Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Restore America’s basic bargain By Robert Reich / Salon


Monday, Nov 28, 2011 2:46 PM 18:58:22 PST

Restore America’s basic bargain

Since the Model T, our economy has only functioned well when workers can afford what their employers are selling

ford assembly line
(Credit: Wikipedia)
This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog.
For most of the last century, the basic bargain at the heart of the American economy was that employers paid their workers enough to buy what American employers were selling.
That basic bargain created a virtuous cycle of higher living standards, more jobs, and better wages.
Back in 1914, Henry Ford announced he was paying workers on his Model T assembly line $5 a day – three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. The Wall Street Journal termed his action “an economic crime.”
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Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor during the Clinton administration. He is also a blogger and the author of "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future." More Robert Reich

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