As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, the global data we collect and analyze shows that the country is failing to “promote the general Welfare,” as the Constitution’s framers promised a little more than a decade later.
We are scholars of human rights. Alongside the Human Rights Measurement Initiative, a nonprofit that tracks how well more than 200 countries and territories are meeting the human rights commitments their governments have made, we annually update scores measuring whether people can actually get the basics of a decent life, such as healthcare, adequate food and a quality education.
The latest data our team has amassed shows that the U.S. is falling short compared with what it could achieve, given its US$32 trillion economy. This is not a one-year blip – the U.S. has been underperforming for the past 25 years.
Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://fortune.com/2026/07/13/us-worst-oecd-fair-pay-score/?utm_source=reddit/
https://fortune.com/2026/07/13/us-worst-oecd-fair-pay-score/?utm_source=reddit/
Posted by fortune
6 Comments
Taxes and tariffs fund the machine to control puppet government resources, trade routes and deter competitors. The problem is the military industrial complex is funded by the working class. When billionaires don’t pay taxes, what they are really saying is they don’t want to pay for the machine that makes them rich.
Taxes and tariffs fund the machine to control puppet government resources, trade routes and deter competitors. The problem is the military industrial complex is funded by the working class.
When billionaires don’t pay taxes, what they are really saying is they don’t want to pay for the machine that allows them to do business and get rich. When they don’t want to pay decent salaries for the US’s cost of living they are saying that maintaining their exorbitant lifestyles is more important than the needs of their employees.
Yet for the same role across Europe pays even less than it does in America?
As long as Americans line up to accept such low pay, why raise it?
The wages-vs-productivity gap has been widening for 40 years. AI accelerates it — productivity gains flow to capital owners, displacement costs land on the workers being replaced.
>This is not a one-year blip – the U.S. has been underperforming for the past 25 years.
So roughly the period when the frozen minimum wage was starting to bite as it lagged cost of living increases.