151.7 - Everything You Need to Know: what's wrong with the economy

Everything You Need to Know: what's wrong with the economy

Now for one of our occasional features, called Everything You Need to Know. It's where you can learn a lot about something very, very quickly.

In this case, it's understanding what's wrong with the economy in just two sentences.

1. There are something over 1 million Americans who work full-time - that is, 35 hours a week or more, year-round - at no more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

2. The entire earnings of all those people in 2012, combined, amounted to a little more than half of the bonuses paid to Wall Street workers that same year.

And that is Everything You Need to Know.

Sources:
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/14/new_report_bankers_bonuses_more_than_double_full_time_minimum_wage_workers_pay/
http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2012tbls.htm#9
http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/wall_street_bonuses_and_the_minimum_wage