You are paying for it

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by jms62

Note that 40 years ago when CEO's were paid 10x Average employee rather than 10000 times we were not in this situation.

I think you just may have stumbled onto something..

1974
Median US Household Income: $12,132
Minimum Wage: $2/hr.
Federal Poverty Threshold: $2,658 or 21% of Median Household Income
Mean Sat Scores 521 Verbal/505 Math 1026 total
Poverty Rate: 11.2%
Total Budget: $453.2 Billion
Total Welfare Spending: $40.1 Billion or 8.8% of Budget Spending

2013

Median US Household Income: $51,017
Minimum Wage: $7.25/hr.
Federal Poverty Threshold: $11,670 or 23% of Median Household Income
Mean SAT Scores 496 Verbal/514 Math 1010 total
Poverty Rate: 15%
Total Budget: $3.5 Trillion
Total Welfare Spending: 500 Billion or 14.2% of Budget Spending


When comparisons are made I concede that while Median US Household Income has had a 420% increase minimum wage has increased 362% lagging behind. By raising minimum wage to $8.40 it then has kept up equally with Median Income.

In order to make today’s poverty threshold in line with 1974 we need to lower it from $11,670 to $10,713 (21% of $51,017)

SAT Scores variation of 16 points or 1.5% is not of great concern especially when you consider math scores going up.

Pretty sure when the new poverty threshold number is lowered to $10,713 that 15% will become close to 11.2%.

While the median household income increased 420% the Total Budget has increased by 772%. This likely the root cause of our current national debt predicament. By returning the budget to numbers in line with median household income levels rising (420%) we come up with a $2.1 Trillion budget saving $1.4 Trillion a year.

Lastly when adjusting total welfare spending to be in line with the 1974 rates we reduce spending from $500 Billion to $185 Billion or 8.8% of total revised $2.1 trillion budget.

By simply returning to 1974 standards we raise minimum wage by a $1.15/hr. and save $1.4 Trillion a year changing a $680 billion deficit into a $720 billion surplus.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/total_spending_2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT_Reasoning_Test
http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/17/news...overty-income/
http://www.davemanuel.com/median-household-income.php