Amanda

Elon Musk makes more in a single day than a teacher will earn in thousands of lifetimes.

The fortunes of the five richest men in the world more than doubled between 2020 and 2024, while billions of workers who made their success possible declined in wages and living standards.

Here's what we need to understand.

It's not that there isn't enough productivity or money.

Productivity per worker has nearly doubled since the 1970s.

It's just that anyone who isn't at the top is denied access to the fruits of their own productivity.

In the 1970s, median wages tracked productivity fairly closely.

But from 1980 to today, median wages have barely budged, even though productivity rose by as much as 80%.

This means that workers create far more value than they are compensated for.

That compensation is just captured by owners and execs.

In 1970, a U.S.

worker produced $20 an hour of output and earned $19 an hour.

Okay?

You produce $20, you earn $19.

In 2024, a worker produced $50 an hour and earned $25.

Since 2019, CEO compensation has increased 50% while worker pay rose by less than 1%.

Right now, over 60% of our fellow Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

40% of us would not be able to come up with $400 for an emergency.

85 million are uninsured or underinsured, and more than 20 million households spend over half their incomes on rent and mortgages.

Over 60,000 people die every year because they can't afford to go to a doctor on time.