Consistency in Advocacy Needed

Yesterday, I attended a local association presidents' meeting where I listened to a presentation from John Burbank of the Economic Opportunity Institute.  His review of economic trends highlighted the seminal shift in basic fairness after Reagan became president.  The four decades before the 1980s saw a direct relationship between the increase in workers' productivity and the increase in their wages.  In other words, as workers produced more or more efficiently, they were paid better.  That relationship was broken in the 1980s and since then wages have remained flat while productivity has soared.  The resulting wealth which should have gone to the workers--as it had for 40 years--instead has been transferred to the wealthy.  Burbank recommended an income tax for the state of Washington, decrying our over-reliance on the sales tax.  He said that just because we lost the 1098 state income tax initiative fight didn't mean that we--the WEA--should give up.  Burbank felt we should take a page from the Eyman playbook in that when Eyman loses, he comes back again.  He doesn't give up.  

WEA gives up.

Economic Opportunity Institute

Average Income By Group 1917-2010