Alan Greenspan's bizarre idea of how to address the income gap

[Syrinx]

Instead of somehow dealing with the incongruous CEO contracts and all their fancy golden parachutes, he wants to depress the salaries that "highly skilled" workers receive by the massive importation of such workers from third-world countries. I was under the impression that Greenspan is an intelligent man, but this makes no sense at all. The income gap, or wealth gap, or whatever you want to call it, isn't caused by fair-market wages paid to educated, upper-middle-class professionals. I think it has a lot more to do with insane compensation packages given to corporate hacks, not for their managerial skills, but for their fascistic influence inside the DC beltway, with the melding of corporate America with the government that should police them, that instead solicits their influence and cash.

Inequality of incomes is the "critical area where capitalist systems are most vulnerable," Greenspan said yesterday in Washington at a conference on maintaining the competitiveness of US capital markets convened by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. "You cannot have a system that we have unless the people who participate in it believe it is just."

Allowing more skilled workers into the country would bring down the salaries of top earners in the United States, easing tensions over the mounting wage gap, Greenspan said.

"Our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world," he said. "If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the skilled-wage level and end the concentration of income."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/03/14/greenspan_let_more_skilled_immigrants_in/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. It makes sense, in the context of the war against the middle

class and the world is flat of Tom Frienman

In other words, this is A rated neo liberal bullshit

[Nikki Stone1]

2. He's just trying to depress wages at the top of the scale now

These people are relentless

[rman]

5. top of the lower end of the scale -

"educated, upper-middle-class professionals" are not at the top of the scale; the top of the scale is easily hundred times as high as "upper-middle-class".

[Cobalt-60]

3. It's RUBBISH

At best it's the rantings of an ivory tower idiot who hasn't had to worry about covering a bill for a half century.
At worst its a cynical attempt to keep Indians pouring into our country to displace what few skilled workers we have left.
Once upon a time I was an IT specialist gathering a modest income.
After the people supporting my network were mass fired in 2001, I heard Republcons whining to import Indian IT specialists because there were no such skilled Americans..
What they meant that no skilled American would work 70 hours a week without overtime, benefits, or a decent base wage.
I called my job search off after five years.
It was too much of a drain on what now passes for my income to continue with no results.
So talk to the Hand, Friedman.
I wouldn't believe a Republicon if they said the sky was blue.

[Faux pas]

4. Oh, I see, outsourcing didn't quite finish off the country's workers.

Now we need to import workers to get rid of the rest of the working class. This guy needs his meds adjusted.

[brokensymmetry]

6. Bizarre. But it does explain some things...

clearly, this is a strategy to eliminate the American
middle class and transform us into a two-class society,
rich and poor.

But Greenspan was a power-player for a long time. He
participated in policy creation.

Maybe he's giving us insight into the real plans that
exist for our future.

[xchrom]

7. disasterous trade policies weren't enough, eh alan?

now you want a new kind of imort -- one with the idea of suppressing more peoples wages.

a wal-mart of labour.

[NJCher]

8. yeah, let's stamp out rewards for education

That's it. That'll do it.



Cher

[POAS]

9. Remember in Alan's universe

his friends also think Libby should be pardoned. It is a tiny and secluded world they live in. Unfortunatley the rest of the world has to clean up their garbage.

[malaise]

10. Greenspan is senile

Ignore him.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.

The problem is that our skilled workers have TOO MUCH MONEY.

I want whatever Greenspan is smoking.

[salin]

12. yep the huge income disparities are due to - non executive level engineers

right. :sarcasm:

[terisan]

13. We need to Pull the Plug on Lord Greenspan Meddling in our Economy. He

represents a particular class and he has been bad for our overall economic health.

Maybe we need to import top executives from European countries (Japan still seems to treat female workers poorly) to run our US-incorporated multinationals. Most of them work a lot cheaper, some aim at long-term value and growth. Their first demand to Washington might be universal single-payer healthcare.