Workers getting pay raises, Federal Reserves contemplates slamming on the breaks. Same old, same old.
It seems to me that this business almost invariably goes missing in mainstream discussions of inequality in America. Meanwhile, the most powerful economic policy institution in America has spent the past 25–30 years consistently viewing its mission as trying to prevent typical wage earners from seeing increases in pay. While hurting the interests of wage earners, this policy also manages to advance the interests of (relatively wealthy) net creditors over those of (relatively poor) net debtors. Meanwhile, during Alan Greenspan’s long tour in office, he used his informal power to try and entrench the rule that larges budget deficits were okay when caused by tax cuts for wealthy people, but even small deficits are unacceptable when caused by progressive social outlay.
Meanwhile, we’re supposed to believe that the hegemonic run of such policy just so happens to have coincided with a period of “skill-biased technologic change” that is the real source of growing inequality in America.