Tuesday, November 11, 2014
The Great Wage Slowdown, Looming Over Politics
With the recent beating that the democratic party took in the election, David Leonhardt poses a question to the party. He asks them how, as a collective party, they “plan to life stagnant middle-class incomes.” He points out that the democratic solution just isn’t very clear. Although employment growth is rising, average wage growth has shown no improvements. Leonhardt discusses and refutes many solutions to the present wage growth problem America is facing.
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I think these vague ideas the Democratic party has are very dangerous for them. How can people trust someone if they aren't completely clear about what they will do? This makes a lot of sense when looking at the loss the Democrats faced. I think a tax cut may work. I don't think I know enough to just say yes or no but it doesn't sound horrible. This will be a good chance for the lower and middle class to "catch up" to the upper class a little. I don't think they should catch all the way up but I think it will be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteIf the Democratic party could get their s*** together and make a definitive plan they would not only address the wage growth problem but also gain more support from middle class families, which can go to either party. In my opinion, the Democratic party is the party of the working class and they need to work to keep that support or they will disappear entirely. They need clear cut ideas and they will get clear cut support.
ReplyDeleteLike Taryna, I feel I don't know enough to say whether a tax cut would be definately good or bad, but from reading the article, it doesn't sound that bad. I think it would be good to give the lower and middle classes the chance to "catch up" to the upper class. At the same time, if the Democratic party wants more support for their ideas, they need to make them clear. People can't trust and follow something they don't understand or can't even see.
ReplyDeleteThough a tax cut may help to raise incomes, it also has its negative effects, as one of the primary reasons why the deficit is so large is because of repeated tax cuts. It is clear that the Democrats as well as the Republicans need to decide whether raising incomes through tax cuts is worth the cost. In my opinion, a tax cut, at least a temporary one, could be beneficial to both parties because people want to support the party that is most in tune with their own interests, and the party that decides to raise incomes will most likely get the most votes. I believe that if the Democrats want to win in 2016, they need to show the middle class that they made the right choice, and the most direct way to do that is to raise the wages of the middle class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Becky. When I think of the Democratic Party, I relate it to the middle class. I think that a tax cut is needed. As the article said, it will allow for the lower class and middle class of people to catch up with the upper class. The Democratic Party needs to clearly state their plan because they need the support of the middle class people or else they may loose their support.
ReplyDeleteI think that both parties are reinventing their strategies to gain power as a party. I however, don't think that the democrats are taking a step in the right direction. The middle class is the party's identity and by changing their allegiance or ideology we loose sight of some of the traditional methods of the democrats. I would like to see the support of all classes in the future but the Democratic party should not leave the side of the middle class.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Democratic party is supposed to be all about the middle class, I don't think a "pan to life stagnant middle class incomes" is their main focus. Their main focus has been just fixing the economy as a whole and providing jobs to help lower unemployment. That being said, I agree with the article. The Democratic party may very well start to lose some of its middle class if it doesn't start helping them out. One way of doing this, as mentioned in the article, is through tax cuts. The tax cuts will allow middle class incomes to increase, and it will help reinforce the democratic base within the middle class.
ReplyDeleteAs unclear as the Democrats are as to their economic plans, I didn't like how the article did not compare them to Republicans. It implied that Republicans had a clearer idea as to how to boost economic growth, but I wanted to see that explained in the article. Overall, Republicans have a more defined plan of action and ideology which characterizes them. Democrats are all over the place in fear of seeming too liberal or not liberal enough. They need to take a definitive stand on these issues if they have any hope of winning the 2016 presidential election.
ReplyDeleteThere are two possible explanations for why Democrats have not expressed a clear, coherent plan to improve the economy: either they don't have one, or they realize that their redistributionist policies are unpopular among voters. As the article mentions, a tax cut for the middle class would be viewed very favorably, but in theory, it would result in less government revenue to fund the Democrats' massive spending programs. Despite the widely-acknowledged detrimental effects of a minimum wage increase, the Democrats will likely continue to pursue it, since it is one of few current ideas that has some bipartisan support. A minimum wage increase would be viable if the vast majority of minimum wage earners working full time were not subsidized by programs such as welfare and food stamps, which enable businesses to hire workers for minimum wage, since so many people are willing to live on a combination of minimum wage and government benefits. However, since the people dependent on these programs comprise the Democrats' most loyal voting base, Democrats can't stop giving out the free candy if they want to continue to exist as a party.
ReplyDeleteI think Rachel has a good point. If the Democrats do not have a clear stance on issues because they want to please everybody, they aren't going to please anybody. What representatives of the party need to do is put their foot down and state what their position is on issues, especially with the economy. There's no point if voting for the Democrats if nothing is going to get done. In fact, there's no point of even having two parties, if one isn't going to be significantly different from the other.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel and Becky. I think that neither party has a solution because we really don't know what will work to fix the income or employment problems until we try them. I also think we need to stick with one plan for long enough to see its full effects before we declare that plan bad. We need coordination and compromise between the parties and a long term plan.
ReplyDeleteLeonhardt had a good point in attributing Democrats failure to have any sort of short-term economic plan to their widespread midterm losses. The stereotypical Republican line to lower taxes would benefit the middle class more tangibly and rapidly than the Democrat plan of reduced healthcare expenses and better education, both of which have significantly more vague and intangible benefits.
ReplyDeletePart of me is surprised about the stagnation of todays middle class family income. Unemployment has definitely lowered, which would seem to contribute to the middle class income growth; however, it does make sense that businesses wouldn't be offering higher wages to their workers. It is troubling to see inflation continue to rise as income remains the same. In result, this issue will without a doubt be a hot button topic in the elections of 2016.
ReplyDelete