Are we getting poorer?

A curious piece of reporting via Huffington Post says that half of all workers in the USA earn an average (mean) of only $26,354 (£17,080). That's right, 1 in 2 people's earnings are extremely modest to say the least. The shocking thing is that incomes have gone down 20% for these workers between 1967 and 2010. Quite the opposite for the 'overpaid' - watch the vid and see for yourself. The only thing I'd argue with is that the suggestion that living standards have gone down. Nope, I don't think so. Manufacturing is so automated and we are so plastics oriented now that products and things we buy are a fraction of the cost they used to be. Maybe they're less robust, but is that a bad thing? Hmm, food for thought eh?
As an aside, UK employment data reveals a continuing pay gap between genders - or rather, between women with family responsibilities and the rest.  

Low wage abuse

Believe it or not, the video below is from 1970's India at a time when labour was too abundant and very cheap (cf America as described in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath). In our modern world we have massive amounts of mechanisation and lots of people too. Where's it all leading?