American workers' wages stagnant, even in a great economy: why?

[Angrboda]

I'm not overly bothered that real wages haven't improved. I have to wonder whether it's realistic to expect real wages to increase under any conditions. The balance between wages and cost may just be a fixed feature of economic reality. What I do object to, however, is the reapportionment of benefits from the public fund being diverted away from social programs and other things which benefit the greater part of society, and redistributing the savings from those cuts to the wealthy and corporations. Conservatives try to justify it with an appeal to the idea that if they prosper, the benefits will trickle down to the rest. But trickle down economics was shown to be an empty promise in the Reagan years, and the recent wave of companies using tax savings to make stock buy backs rather than making improvements that would benefit the workers simply shows this, again, to be the case. Instead, all you've done is take away resources and benefits from those who are struggling and need them, and given them to those who are not in need. The recent tax cuts are transparently regressive, and have nothing else to justify their implementation.