U.S. Wages Down 23% Since 2008

www.breitbart.com...

what the article fails to mention is that this only applies to the middle and lower classes, but not the rich.

the wage gap is now where it was in the guilded age, right before labor strikes and the great depression.

there is only so much money. if your boss keeps taking it all, theres less for you, meaning you dont get a raise, or your benefits get cut. when it comes to "cost cutting jobs", yours is on the block. you are the one that gets your salary cut, or your bonus gets cut. it never effects the ceo that makes more than 100x the amount you do.

this just shows how "trickle down" is a failure. since its inception the rich have gotten richer and you have been left behind.

look at history. from 1950 till 1980, taxes on the rich were over 50%. the top 1% went from controlling 25% of income to 10%. since they had less, the middle had more. from 1980 the rich have gone from 10% control to 30%. since they have more, you have less.

to top this off, they pay less as a percentage in tax than you.

the only way to stop this is to join a union, since your politicians are bought by the rich and make the rules for the rich, tossing you scraps. some of you say that unions are not needed, that we have laws to prevent the corps from taking advantage of us. just remember, the laws created can be repealed. also, the corps will not treat you well "just because". if they did, then why do they run sweatshops in third world countries? they would do that here if they could.

let me boil it down for you.

-the corp only has so much money, so if the people at the top keep taking more, that leaves less for you.

-you, alone, cannot fight the corp.

-some of you say "start your own business". so the corp can come in and undercut your prices and drive you out of business? yep, great plan.

-"get an education!". more college grads living at home than ever. also, all those people making less? the middle class? those are the people with an "education".

-the rich get more and more tax cuts and breaks because they have bought the politicians. the politicians sell this to you, saying it will benefit you because they are "job creators", yet your wage has gone down and they havent created any jobs. the evidence proves "trickle down" is false.

btw, the people at the top should make more than the middle, but within reason. if you make 50k a year, your boss shouldnt make 100x that amount. do you know what 50% of 5 million is? more than you will make in a decade.

but if you tax the rich, they will leave or stop producing! bs. the people at the top work for no other reason than to work. they made a lifetimes worth of money in their first 5 years. they are smart enough to just sit back and live for the rest of their lives on what theyve already made if they wanted to, but they dont. why? because their reason for living is to work. take all their money and they would still work. its pathological for them. also, they didnt leave or quit when taxes were over 50% before, so why would they do it now?

just my 2 cents, actually just 1 cent, my salary was cut to save the corp money, allowing them to give my ceo a bonus of 3 million.

a reply to: stormson

the only way to stop this is to join a union, since your politicians are bought by the rich and make the rules for the rich, tossing you scraps. some of you say that unions are not needed, that we have laws to prevent the corps from taking advantage of us.

I am not sure that you can count on the union to save you.

Look what the union delivered to the coal miners:


ATS Thread

Many corporations are reporting fantastic years! Their stocks are going up and the upper echelon is VERY happy! But the thousands of workers, who are creating the products and services are either level or losing their income... and even their jobs!

And the CEOs aren't going to have a change of heart and start paying the workers more... SOMETHING or SOMEONE is going to have to MAKE them change their policies if this is going to end on a good note... Unfortunately, we have half the voters in this country voting against their own interest to prevent the precious CEO's from having to share in the profits of the business. Making corporations pay a decent minimum wage is considered heresy by some.

Unless and until that changes, there's only one way for this to end. And plutocracy is not pretty.

Sorry, didn't mean to take over your rant, but it's a SORE spot with me, too.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Unfortunately, we have half the voters in this country voting against their own interest to prevent the precious CEO's from having to share in the profits of the business.

What half are you talking about?

It strikes me funny that Bill Clinton sold out our steel industry to China, but nope not a peep out of anyone about that! Not to mention NAFTA.

The bottom line is the Federal Reserve bank and the bankers printing money out of thin air and charging anyone loaned this fake money interest. Not to mention fractional reserve banking!

Raising minimum wage is a pipe dream that will do more harm to the economy than help! It will drive up inflation and shut down a whole hell of a lot of small businesses that are struggling to survive as it is!

The whole issue of supporting multinationals and bankers isn't just limited to "the half" you refer too! How many Goldman Sachs people has Obama appointed?

The issue of the middle class shrinking can be blamed on BOTH corrupt parties sitting in the Whitehouse, and to suggest otherwise is either pointing to the fact you BELIEVE in the partisan tripe or you are purposely ignoring the wrong doings of the "half" you so diligently support.

I am all for people being able to survive without working 2 jobs! I am all for these multinationals and their CEO's paying those whom make them multi millionaires a fair wage, but this dishonest debate of pointing fingers at one party is absolutely ignorance at it's finest!

Politicians from BOTH sides owe a greater debt to the big money that bought them the elections versus us little folk who were dumb enough to vote for them!

Bottom line? The issue is much more complex than just raising the minimum wage and making the Unions wealthier than they already are so that they can finance the elections of Democrats that pretend they care about people having jobs only when it comes time for them to be elected!

a reply to: butcherguy

please dont get me wrong, i dont have a rosy view of unions either.

the unions do need to be reformed, however they are the only way you can battle the corps.

perhaps the workers should form a new union, with clear guidelines. one could be that the union boss can not make more than 1.5x the median wage of the union members. another would be to stop making stupid demands, like not being about to take out the office trash.

who knows?

i do know that as union membership has declined, so have wages for the middle class. causation, or correlation?

a reply to: stormson

When I retired at the age of 48...my monthly income went up.

Unions are not the answer. Many are good for their members, but the major ones are bad...to the core.

Stop giving everybody credit is the answer.

Living within your means and saving what you can. Buy what you need and save for your wants. That is what i did and it paid off.

As far as I'm concerned, the big Unions are the worst when it comes to corruption.

a reply to: stormson

Winner take all capitalism (i.e. colonialism/imperialism) will consume resources & people until it implodes in violent fury.

There is no mechanism of self restraint besides government and it's now owned. That train has pulled out so its a matter of when, not if.

Zombies are real. Humans programmed by memes to act against their biological self interest.

a reply to: seeker1963

you are correct that both are to blame, which is why i said politician rather than name a party.

i do take issue with the "trickle down" idea which is championed by the right. now, is the right wrong about everything? no. but in my opinion they are on this issue.

but like you said, both parties are at fault.

a reply to: TDawgRex

i agree with you about the major unions. they need to be reformed.

however, the only way to battle the corp is if you and your fellow workers form a block.

for example, the three major actors on "big bang" refused to work unless they got a huge pay raise. the actors of friends did the same thing. they formed a union amongst themselves.

back in the day, unions were called guilds, and the founders were part of them.

a reply to: stormson

Here is graph of political spending.



Source

Notice the amount Unions spend!

As you can see they are just as guilty of the big corporations!

Imagine instead of the Billions wasted to elect worthless politicians if that money went to pay the wages of working men and women?

I guess that is a great example of why politicians spend most of their time paying back favors to their big donors instead of representing the little folk who voted for them. Not to mention, they have to keep kissing up if they want donations for their re election.....

Sorry I am so bitter, but when I can see how both parties are contributing to the destruction of this country, the blame game is like the pain of an abscessed tooth, if you know what I mean.

a reply to: butcherguy

You do know what the words COINTELPRO and Astroturfing mean do you?

if you don't, it's all really quite simple: the reason unions nowadays seem to be working against their own self interest with the final result of undoing all the progress originally made by them [and returning us to the guided age] is that they were infiltrated and destroyed from within.

originally posted by: Lestranger
a reply to: butcherguy

You do know what the words COINTELPRO and Astroturfing mean do you?

if you don't, it's all really quite simple: the reason unions nowadays seem to be working against their own self interest with the final result of undoing all the progress originally made by them [and returning us to the guided age] is that they were infiltrated and destroyed from within.

That is just fine.
If they have been infiltrated and destroyed from within, why give them any support?

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Lestranger
a reply to: butcherguy

You do know what the words COINTELPRO and Astroturfing mean do you?

if you don't, it's all really quite simple: the reason unions nowadays seem to be working against their own self interest with the final result of undoing all the progress originally made by them [and returning us to the guided age] is that they were infiltrated and destroyed from within.

That is just fine.
If they have been infiltrated and destroyed from within, why give them any support?

the model needs to be gotten rid of, and replaced with something else along the lines of a mutual assistance society
but again, if you form any kind of organization you automatically get labeled, investigated and attacked by TPTB [see t-party, militias, occupy movement]
the problem of course is the system [TPTB] which needs to be completely uprooted and gotten rid of

however the destruction of current society and the state and it's replacement are already going of topic

I'll just point out that the knowledge/tech already exists that would allow individuals and communities to do without the state or the corporations regarding the providing of their own needs [3-D printing, Global Village Construction Set etc.] though I do note with a few exeptions a distressingly naive tendency to ignore the self-defense weaponry area, as THEY are not going to allow their "cattle" to just walk away from the farm without a fight.

here's a prediction: the next 2 World Wars resulting in a major decimation of Humanity
will be [not necessarily in this order]:

Humanity Vs. the MegaCorps/Banksters/TPTB

Humanity 1.x Vs humanity 2.0 [Transhumanists]

but we stray,

my point is your blaming the unions is misdirected, and you should focus on the real enemy/threat

screw the corporations, their self serving system, the governments [who in many cases are MAJOR stock and bond holders; see CAFR and here jonrappoport.wordpress.com... %A6/] hoist the Jolly Roger and print away

a reply to: Lestranger
Even if there was no infiltration by TPTB, the unions would be operated by thugs, mafioso and the like out for their own personal gain... just like they were in the middle of the 20th Century.

The wages have gone down by 20% + as the prices of real estate etc etc have gone up by 20-30 percent in that time so it is a 50 % fall in real terms in that time .

I live in the U.K and it is just the same foreign labor has come in and kept wages at 1999 levels real estate has risen 5x petrol/gas is the same 5 x rise as is electricity and heating and all have to be paid on roughly the same wages as we had in 2000 ?

something has to give the rich are getting richer and unions do not help here they have been bought out
lucky i am a old man and not a youngster just starting out in this world

a reply to: stormson

No, it's not. You need to take the actual legal power out of the system that is corrupting it. Puncture that big government bubble and deflate it, and big business, big union and other special interests who buy into the system to have a piece of the pie can no longer get the advantage from it that they used to. Their reason for controlling the system is no longer as great so they look for other ways to exert influence.

From what I understand we haven't had such economic and class inequality for a long time. The rate that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has definitely gone up. Most families will tell you that currently it isn't just that costs are going up (as they usually do), it's that wages are either going down or becoming stagnant. I understand the economy cycles through times of surplus and times of deficit but hasn't the deficit gone on for too long? Not many structures as bloated and branched out as the current world governments have lasted for a long time.

I remember an article from a few months ago written by a wealthy person. The man stated that the rich should look beyond their gated-in bubble worlds, because the lifestyle won't last much longer.

a reply to: TDawgRex

All I can say is, my husband and about 10 of his friends retired from union jobs. They paid into a retirement trust fund for over 40yrs. I guess you guys don't want the laborer to have any options. Just toil, then die.

Most of the "new jobs" are low paying jobs. So unemployment has gone down, but people are making a lot less.