Are your wages up or down?

[Brian4Liberty]

This is a poll to see how our annual wages/salaries are doing against inflation and the dropping dollar. But please don't factor inflation or the value of the dollar in your answer. Only include wages, do not include other types of income like investment or interest income.

To get a consistent time-frame, lets just look at the average annual increase/decrease for the last 5 years.

Factor in amount of hours worked:

If you have to work more hours to make the same amount of money, try to factor that in.

We hear stories about "McJobs", where people are forced to take 2 jobs at a lower wage to make up for the loss of a single job. In those cases, we need to factor in how many hours we are working. If we need to work twice as many hours to make the same amount of money per year, we will call that a 50% reduction in wages.

------

p.s. Frank Luntz does media polls, and also those post-debate "focus groups" on Fox. He is a fraud and a propagandist. He has been quoted as saying that he can make polls to get any result that he wants, depending on how he words them. He also throws out Ron Paul supporters.

Penn and Teller did a video on him. They said every time you see a poll, to yell "F U Frank!":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9EWDB_zK4

[Brian4Liberty]

bump.

[me3]

What is the purpose of gathering this information? How does it relate to the grassroots?

Not trying to be confrontational, just want to know where you are coming from and where you are going.

[NinjaPirate]

I see a poll...


Fuck you, Frank!

[OptionsTrader]

Fuck you, Frank!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9EWDB_zK4

[ChrisM]

I work two part-time jobs to save up for college. One of those is minimum wage which means it will stay indexed to inflation under Ohio law.

[Brian4Liberty]

What is the purpose of gathering this information? How does it relate to the grassroots?

Not trying to be confrontational, just want to know where you are coming from and where you are going.

I am interested in terms of Ron Paul's monetary and immigration policy, and fighting the inflation tax. Like Ron says, inflation is stealing from the lower and middle-class. if your salary remains pretty much the same, you've lost 36% in terms of the US Dollar dropping the last few years.

But how is everyone really doing? We hear anecdotal stories about people not getting raises for years, taking severe pay cuts just to keep a job, or having to take a new job at a lower salary. At the same time, we get happy stats from the government about all of the new jobs created. Thus, the reason I posted this poll (yeah, not the most scientific way to do it). Sorry, I know it's just a poll...

As for media polls in general, F*** you, Frank! ;)

Heck, maybe the IRS publishes year over year wage information somewhere?

[Roxi]

i think its interesting because it shows a common link between certain supporters. with just a bit of demographic information on each participant it could be really interesting to know this info

oh and fuck you frank

[tnvoter]

Going up just enough to still be totally screwed by inflation.

THANKS taxes + federal reserve, <3 you guys

[paulitics]

About half of the participants are fresh college grads, so by that token, income should rise substantially from 5.15 an hour. Still a crappy economy.

[dsentell]

My wages are pretty stagnant -- don't keep up with inflation . . .

Ooops, F U Frank

[TheEvilDetector]

Fuck You Frank
:)

[Delaware]

I worked at McDonald's for 1 yr 2 months, in that time, i started at 6.40 ( min was 6.15) got a 10 cent raise at 6 months in (6.50 ) then minumum wage went up to (6.65) then 6 months later i got a 15 cent raise ( to 6.80)

[stalcottsmith]

I have worked at the cutting edge of Internet and Web Technology for well over a decade.

In 1997-1998 when I was in my mid-twenties, I could bill a high hourly rate or command a decent, nearly six-figure salary for my expertise in the Boston area.

Today, with much greater experience, better tools, higher productivity, and a great deal more maturity, I get about the same but I've relocated.

The difference is, I could easily buy an ounce or more of gold with a day's wages in 1998 and now I find that very, very difficult. It also seemed like I could rent a fancier place, and spend a lot more on wine, women and song. I've cut way back on all three.

I figure if the dollar crashes, other countries will start outsourcing their programming back to the US. Could it happen? Is there anything I could do to earn money in China? When that renmibi pops, I want to have some.

[TruckinMike]

The trucking rates are not keeping up with the dollar loss or fuel. 3 years ago I was bringing in the same amount per mile.

Truckinmike

[Brian4Liberty]

The trucking rates are not keeping up with the dollar loss or fuel. 3 years ago I was bringing in the same amount per mile.

Truckinmike

Damn Mike, I feel your pain! (read that in the SNL Darrel Hammond Bill Clinton voice) ;)

People in the transportation industry (trucking, taxis, etc) are really feeling the pain the last few years.

Gotta hurt that your wages and buying power have been transfered to the executives at Chevron/Exxon/Mobil/BP...

[Brian4Liberty]

I guess I should have broken the 4-15% gain into more details. We have a lot of the working people there, but there's a big difference between 4% and 15%. Oh well, you only get a maximum of 10 options with these polls...

[Brian4Liberty]

About half of the participants are fresh college grads, so by that token, income should rise substantially from 5.15 an hour. Still a crappy economy.

Yeah, that may skew the results. In today's economy, incomes tend to plateau after so many years. We may have to work until we're 80, but we'll max out on compensation when we're 30...

[CAKochenash]

why is frank getting fucked...i dont understand...


I get about a 4-5% raise every year...it is my understanding that its about 4% below the raise i cost of living so in essence, I am getting poorer every year but my boss wants me to thin otherwise...

[ConstitutionGal]

Take home pay is about the same but it simply isn't going as far as it was just 3 or 4 years ago. We used to be able to eat out a couple of nights a week and have a hundred or so to blow every couple of weeks. Now we don't have those luxuries although, we are hoping to save a ton of money by donating to Ron Paul's campaign!!

[Trassin]

Going up but not as fast as inflation.

[constituent]

i can buy much less today. i also want to buy much less today.

may our wealth never be measured in dollar bills!


oh yea,

and fuck you frank!

[CAKochenash]

ok so i seriously want to know what everyones beef with frank is...quit fucking around..

[Brian4Liberty]

ok so i seriously want to know what everyones beef with frank is...quit fucking around..

Frank Luntz does media polls, and also those post-debate "focus groups" on Fox. He is a fraud and a propagandist. He has been quoted as saying that he can make polls to get any result that he wants, depending on how he words them. He also throws out Ron Paul supporters.

Penn and Teller did a video on him. They said every time you see a poll, to yell "F U Frank!":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If9EWDB_zK4

[Brian4Liberty]

Well, out of our limited sample, this is very bad news. 62% of us are definitely losing ground. And 26% are being sent to the poorhouse!

It's what we all knew, yet the media and corporatist government continue to lie about.

Some quick results:

As compared to the falling dollar and inflation (let's give that a very rough (optimistic?) estimate of losing 15% annually) -

For those who have been in the workforce five years:

62% (56/90) of us are losing ground, and out of that 26% (23/90) are really getting screwed.

16% (14/90) of us are getting ahead.

22% (20/90) are on the border (4% gain is still losing ground, 15% gain is staying even.)

[Brian4Liberty]

Well, out of our limited sample, this is very bad news. 62% of us are definitely losing ground. And 26% are being sent to the poorhouse!


Basically, these results support Ron Paul's positions. Most Americans are losing their wages and savings due to inflation, the falling dollar, and general fiscal irresponsibility.

Also, Ron has said that in regard to immigration, he is all for legal, controlled immigration, but only if the American Economy can support it.

Clearly, our economy today can not support a massive influx of labor. Oversupply of labor results in wages that don't keep up with inflation. The corporatist government has done everything it can to increase the number of (legal and illegal) workers, and depress wages.

This is also why government "inflation" numbers look so bogus. The main component anymore is wages, and those are going down (relatively). The stats exclude all of the things that the average American has to purchase like houses, food and gasoline. So you end up with happy government statistics that Rudy or Mitt can point to as great successes, and reason to support their platforms of maintaining the status quo.

The more this becomes apparent, the more support Ron Paul will have. When Ron Paul questioned Bernanke yesterday about the falling dollar and hidden inflation tax, he gained a lot of supporters. I know of several people who were convinced by that appearance.

All in all, things are coming together for Ron Paul. I believe that his fiscal and monetary policy will be the key in upcoming months.