RAPT Institute
@raptinstitute.bsky.social
RAPT: Restoring American Prosperity and Trust
Searching for new economic/political ideas to support American Innovation and Prosperity by empowering the American People.
Searching for new economic/political ideas to support American Innovation and Prosperity by empowering the American People.
Even worse for our kids, some of those dollars sent overseas get sent back in the form of U.S. asset purchases. This hike in asset prices relative to wages just further impoverishes our youth. From 2004 - 2021
Median Wage GAGR: 2.79%
S&P 500 Level CAGR: 8.38%
Median U.S. SF Home CAGR: 3.76%
Median Wage GAGR: 2.79%
S&P 500 Level CAGR: 8.38%
Median U.S. SF Home CAGR: 3.76%
September 1, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Even worse for our kids, some of those dollars sent overseas get sent back in the form of U.S. asset purchases. This hike in asset prices relative to wages just further impoverishes our youth. From 2004 - 2021
Median Wage GAGR: 2.79%
S&P 500 Level CAGR: 8.38%
Median U.S. SF Home CAGR: 3.76%
Median Wage GAGR: 2.79%
S&P 500 Level CAGR: 8.38%
Median U.S. SF Home CAGR: 3.76%
But let’s not pretend the BRICS in the early 2000’s or Vietnam today had the internally generated capital to fund the OPEX and CAPEX needed for labor arbitrage. So businesses exported a net $1-2T in foreign direct investment a year across Rep and Dem admins.
September 1, 2025 at 7:03 PM
But let’s not pretend the BRICS in the early 2000’s or Vietnam today had the internally generated capital to fund the OPEX and CAPEX needed for labor arbitrage. So businesses exported a net $1-2T in foreign direct investment a year across Rep and Dem admins.
I agree but I think even this article does get to the core of the game:
1) CEO’s take the compensation mostly in stock.
2) the play labor arbitrage and off-shore jobs to lower OPEX
3) the freed up cash flow gets used to buy back stock further juicing EPS.
1) CEO’s take the compensation mostly in stock.
2) the play labor arbitrage and off-shore jobs to lower OPEX
3) the freed up cash flow gets used to buy back stock further juicing EPS.
September 1, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I agree but I think even this article does get to the core of the game:
1) CEO’s take the compensation mostly in stock.
2) the play labor arbitrage and off-shore jobs to lower OPEX
3) the freed up cash flow gets used to buy back stock further juicing EPS.
1) CEO’s take the compensation mostly in stock.
2) the play labor arbitrage and off-shore jobs to lower OPEX
3) the freed up cash flow gets used to buy back stock further juicing EPS.
Close but more accurately US labor by off-shoring jobs to low cost geographies. To add insult to injury not only did the off-shore jobs but also the dollars you spent on goods to fund the off-shored labor.
September 1, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Close but more accurately US labor by off-shoring jobs to low cost geographies. To add insult to injury not only did the off-shore jobs but also the dollars you spent on goods to fund the off-shored labor.
It peaked under Obama when you were on the Obama Economic Advisory board. So in a very real sense you are directly responsible for the problem you rightly complain about.
September 1, 2025 at 5:57 PM
It peaked under Obama when you were on the Obama Economic Advisory board. So in a very real sense you are directly responsible for the problem you rightly complain about.
Too bad you didn’t also issue the right policy approach to deal with it.
You think BRICS in the 2000’s and Vietnam now has internal wealth to fund the CAPEX and OPEX needed for off-shored jobs? Of course not….
Instead you and others let American companies off-shore trillions in cash.
You think BRICS in the 2000’s and Vietnam now has internal wealth to fund the CAPEX and OPEX needed for off-shored jobs? Of course not….
Instead you and others let American companies off-shore trillions in cash.
September 1, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Too bad you didn’t also issue the right policy approach to deal with it.
You think BRICS in the 2000’s and Vietnam now has internal wealth to fund the CAPEX and OPEX needed for off-shored jobs? Of course not….
Instead you and others let American companies off-shore trillions in cash.
You think BRICS in the 2000’s and Vietnam now has internal wealth to fund the CAPEX and OPEX needed for off-shored jobs? Of course not….
Instead you and others let American companies off-shore trillions in cash.
The only thing unions did was protect older workers at the expense of younger workers when jobs and capital to fund them were off-shored.
You instead need to stop the off-shoring of US capital at the rate of 1-2T trillion a year to fund labor arbitrage.
You instead need to stop the off-shoring of US capital at the rate of 1-2T trillion a year to fund labor arbitrage.
September 1, 2025 at 5:43 PM
The only thing unions did was protect older workers at the expense of younger workers when jobs and capital to fund them were off-shored.
You instead need to stop the off-shoring of US capital at the rate of 1-2T trillion a year to fund labor arbitrage.
You instead need to stop the off-shoring of US capital at the rate of 1-2T trillion a year to fund labor arbitrage.
Stocks and dividend rose substantially from 2004 - 2021 while jobs fell and incomes failed to keep up with asset prices
September 1, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Stocks and dividend rose substantially from 2004 - 2021 while jobs fell and incomes failed to keep up with asset prices
No that is wrong. Correlation does not equal causation. The wealthy increased the percentage by off/shoring US jobs to low cost geos and plowing the cash into stock buy-backs
September 1, 2025 at 5:43 PM
No that is wrong. Correlation does not equal causation. The wealthy increased the percentage by off/shoring US jobs to low cost geos and plowing the cash into stock buy-backs
If we don't make free enterprise work for all people and all ages they will start rejecting it. In the Gilded Age we flirted with this problem brought on by the robber barons. America made the correct choices then.
We must do so again.
We must do so again.
August 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
If we don't make free enterprise work for all people and all ages they will start rejecting it. In the Gilded Age we flirted with this problem brought on by the robber barons. America made the correct choices then.
We must do so again.
We must do so again.
While income as grown at a rate of 2.79%, some of those exported dollars came back to the US in the form of asset purchases which further juiced the stock market and made housing unaffordable for young people. Not a surprise many opt for authoritarian options.
August 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
While income as grown at a rate of 2.79%, some of those exported dollars came back to the US in the form of asset purchases which further juiced the stock market and made housing unaffordable for young people. Not a surprise many opt for authoritarian options.
This has resulted in dollars going to equity and not to wages. Great for Boomer exisating stocks portfolio, not so great for young kids trying to acquire wealth. When jobs are declining and wages are stagnant it is hard to accomulate wealth.
August 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
This has resulted in dollars going to equity and not to wages. Great for Boomer exisating stocks portfolio, not so great for young kids trying to acquire wealth. When jobs are declining and wages are stagnant it is hard to accomulate wealth.
Companies invested in the US and wages grew faster than the price of assets for their parents coming of age in the 60's - 90's, Today's young adults have had decades of companies off-shoring jobs and America's wealth, at a rate of 1-2T a year, stagnenting wages and killing job growth.
August 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Companies invested in the US and wages grew faster than the price of assets for their parents coming of age in the 60's - 90's, Today's young adults have had decades of companies off-shoring jobs and America's wealth, at a rate of 1-2T a year, stagnenting wages and killing job growth.
You live in Canada. I know a bit about Canadian laws. In your country when you die your estate owes taxes on your capital gains. In the United States that fact is not true. When you die all your assets receive a stepped up basis and no taxes are owed.
August 27, 2025 at 3:12 AM
You live in Canada. I know a bit about Canadian laws. In your country when you die your estate owes taxes on your capital gains. In the United States that fact is not true. When you die all your assets receive a stepped up basis and no taxes are owed.
When you sell them you pay taxes. The key to the rigged game is to have your estate sell them after death and after the stepped up basis has eliminated any tax liability. The average person doesn’t have a large enough portfolio to take loans against and also needs food and shelter.
August 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
When you sell them you pay taxes. The key to the rigged game is to have your estate sell them after death and after the stepped up basis has eliminated any tax liability. The average person doesn’t have a large enough portfolio to take loans against and also needs food and shelter.
Except very little of their comp is cash pay. Steve Jobs went so far as to take a $1 salary. Now it sounds great from a PR standpoint, it is also a great way to avoid taxes.
August 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Except very little of their comp is cash pay. Steve Jobs went so far as to take a $1 salary. Now it sounds great from a PR standpoint, it is also a great way to avoid taxes.
Thank you. I hope you keep reading my posts.
August 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Thank you. I hope you keep reading my posts.
But at least you can take solace in the fact that CEO's and the board members who pay them are doing well.
www.epi.org/publication/...
www.epi.org/publication/...
CEO Pay Continues to Rise as Typical Workers Are Paid Less
“The fact that CEOs make almost 300 times what workers make should set off alarms,” said EPI President Lawrence Mishel of EPI’s 2014 report on CEO pay. CEOs at the top 350 firms earned an average of $...
www.epi.org
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
But at least you can take solace in the fact that CEO's and the board members who pay them are doing well.
www.epi.org/publication/...
www.epi.org/publication/...
Factories are great but many other jobs that are being off-shored. Product based tariffs will do little to help stop those jobs from being lost.
www.epi.org/publication/...
www.epi.org/publication/...
Truth and consequences of offshoring: Recent studies overstate the benefits and ignore the costs to
Truth and consequences of offshoring Recent studies overstate the benefits and ignore the costs to American workers by L. Josh Bivens Over the past two years, economic observers have focused attention...
www.epi.org
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Factories are great but many other jobs that are being off-shored. Product based tariffs will do little to help stop those jobs from being lost.
www.epi.org/publication/...
www.epi.org/publication/...
And while you may think Trump is fixing it. Firms building automated factories in the US is not going to change the amount of Engineering, IT, Marketing and Finance jobs overseas.
data.census.gov/table/CBP202...
data.census.gov/table/CBP202...
Explore Census Data
data.census.gov
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
And while you may think Trump is fixing it. Firms building automated factories in the US is not going to change the amount of Engineering, IT, Marketing and Finance jobs overseas.
data.census.gov/table/CBP202...
data.census.gov/table/CBP202...
But you may smartly ask how do they pay those engineers in Singapore, India, Vietnam and Poland. These countries don't buy enough to fund those jobs so CEO's send 1-2T a year in the dollars you spend overseas to fund operational and capital expenses. These funds far outstrip the trade deficit.
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
But you may smartly ask how do they pay those engineers in Singapore, India, Vietnam and Poland. These countries don't buy enough to fund those jobs so CEO's send 1-2T a year in the dollars you spend overseas to fund operational and capital expenses. These funds far outstrip the trade deficit.