CEO to Worker Pay Ratio

How companies compensate their employees and executives matters. For the last decade, corporate profits have continually hit record levels, but aside from recent wage growth (that still has only modestly exceeded the rate of inflation, and may only be up temporarily due only to the tightened labor market), the benefits of economic growth have flowed mostly to executive suites. In other words, corporations haven’t invested in their rank-and-file workforces in a way that would create family-sustaining jobs and improve family economic security.

Executive Paywatch
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

Corporate Elite, Not Workers, Cash in on Tax Cuts

When the White House and GOP leaders passed the unpopular Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they promised the 40 percent reduction in the corporate tax rate would benefit workers via higher wages and more corporate investment. Instead, the tax law has fueled stock buybacks and incentivized offshore tax havens.

Costly Corporate Tax Cuts Benefit Few Workers
Americans for Tax Fairness, March 13, 2019

RELATED: Americans for Tax Fairness, Corporate Taxes

The Myth of Individualism and Wealth-building

For far too long, some elected officials and the corporate-funded think tanks and special interests that back them have sought to define the vast economic divide as inevitable, as in the rich work hard for what they have and if you’re poor or low-income, you simply haven’t worked hard enough. This paper delves into and debunks these pernicious myths that have helped define too many of our public policies.

Disrupting Narratives That Justify Inequality and Poverty
Institute for Policy Studies, March 12, 2019

Public Policy’s Role in Uneven Economic Opportunity

The U.S. middle class grew significantly during the 20th century in part because the nation put in place public policies (think housing policy, federally backed mortgages, the GI bill, etc.) that helped families access economic opportunity and grow wealth. But the harsh truth is that, by design, these public policies benefited white communities most and often deliberately exclude communities of color.

The Role of Family Wealth in Reinforcing Generational Divides
Institute for Policy Studies, March 4, 2019