Data & Analysis
The Tools.
The numbers behind the analysis. Interactive and sourced. Every dataset from primary government and academic sources.
CEO compensation vs typical worker pay, 1965 to 2023. In 1965 the average CEO made 21 times what their median worker made. By 2000 the ratio hit 376 to 1. Today it's 290 to 1. Worker compensation, indexed to 1965, has barely moved.
1965
21:1
CEO to worker pay ratio
2000 Peak
376:1
All-time high ratio
2023
290:1
Current ratio
Both wages and corporate profits indexed to 1979 = 100. Worker wages have risen roughly 18 points over 44 years. Corporate profits have risen more than 320 points over the same period. The productivity gains didn't disappear. They went somewhere.
Wage Growth 1979-2023
+18%
Real worker compensation
Profit Growth 1979-2023
+321%
Corporate profit growth
The Gap
17x
Corporate profits grew 17x faster than wages
Sources: BLS Current Employment Statistics | Federal Reserve FRED
Nominal hourly wages have risen steadily since 1970. Real wages, adjusted for inflation, tell a different story. The blue line shows what the nominal wage says you earn. The orange line shows what it actually buys. The gap is the hidden tax of inflation on a workforce whose wages haven't kept pace.
1970 Nominal Wage
$3.40/hr
What the check said
2023 Nominal Wage
$28.18/hr
829% nominal increase
Real Buying Power Change
+45%
Over 53 years of work
Sources: BLS Consumer Price Index | EPI State of Working America
In early 2026, $0.6 billion and $0.95 billion in oil futures were traded minutes to hours before government announcements that moved those markets significantly. No public information existed to justify either position. Both positions were immediately profitable. You didn't have access to that information. Neither did anyone reading this. That is not a free market.
This is not a partisan issue. A market where insiders trade on government decisions before the public receives them is not capitalism.
Volume shown as index relative to normal baseline (100). Orange bar represents documented anomalous trading position. Blue bar represents time of government announcement. Source: Reuters, Senate Banking Committee letter to CFTC (April 2026).
March 23, 2026
$0.6B
$580M in oil futures placed 15 min before Trump paused Iran strikes. Oil fell immediately.
April 7, 2026
$0.95B
$950M bet on falling oil prices placed hours before ceasefire. Oil dropped 15%.
Your Access
None
No public information existed at the time of either trade to justify its size or direction.
Sources: Senate Banking Committee | Reuters | CNBC | Bloomberg
Strip the politics out and immigration becomes an accounting problem. Immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, contribute more to the US economy than they cost. They pay into programs they cannot collect from. The math isn't ambiguous. Three views below.
Deportation isn't an economic policy. It's a $900 billion expenditure that removes $2.1 trillion in annual productive output and collapses the funding base of Social Security. The math doesn't support it regardless of your politics.
Immigrants are 14.3% of the US population but generate 18% of GDP as of 2023. The gap between the two lines is how much more the immigrant workforce produces than its population share would predict.
The Overperformance
$500B / Year
Immigrants generate $2.1 trillion in annual economic output. At their population share alone, that number should be $1.6 trillion. The extra half trillion means immigrants work.
Sources: EPI | American Immigration Council
GDP Contribution
18%
Immigrants generate 18% of US GDP while representing 14.3% of the population.
Tax vs Benefits Ratio
17:1
Undocumented immigrants paid $32B in federal taxes in 2022 and received less than $2B in benefits.
Deficit Reduction
$14.5T
Immigrants reduced US deficits by $14.5 trillion over 30 years. Source: Cato Institute, 2026.
Sources: EPI | ITEP | Cato Institute | CBO | Peterson Institute
Tools built on primary sources. Free from bias. Don't be mad at the math.