Wall St. pigs write that "Americans are overpaid" -- and get published by the NY Times

[brentspeak]

They're not even trying to hide it anymore. The investing class is basically flaunting their power in our faces -- and laughing in our faces, too.

This article, from “independent financial commentary and analysis” website BreakingViews(dot)com, was written by equity trader Edward Hadas and merchant banker Martin O. Hutchinson, and actually published by the New York Times in their Business section -- without opportunity for reader comments:

American workers are overpaid, relative to equally productive employees elsewhere doing the same work. If the global economy is to get into balance, that gap must close.

(snip)

The big trade deficit is another sign of excessive pay for Americans. One explanation for the attractive prices of imported goods is that American workers are paid too much relative to their foreign peers.

Global wage convergence is great for the poor but tough on the overpaid. It’s possible to run the numbers to show that American manufacturing workers should take average real wage cuts of as much as 20 percent to get into global balance.

Harold Meyerson picks the article apart. It's amazing that a sane economics commentator like Meyerson gets a say in the mainstream media.

Oh, yeah: the article was also published on Fortune/CNN, but check out the crucial difference between one of the paragraphs I excerpted above from the NYTimes publication and this paragraph from the Fortune publication below (bold emphasis mine):

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/11/news/international/glob...

The big U.S. trade deficit -- cut in half but still at alarmingly high levels -- is another sign of excessive pay for Americans. One explanation for the attractive prices of imported goods is that U.S. workers are paid too much, relative to their foreign peers.

Wait a minute. Why isn't that "cut in half" clause also present in the NYTimes version? Maybe because a sharp-eyed NYTimes editor realized that it's B.S. and wanted to make sure the article wasn't inadvertently discredited by the authors' easily researched lies.

[stray cat]

1. It would prevent globalization as others do any job cheaper that an average American does

Americans need to be better educated and more competitive in a world market

[brentspeak]

4. You can be the first to voluntarily cut your salary in half

so that your beloved globalization won't be "prevented." I'm sure all the American scientists, engineers, tech people, etc. who've seen their jobs offshored would agree with you that the problem is simply a matter of becoming "better educated"

[Jim Sagle]

5. Pssst...as a five buck an hour DLC hogwash dispenser, he really can't afford a pay cut.

[JHB]

10. That's precisely what Meyerson suggested:

Still, if the fearless economists of breakingviews.com are concerned about uncompetitively high wages, why don’t they volunteer to take a pay cut themselves? How much are breakingviews.com and the Times (the latter through its content-sharing agreement) paying for opinions they could get from any historically illiterate 17-year-old in the sway of Ayn Rand?

[dschis]

54. I can speak for myself as a network guy

I get beat by overseas guys coming here. If they can't do that they just move the operations to India

[anonymous171]

11. You can't compete with starving 3rd world workers. You just can't.

The only way to stop this is through protectionism.

[Cal Carpenter]

62. Or to unite with the workers of the world

[JHB]

12. How are we supposed to get better educated with stagnant incomes...

...and college tuitions shooting through the roof?

[anonymous171]

15. Get a rich father/family. nt

[martymar64]

26. Kill the rich and take their money

All their millions won't make them bulletproof.

[anonymous171]

27. So violent! We aren't barbarians you know. Try to be more civilized.

I say we take their money and kill them if they try to resist!

[martymar64]

39. I'll buy that!

Let's bring back the guillotine!

[boppers]

21. Bypass for-pay college materials

http://ocw.mit.edu /
...is a great place to start, if you're in Tech.

[barbtries]

55. it looks like a great page

i bookmarked it, but it will get my son his piece of paper that says he's college educated?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. The front cover of time has an article on why the average American hates Wall Streeters

I don't think even an article is necessary to answer that.

[Brigid]

9. Yes, I saw that TIME cover.

Our corporate overlords just love to rub our faces in it, don't they?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

33. They certainly do. A-holes, all. nt

[depakid]

19. A smart president would marshal this sort of deal to pass his reforms

then again, a smart president would have done the same thing with the health insurance industry early on.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

34. My mom (who has a lot of horse-sense), said....

That we all keep FORGETTING that he's a black man. No one imagined a black man would have been elected. When he was, everyone was shocked. There's lots of racism, and the racists are just waiting to blame him for everything. They already do. He's too cautious in my opinion. He needs to get out there and start cutting off Republican heads. Why doesn't he? Because he's judged by a measure thousands of times harsher and more difficult than a white man would be, that's why.

[Indenturedebtor]

37. The meek shall inherit a kick in the teeth

There is no point in being president if you don't do everything in your power to be a GOOD president.

That kind of argument is an argument to not elect minority presidents... which is not what I think you meant to say, but that's how your post reads.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

42. No. My post means that as long as this nation is a racist nation

(And are you going to deny it's a racist nation? I sure hope not).

As I said, as long as this nation is racist, any FIRST person of race breaking into a *forbidden* field, is going to be careful, whether you like them to, want them to, get angry, drop your hanky in fury, or stomp your foot.

Doesn't matter what *you* personally want. Reality is reality regardless of your personal feelings about reality.

[Indenturedebtor]

44. Pfeh. History and the current electorate will look far more harshly on a president who

doesn't address our problems, regardless of color. Our problems as a nation are bigger and more important than the problems of any one minority.

I don't give a damn if Obama is from Pluto... We elected him to confront our problems head on and the appeasement of racists doesn't even enter into the equation. Else this country really wasn't ready for a minority president and I want my vote back.

[SammyWinstonJack]

56. +1.

Seriously, just how many excuses does Obama need from his loyal followers?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

57. I also want him to do whatever he has to do, but let's face it...

if even white presidents are cautious, how much more a black president. What kind of country do you think you're living in? This is a majorly racist place.

[JANdad]

59. It's not White or Black Presidents

That are cautious...it's Democratic Presidents that are cautious...

[depakid]

43. Your mum is right

Thanks so much for adding that bit.

[theoldman]

3. I have the solution to reduce wages.

Instead of getting educated and developing technology we should be manufacturing T shirts. The people in India and Africa need T shirts so we could get rich exporting these products. Oh, I forgot, we are too rich and need to become poor.

[Nikki Stone1]

6. So sweatshop laborers are now our peers.

Thank you GATT, NAFTA and the thieving classes.

This is what globalism is all about folks.

[BeFree]

7. workers: overpaid?

Bankers: underpaid?
Doctors: underpaid?
CEO: underpaid?

But the people who work hard for crumbs are overpaid? Screw that.

[jimshoes]

8. The French had a solution to this disparity in

ideas of wealth distribution. The wealthy classes did not fare too well if memory serves. Could happen again, no?

[Junkdrawer]

17. Mad did a song parody that remains in my brain...

(sung to the tune of Baby Face)

Guillotine
We've got the nicest little Guillotine
It's got an edge that's really nice and clean, sharp and keen

It never makes an error
It helps our Reign of Terror

Guillotine
Come join the mob and you can see just what we mean

It's edge is really sharp you bet
It even beats Gillette

And you won't forget our Guillotine

[placton]

13. Dint some guy name of Obama

say he would so something about GATT and NAFTA during the campaign, where we voted for him?

[corpseratemedia]

14. well then, since their wages now consist of stolen taxpayer money,

they themselves can look forward to much lower "wages" as there is nothing left to steal from increasingly homeless, penniless and jobless Americans.

What scummy useless parasitic crooks wall streeters are. They're ticks and tapeworms sucking the lifeblood out of real producers.

[LSparkle]

16. Yeah, but Goldman Sucks has to pay to retain TALENT ...

the kind of talent that caused our economy to tank.

Overpaid WORKERS? No, it's the BIG HEADS in the
executive suites who are overpaid in my book!

[Brigid]

18. Talent? What talent?

The only talent it takes to succeed in the financial industry is sharklike ruthlessness.

[Kalyke]

60. And, I'd submit that sharks aren't as ruthless. eom

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. Maybe the working class of the world needs to unite and go on strike

Let's see the multinational CEOs and global investment class make their own goods and grow their own food. I'm joking about the present ability of workers to do that. But eventually many years from now it might just come down to that, if the average worker is reduced to the same survival wages all over the planet and the middle class is destroyed.

[Brigid]

25. We'll relearn these skills if we have to.

It won't be easy, but we'll do it. The global investment class? Love the term!

[necso]

22. Pigs are smarter, more scrupulous. /nt

[EFerrari]

23. That's all right. Very soon, the five of them will only be reading each other.

And no further comment will be needed.

[boppers]

24. I took the pay cut *and* got a better job.

IT saw this happen years ago, but hey, I really didn't need the BMW lifestyle... I'm fine with a Saab lifestyle.

[bvar22]

28. Thank GOD we bailed out the failed Wall Street Bankers!

NOW we have Your Children’s Money too !!!
And there is not a fucking thing you can do about it!
Now THIS is “Bi-Partisanship” !
Better get used to it!!
Hahahahahahahahaha!


Now, the Health Insurance Industry is lining up for their Trillion Dollar Gift.
And the same people are going to give it to them.
Thank You, Democratic Party.
The Republican Party could have NEVER gotten away with this scam.

[Brigid]

36. Check out Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

They both look like they're about one inch from getting sick.

[bvar22]

50. They got their 30 pieces of silver.

*


The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

29. Didn't have the guts to allow comments on that revolting blob of oligarchical emesis ?

That is literally one of the shortest and most disgusting things I have ever seen published.

[Sebastian Doyle]

30. SOME Americans are overpaid.

The ones who work on Wall $treet, for example.

[Brigid]

35. And lobbyists . . .

and health insurance company CEOs . . . the list goes on and on -- until you start talking about folks who actually work and produce something for a living.

[varelse]

31. Have these dumb shit authors thought even for a second about who buys the fucking products?

"The big trade deficit is another sign of excessive pay for Americans. One explanation for the attractive prices of imported goods is that American workers are paid too much relative to their foreign peers. "

Another explanation would be, unemployed and underemployed people do not spend the way well paid people do.

[lib2DaBone]

32. Or how about this gem.. " Goldman Sacs CEO Explains Riches...

"Our employees are just more productive"

(snip)
CEO Lloyd Blankfein appeared at a industry conference on Tuesday and defended his company's performance, reports the Financial Times. Blankfein's words come on the heels of his recent claim that Goldman Sachs is doing "God's work."

[jimshoes]

40. Some people just need a red hot poker shoved up their

ass. Metaphorically speaking, sort of.

[Warren DeMontague]

38. "That's a very high grade of dirt you're eating there, sir"

Very fancy, indeed.

[ShamelessHussy]

41. SAVE AMERICA - OUTSOURCE YOUR C x O!

hey, what's good for the goose

[mrmpa]

45. Real equity

Real equity would be to increase the salary of those in other countries by 20% or more. Those workers should be able to achieve what we have in the US. Raise their standard, don't lower ours.

[Lyric]

46. These guys would shit a whole truckload of kittens if we stopped

buying their products because the "gap" closed and we could no longer afford to be their consumers.

Just sayin'.

[Festivito]

47. Other Americans are beset with too much wealth.

They need relief.

[mitchum]

48. The tumbrils are ready to roll for these motherfuckers

[DiverDave]

49. What morons these guys are

If I take a pay cut, I can't afford to consume.
No consumers, no capitalism.

Idiots, and I just drive a truck and see the flaw here.

[librechik]

51. we are done if we let this meme take hold. Until now we were the good guys

who want to raise everybody else's standard of living around the globe. I guess the corporatists can't have that anymore. they have to turn that around so they can feel good paying Americans a dollar a day.
(and take their housing and food out of that! Back to the good old days!)

[Blue_Tires]

52. that's been their belief for a long time

they have used it to justify their contempt against Detroit autoworkers, union trades in the construction industry, airlines, etc...

[RainDog]

53. his ass is overpaid.

send his children to china and let them work in a fucking sweat shop.

this man and others like him are THE ENEMIES of the people of the United states. He is the enemy.

[Blue_Tires]

58. kick

[LeftHander]

61. CEO's are not workers...and they MUST get millions more....nt