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Leaders | Blue-collar bonanza


A NEW AGE OF THE WORKER WILL OVERTURN CONVENTIONAL THINKING


AROUND THE RICH WORLD, WAGE GAPS ARE SHRINKING

image: Lisa Sheehan
Nov 30th 2023
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Few ideas are more unshakable than the notion that the rich keep getting richer
while ordinary folks fall ever further behind. The belief that capitalism is
rigged to benefit the wealthy and punish the workers has shaped how millions
view the world, whom they vote for and whom they shake their fists at. It has
been a spur to political projects on both left and right, from the
interventionism of Joe Biden to the populism of Donald Trump. But is it true?

Even as the suspicion of free markets has hardened, evidence for the argument
that inequality is rising in the rich world has become flimsier. Wage gaps are
shrinking. Since 2016 real weekly earnings for those at the bottom of America’s
pay distribution have grown faster than those at the top. Since the covid-19
pandemic this wage compression has gone into overdrive; according to one
estimate, it has been enough to reverse an extraordinary 40% of the pre-tax wage
inequality that emerged during the previous 40 years. A blue-collar bonanza is
under way.

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LEADERS DECEMBER 2ND 2023

 * Putin seems to be winning the war in Ukraine—for now
 * A new age of the worker will overturn conventional thinking
 * How America should manage the next stage of the Gaza war
 * What the world must do to tame methane
 * What does Henry Kissinger’s diplomacy have to teach the world?
 * Germany is in a bizarre fiscal mess of its own making

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MORE FROM LEADERS


WHAT THE WORLD MUST DO TO TAME METHANE

The world needs a deal during COP28 to limit a nasty source of emissions


GERMANY IS IN A BIZARRE FISCAL MESS OF ITS OWN MAKING

Three steps to resolve the fiscal panic

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WHAT DOES HENRY KISSINGER’S DIPLOMACY HAVE TO TEACH THE WORLD?

A grasp of the subtle interplay between interests, values and the use of force
is still useful

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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