Income – Divided We Fail

The Elevator That Stopped Between Floors

Income inequality feels most corrosive when the old elevator of advancement still appears to exist but stops between floors for too many people.

It’s easy to think of the post-war economic boom as a golden age of nostalgia, but the mechanics of that era offer a clear…

Pay at the top and pay on the floor used to move together.

In 1979, pay at the top and pay in the middle were still moving together.

When we talk about wages, we usually talk about the number on the paycheck.

What you earn is not what you get to keep.

National averages are a statistical illusion.

For most of the 20th century, there was a simple, reliable rule in the American economy: if workers produced more, they got paid more.

The traditional economic model assumes a steady, predictable paycheck.

When you hear that "median household income" is rising, it’s easy to assume everyone is doing better.

Income tells you what someone earns.