Are the Rich Getting Richer? The Data Say Yes

www.dailyfinance.com...

As DailyFinance recently reported, a new study found that the recession's blows have fallen most heavily on lower-wage households. The study's subtitle says it all: "A Truly Great Depression Among the Nation's Low Income Workers Amidst Full Employment Among the Most Affluent."

The reasons behind this imbalance aren't hard to find. Mainstream economists have long noted that automation and offshoring have resulted in massive job losses for the less educated, while government workers and the highly educated have secured high-paying employment that's largely protected from the effects of globalization.

This is not a big surprise. We know the rich are getting richer at the expence of the workers and middle class, add to that globalization which is meant to give more power to the wealthy.

[edit on 2/22/10 by Misoir]

It's easy...

The "already rich" have the means to make a profit from the poor in these economic times...

Rich guy opens up store that caters to the poor......

Yea he is kind of helping them, but he is making bank off of them....

They stay poor.....and get by

He gets richer...

The rich get richer because they continue the behavior that made them that way in the first place.

The poor stay poor because they continue the behavior that made them that way in the first place.

Barring physical or mental catastrophe, poverty is a completely curable mental disease. Opportunities abound (in America anyway), and anyone who is willing to put forth an effort can be anything they want.

This is the natural order of capitalism unfortunately...all start out relatively even, then a few get a bit ahead...able to control a bit of land.

eventually small businesses are formed, then some turn into companys, then of those, some turn into corps, then some of those turn into mega corps...each level wipes out much of the previous levels...

surely you played the game monopoly before...eventually one person ends up with everything as the game progresses...and players get knocked out one by one.

That is also how America will go...I am just wondering who will win this game, microsoft or walmart. (btw, walmart is now getting into the business of health care...will have some stores have a health care station...nice)

What is there to do? Nothing...not a single thing...we will simply wait until it is a single corp owning the whole thing and either deal with it, or revolt and start over...but for now, we gotta simply sit back and watch the game play out and the mega corps keep diversifying into more and more market takeovers.

On the bright side, many of the billionare familys today will lose out and become just another commodity of the final winner. Personally, I hope Microsoft wins.

Originally posted by Tao Jones
The rich get richer because they continue the behavior that made them that way in the first place.

The poor stay poor because they continue the behavior that made them that way in the first place.

Barring physical or mental catastrophe, poverty is a completely curable mental disease. Opportunities abound (in America anyway), and anyone who is willing to put forth an effort can be anything they want.

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen on this BB.

That is saying a WHOLE LOT.

Absolute Fail.

reply to post by AllexxisF1


All he is saying is that if you work really hard, you can be successful. It sounds like you are too lazy and expect everything to be handed to you.

reply to post by Longtimegone


Its not quite as cut and dry as that. The factors into getting rich are myriad. To say it is as simple as that like comparing life to a video game. Even if you grind for 40 years theres no garantee you'll be rich and comfortable otherwise more people would be rich.

Theres a reason the percentage of people who are "rich" is small and it isn't because everyone else is lazy. Thats an elitist attitude that has no bearing on reality.

Ultimately it doesn't matter to me. I don't fancy being super wealthy and would rather work as little as possible for someone else so that I may pour my passion into creative endeavors. Everyone is a slave to something but money is the most demanding master.

Cheers

[edit on 22-2-2010 by thebulldog]

Originally posted by Longtimegone
reply to post by AllexxisF1

 

All he is saying is that if you work really hard, you can be successful. It sounds like you are too lazy and expect everything to be handed to you.

And are you a rich person, like really rich? Have you worked hard for your riches?

ahhh... the joys of capitalism...

U have worked hard all my life... no one ever has given me anything. I gave the army 30 years of my life, had saved my money, retired and I still work hard... own several businesses and my people that work for me are well provided for....

I seel items to the public, and i try to beat the MSRP... never cared for it... but I am always concerned about the bottom line...it is what makes it all work...

people need items and i along with millions of other small business owners provide those services or items...

The rich get a little richer if they do it honestly, but those that prrey upon the needy are the ones I go after...

It is the way of life... the world will always need hamburger flippers... some can make it work and others just do not have the will, the drive, or the smarts to make it all come together...

so what happens then is that the people who have money that have made it legally are demonized along with those that did it all with wrong intent and practice...

so many of us are damned if we do and damned if we don't...

Bottomline?

Sure, the wetbacks are cheaper. Locals only moan and whine. They deserve to stay poor. Regardless if property, food and utilities prices had shot up far beyond his/her salary to keep his/her family alive.

If the wetbacks can live like a pack of sardines, go without education, freedom or anything else, why cant Americans? Same too for foreign labour, who are happy to be slave so that those who claimed to be 'hardworking, thrifty and smart' deserve to get rich and richer.

Politically correct term for rapacious greed at the expense of his fellow humans, who may lack capital, opportunity, desire to be the top dog and thus brand them as lazy, incompetent, deserve to fail in life or die out?

Don't you just love the rich class? And their power through money to screw and mess around with other innocent human lives? The rich class do believe in one basic freedom too - freedom of choice. Only that freedom means either you work for them on their terms or you starve. 'Hobson's choice'?



[edit on 22-2-2010 by SeekerofTruth101]

Originally posted by AllexxisF1

Originally posted by Tao Jones
The rich get richer because they continue the behavior that made them that way in the first place.

The poor stay poor because they continue the behavior that made them that way in the first place.

Barring physical or mental catastrophe, poverty is a completely curable mental disease. Opportunities abound (in America anyway), and anyone who is willing to put forth an effort can be anything they want.

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen on this BB.

That is saying a WHOLE LOT.

Absolute Fail.

Man, I deserve some kind of trophy or something. The most ridiculous thing ever seen on ATS? I out-crazied reptilian overlords & Jesus returning as a dubstep producer?

GO ME!!!!!!! FTW!

I stand behind my statement 100%.

Every one of us is where we are today because of the choices we have made in our lives. People tend to continue the behavior that got them there in the first place.

Is capitalism perfect? Maybe not, but it has done more to raise people with the drive to do so out of poverty than any other system so far.

And as far as one corp winning the war and owning everything? My money is on Google.

One corporation winning the war of vertical integration wont happen. Google, Microsoft, Wall-Mart ect. have there masters just like everyone else. What we consider the "TOP of of pyramid" organizations will be played against each other to create checks and balances. In this way the status-quo will be maintained. These corporations can easily be brought to there knees by the banks.

Divide and conquer can work on any and every level. This concept WILL NEVER have power over united peoples with with strong cultural bonds. That's why the concept of liberalism is so important to the elite, it will always dissolve cultural bonds by focusing on differences instead of similarities.

Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
Bottomline?

Sure, the wetbacks are cheaper. Locals only moan and whine. They deserve to stay poor. Regardless if property, food and utilities prices had shot up far beyond his/her salary to keep his/her family alive.

If the wetbacks can live like a pack of sardines, go without education, freedom or anything else, why cant Americans? Same too for foreign labour, who are happy to be slave so that those who claimed to be 'hardworking, thrifty and smart' deserve to get rich and richer.

Politically correct term for rapacious greed at the expense of his fellow humans, who may lack capital, opportunity, desire to be the top dog and thus brand them as lazy, incompetent, deserve to fail in life or die out?

Don't you just love the rich class? And their power through money to screw and mess around with other innocent human lives? The rich class do believe in one basic freedom too - freedom of choice. Only that freedom means either you work for them on their terms or you starve. 'Hobson's choice'?



[edit on 22-2-2010 by SeekerofTruth101]

Wow, where to begin?

This is the perfect example of the victim mentality. Which union do you belong to, dude? Or are you just a hippie?

Nobody owes you anything. And yes, some people are "lazy, incompetent, deserve to fail in life or die out". That's not a capitalistic ideal. Ever heard of nature? Natural selection?

It's just not fair that wolves get to eat fresh meat, and vultures have to settle for rotting corpses. And those poor cockroaches, they're just misunderstood.

The truth is, in a complex system, you need both ends of the food chain to exist. Somebody has to wash the dishes, and really doesn't deserve $25 an hour to do it. That job is not meant for a single mother with three kids. It's meant for a high school kid who needs some extra money and to learn a strong work ethic.

Only with capitalism does that kid have the opportunity to work his way up to own the place and hire another dishwasher.