Donald Trump tells us the US economy is “absolutely booming”, the “strongest we’ve ever had” and “the greatest in the history of America”.
Well, at his Mar-a-Lago country club where the price of admission has doubled to $200,000, he is right. The economy could not be better for the top 1% and corporate America.
In 2017, the top 10 corporate executives in America saw their combined compensation skyrocket by over 60% from the year before soaring to $1.85bn.
The top 25 hedge fund managers on Wall Street made over $15.3bn in compensation in 2017, up 40% from 2016 – the highest in four years. Incredibly, this $15.3bn is nearly double what all 140,000 kindergarten teachers in America made last year.
Not surprisingly, since Trump was elected, the five richest people in America have seen their wealth go up by over $100bn and corporations have announced over $1tn in stock buybacks in 2018 alone.
Yes, under Trump, the economy is “absolutely booming” for the billionaire class and corporate America. But for working families, the economy is not doing so great. » | Bernie Sanders | Wednesday, January 16, 2019
