Inflation is caused by higher wages and low unemployment.
20 years of war in Afghanistan was enough. Trillions of dollars spent on training and arming their soldiers who dropped their weapons at the first sign of trouble. It was time to pull the band aid off.
I'm afraid economists would not agree with you. An increase in the price of one thing means lower prices in other things. Basic macroeconomic. You have to have an increase in the money supply to have inflation. The problem is the money supply has increased dramatically the past 2 years. Most of that is bbecause of bonds floated by the feds to pay for covid relief that was otherwise not funded. That's not a bad cause but it made inflation inevitable.
I am wondering what American political party would not have bungled the Afghanistan withdrawal and I am drawing a blank. trying to think of an American withdrawal from something over the last several decades that was painted as (or was) a success by the demanding standards of punditry and the uninformed American population.
Inflation arises from a variety of sources. As Scott points out in his response inflation results in a disparity between supply and demand. This disparity can arise a variety of ways.
The inflation we are experiencing IS an artifact of the pandemic--even if it solely due to money disbursed by the USG for PANDEMIC relief (which it isn't, as the inflation is a widespread phenomenon)... because the money would not have been disbursed otherwise.
In reality, demand patterns shifted substantially and supply was negatively affected because:
1) People were not expecting the shift in pattern or its size; and
2) Manufacturing and the supply chain are a mess because of the pandemic, making responding to the shift more difficult.
Krugman over at the times has explained some of this quite well, using FED data.
There are lots of places in the "federal government" where people make (near) minimum wage - like part-time workers at federal parks, janitorial services at the VA...those people are definitely not making $85k/year.
Inflation is largely due to a lack of supply, not just because people want to pay more (more money in their pockets). Look at just about any industry and you will see that the manufacturers/suppliers can't keep with demand - which is about at pre-pandemic levels. Simple supply not meeting demand.
It seems the media is doing its job in successfully kneecapping Biden to keep the horse race going for ratings, like they did for Trump.
We've seen plenty of pieces on the higher price of milk and gas et al, but none on the child tax credit and how its helping families and lifting kids out of poverty, or the massive job creation and low unemployment, or the millions of lives saved by Biden's successful vaccine rollout, or the incredible positive impact the infrastructure bill is already having nationwide, or Biden's influx of millions to help families pay for heating, or how he just raised the minimum wage to $15 for federal workers.
Mostly, we've been treated to numerous, relentless hit pieces on Afghanistan, the constant pounding of inflation (which, if the media was honest, is to be expected in a pandemic), and interminable droning on his lousy poll numbers, created in large part by the media. It's all negative, all the time. It's truly frustrating and sad.
The media tends to kneecap anyone who is in power. They see it as kind of a righteous goal but it is also a natural outcome of the type of reporting that is done and the fact that it is profit driven.
There is more profit in horse race coverage and bitching about how things are, than in actually dealing with issues or complexity or in complaining about people who are not in power.
Here is a link to a federal Office Personnel Management's report on federal salaries. As of 2017, average federal employee salary is $85,284. 25% of the federal workforce makes greater than $105,839. It doesn't look like any of those federal workers are close to $15 an hour which is roughly $30,000 a year. If Biden's order just applied to federal workers, I'd say it was just for PR purposes with no actual effect on pay.
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/reports-publications/salary-information-for-the-executive-branch.pdf
Talking about average wage is kind of meaningless. Here is an example of why. I will use military pay and ranks because it is fairly clear and readily public info.
Average monthly pay in the US military is about $9,400 (mathematical average of the high and low pay).
There are about 43 people making the highest wage (4 star generals). There are over 95,000 people at or near the bottom of the scale.
NO enlisted man makes the average wage (not really a surprise). You have to get to Warrant 5 or O-5 (Lt Col) to make that or slightly better.
Just as a FYI, median wage is a better measure as the median wage is the wage that 50% of the people make more than and 50% of the people make less than.
There are a number of federal workers who make the federal minimum wage.
Per CNN: "Most of the federal employees paid below $15 hourly are currently employed by the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and Veterans Affairs. Federal workers in a variety of roles across the country will benefit from this new minimum wage policy, including about 130 wildland firefighters, 400 plant protection technicians, 3,800 custodial workers and roughly 50,000 Defense Department employees at military bases around the US, among others." That's a pretty significant number.
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15.00 is a first step in raising it for all.
Isn't the child tax credit ending?
The average federal worker was making $85,000 a year before benefits several years ago, with 1/5 of the work force making six figures. I highly doubt there were any federal workers making below $15 an hour. Maybe state and local government workers, but certainly not federal. Possibly you're referring to federal government contractors? There might be some very low level workers at those companies making below $15 an hour, but they'd be few and far between if anyt.
I'd like to tout Biden's successes, but there is no ignoring that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was completely bungled. And the cause of inflation is not directly because of the pandemic, but the dramatic increase in money supply needed to pay for pandemic relief handed out by government.
Again, I'd much rather have Biden than Trump in office during these difficult times, but we can't be blind to how Biden has failed. Because that's the only way he's going to get better so we can avoid Trump 2.0.
Inflation is caused by higher wages and low unemployment.
20 years of war in Afghanistan was enough. Trillions of dollars spent on training and arming their soldiers who dropped their weapons at the first sign of trouble. It was time to pull the band aid off.
I'm afraid economists would not agree with you. An increase in the price of one thing means lower prices in other things. Basic macroeconomic. You have to have an increase in the money supply to have inflation. The problem is the money supply has increased dramatically the past 2 years. Most of that is bbecause of bonds floated by the feds to pay for covid relief that was otherwise not funded. That's not a bad cause but it made inflation inevitable.
Money supply is only one factor in inflation.
I am wondering what American political party would not have bungled the Afghanistan withdrawal and I am drawing a blank. trying to think of an American withdrawal from something over the last several decades that was painted as (or was) a success by the demanding standards of punditry and the uninformed American population.
Inflation arises from a variety of sources. As Scott points out in his response inflation results in a disparity between supply and demand. This disparity can arise a variety of ways.
The inflation we are experiencing IS an artifact of the pandemic--even if it solely due to money disbursed by the USG for PANDEMIC relief (which it isn't, as the inflation is a widespread phenomenon)... because the money would not have been disbursed otherwise.
In reality, demand patterns shifted substantially and supply was negatively affected because:
1) People were not expecting the shift in pattern or its size; and
2) Manufacturing and the supply chain are a mess because of the pandemic, making responding to the shift more difficult.
Krugman over at the times has explained some of this quite well, using FED data.
There are lots of places in the "federal government" where people make (near) minimum wage - like part-time workers at federal parks, janitorial services at the VA...those people are definitely not making $85k/year.
Inflation is largely due to a lack of supply, not just because people want to pay more (more money in their pockets). Look at just about any industry and you will see that the manufacturers/suppliers can't keep with demand - which is about at pre-pandemic levels. Simple supply not meeting demand.
There is that too.
Agree. We faced a crisis - got through it but the pundits keep asking why is the sky falling.