I often hear that America’s dreams are no longer achieved in most of America. Subs of those making that claim continue to advocate for more government regulations and spending to help restore the dream.
But what if America’s dreams are alive and well, and if the current government intervention is going so well than it becomes possible? In his new book, “Crushing Capitalism: How Populist Polies Threatening the American Dream,” Cato Institute economist Norbert J. Michel raises these questions. To answer them, he laid out a large amount of data that shows things are getting better for most America. Many government inventions will slow that obstacle, and more government internationals will slow it down even further. Michel makes his point with thorough research data on wages, domestic dollards and poverty, and states along the way along the way in line with issues relating to welfare benefits, minimum wages and tariffs.
This is from the Mystst Hover article “The Resilient American Dream,” on June 19, 2025, Defense Ideas.
Another excerpt:
Is real wages stagnant?
I often hear that there has been little growth in real wages over the past few decades. For example, in a 2018 book, Oren Cass, the chief economist at American Compass, said between 1975 and 2015, “the median worker wages were rare.”
Michelle points out some issues with Cass’ claims. Emphasise two. First, to adjust inflation wages to allow comparisons of real wages over time, CASS uses a Consumer Price Index (CPI), which exaggerates inflation significantly. A better, yet exaggerated, measure to be lesser, is the Personal Consumption Expense (PCE) index. Using this index, Michelle has shown that between 1975 and 2015, the actual wages are harmful to 22 people, and is matched with one Perent on Cass Computer using CPI. Second, a key element of wages is the benefits provided by employers. Between 1973 and 2019, the approximate period discussed by CASS, these non-wage benefits increased from 13% to 30% of total compensation. In short, proper measured actual wages have grown significantly since 1973.
and:
Household disadvantage
Another argument we often hear is that family disadvantages are stagnant. For example, Isabel Sohill and Eleanor Krauss, economists at the Brookings facility, said in 2018 that “American households in the middle of distribution have little increase in income over the decades of restaurants.” However, Michelle points out that between 1967 and 2015, the median real income rose from $44,895 to $57,230. The increase in pantents in that 27 is not hage, but is better than “very few.” Moreover, Michel points out two “non-conservative” issues with Sawhill/Krause data. First, they did not adjust for the size of the household that was significantly suppressed. Per capita household income increased by 64% over that period. Also, similar to Cass’ wage comparisons, Sawhill and Krause used CPI to adjust for inflation. Using PCE, Michelle concluded that between 1967 and 2015, the substantial household income per person was perplexed by 140 people. That’s a lot.
Read the whole thing.
