# Where does the Left think economic growth comes from? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975 "2017-11-28T20:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/81 "2017-12-04T15:12:35Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Wages are not “finally” going up. They have been and are still going up. According to BLS, mean hourly wages have been increasing by a cumulative 2.2% per year over the past 8 years. Over the past year, it’s 2.4%. Awesome. (Go [here](proc tabulate data=ng18 format=4.0 missing; class stabrv ro intdate sampst; table ro_stabrv_sampst all, intdate all; run;), and click on #3. I used the October column since it’s the most recent month that we’ve got data for.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/82 "2017-12-04T15:16:22Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Which has housing that can be purchased with 20% down and a $500k mortgage. Because who can’t scrape up $125,000 for a down payment? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/83 "2017-12-04T15:23:51Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > According to BLS, mean hourly wages have been increasing by a cumulative 2.2% per year over the past 8 years. > > Over the past year, it’s 2.4%. Awesome. > > (Go [here](proc tabulate data=ng18 format=4.0 missing; class stabrv ro intdate sampst; table ro_stabrv_sampst all, intdate all; run;), and click on #3. I used the October column since it’s the most recent month that we’ve got data for.) Already addressed by my citation. Try reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/84 "2017-12-04T15:25:30Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Because who can’t scrape up $125,000 for a down payment? :rolleyes: Most people, I’m not the one who called it a “cheap housing market.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/85 "2017-12-04T16:35:01Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Already addressed by my citation. Try reading it. There was no citation in the post I responded to. Hard to read that which doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/86 "2017-12-04T17:42:28Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Which has housing that can be purchased with 20% down and a $500k mortgage. Not in my neighborhood. The prefab houses go for $800K, and who has 20% of that much. But I do appreciate that $500K is a lot in most markets. My daughter lives in Indiana where houses are relatively speaking, dirt cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/87 "2017-12-04T17:56:35Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There was no citation in the post I responded to. Hard to read that which doesn’t exist. Your link seems to be to your Google search. [Here](https://ycharts.com/indicators/average_hourly_earnings) is one which might work better. It does not look like the charts are inflation adjusted, but it is not clear. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/88 "2017-12-04T19:12:30Z")
My understanding is that the Left thinks that the economy grows by giving money to the poor and middle class who have a higher marginal propensity to consume. This keeps the money moving and increases demand for goods and services allowing businesses to prosper. The problem with this is that it is demonstrably false. Countries that have more income inequality [grow faster](http://www.lisdatacenter.org/wps/liswps/631.pdf) than countries with less and countries with more income inequality have [less unemployment](http://politheor.net/the-difficult-dilemma-between-inequality-and-unemployment/) than countries with less income inequality. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/89 "2017-12-04T21:28:21Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There was no citation in the post I responded to. Hard to read that which doesn’t exist. See my previous response to you that you have chosen not to address. Therein you may also find examples of links that actually link to something. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975/90 "2017-12-04T21:29:31Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Not in my neighborhood. The prefab houses go for $800K, and who has 20% of that much. > But I do appreciate that $500K is a lot in most markets. My daughter lives in Indiana where houses are relatively speaking, dirt cheap. Not in my neighborhood either, which is why I didn’t say anything about neighborhoods. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-left-think-economic-growth-comes-from/802975.md?page=4)