Workers in 1907 Got 22 cents per hour of labor.  They Should Now Be Getting $20.68/hr

Wow! The dollar then backed by an equivalent amount of Gold. The average Wage was only 22 cents per hour in 1907. Here is a calculation taking into account inflation and growth in our economy. 

Wages compared to 22 cents per hour in 1907 should have gone up to $20.68 in 2007 for unskilled labor. if we measure worker efficiency and a relative share of the GDP, it should be $89.74 indicating that those at the top have greatly increased their share of the GDP growth due to increasing worker efficiency.

What would have happened if Capitalism was not heavily subsidized by tax dollars? Growth would have been substantially less. So the question is, do the CEOs really deserved such high compensation? Should Wall Street and Bankers? Remember they own our Government through "contributions or more appropriately bribes" and much better access to power than the rest of us!

See http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

Jim Kawakami

May 25, 2009