....we are earning less Big Macs per hour 
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/06/daily-chart-4?fsrc=nlw|newe|6-8-2012|2061035|37020722|
OK, it seems frivolous, but in many ways the defining moment of the rise of the industrial middle-class was Henry Ford insisting on paying his workers enough that they could reasonably buy one of his cars. The quip I've heard about so many new jobs is "....now if you have a factory job, the only place you can afford to shop is WalMart.....and if you work in WalMart, the only place you can afford to shop is a charity thrift store."
Or to put it another way, when the purchasing power of most people declines, they are poorer, no matter what the actual numbers of hours worked or dollars earned or whatever are.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/06/daily-chart-4?fsrc=nlw|newe|6-8-2012|2061035|37020722|
OK, it seems frivolous, but in many ways the defining moment of the rise of the industrial middle-class was Henry Ford insisting on paying his workers enough that they could reasonably buy one of his cars. The quip I've heard about so many new jobs is "....now if you have a factory job, the only place you can afford to shop is WalMart.....and if you work in WalMart, the only place you can afford to shop is a charity thrift store."
Or to put it another way, when the purchasing power of most people declines, they are poorer, no matter what the actual numbers of hours worked or dollars earned or whatever are.
