Image: Don't Tread on Me Platter by Francis McIlveen

Mother Jones printed another outstanding issue in July. "All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup," by By Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, shows: "After a sharp dip in 2008 and 2009, US economic output recovered nicely to near pre-recession levels—we did better than most of our fellow G-7 economies. But not so American workers: Far more people here lost their jobs, and fewer were hired back once the recovery began, than anywhere else."

Why because "job creator" rich assholes don't need more workers when the workers they have take up the slack. Americans foolishly believe that they will be rewarded for their hard work and productivity. It just ain't so.

Recovery for Rich Assholes

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that those who still have their jobs are working harder, producing more and getting paid less.

"All Work" points out: " Increasingly, US workers are also falling prey to what we'll call offloading: cutting jobs and dumping the work onto the remaining staff."

"US productivity increased twice as fast in 2009 as it had in 2008, and twice as fast again in 2010: workforce down, output up, and voilá! No wonder corporate profits are up 22 percent since 2007, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. To repeat: Up. Twenty-two. Percent."

You keep producing more for less.

Productivity has surged, but income and wages have stagnated for most Americans. If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000. (Mother Jones)

It's no coincidence that the forks in the road begin during Ronald Reagan's presidency.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: "Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours worked of all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers"

The chart above does not show the real effect of "productivity" upon compensation. It stands to reason that the more hours one works for free, the less one gets paid. Additionally the consumer price series increased at a 5.3 percent annual rate, resulting in a decline of 2.6 percent in real hourly compensation for non-farm businesses in the first quarter of 2011.

Read full article here.