Income Disparity in America - Shocking!

well someone saw it all coming;
www.youtube.com...

The big row, the descending status, nothing will change that now. Bank's rely on debt to make a profit, and in 1929 when the stock markets crashed. Guess what Governments saw as a positive answer .... WW3, and the stock market exchange rate (which took a dive 1929) was not returned to the 1929 level until 1954.

Europe want to Elect one European President, so many countries are now being kicked where it hurts and in time their present 'Leaders' will be replaced by someone similar to a USA State Mayor or whatever.

what else can anyone now say ????

Its on a downhill track heading for disaster

Come on you all realize Americans want to raid the wealthy in the country then re-distribute the wealth back to the impoverished so they can spend it on the things which make them look wealthy right?

You know like the woman at the grocery using WIC and food stamps talking on her cell phone and being very careful not to mess up her $75 nails. Oh or the ones who buy a huge SUV to drive 15 miles back and forth for work, while speeding up in the right lane to stand still at the light. Or maybe it's the student who went to college and ran up thousands in student loans, graduated, cannot find a job ( that pays better than $25k) and feels like they should have the outstanding debt (forgiven).

You want something in the modern world? You bust your a$$ and make it happen. Someone throws up a hurdle? You OVERCOME it. That is true American spirit. Quit whining about not enough money. It is out there if you really want to earn it. The world isn't fair okay! Anyone who told you it was lied to you! So toughen up and forge ahead.

Make a new history and not fall back into the same old crap. I agree the middle class has gone the way of TV tubes and transistor radios. It is the reality of today and as someone earlier posted until it all falls it won't change.
I will ADAPT - IMPROVISE - OVERCOME - Do my damndest to keep what is rightfully mine. I have no tolerance for laziness. I have no tolerance for lame excuses. You want something better? Get up and work towards it. Learn as you live and you will be better off.

Oh I have 2 jobs my wife has 1 my daughter works and goes to college. That is how it is under MY roof. No one gets handouts you get what you deserve!

Life is tough and the tough will make it. The weak need to just GO AWAY! Sad fact is natural selection has been virtually wiped out so we have too many around who ahem should not be here.

I would like nothing more than to see the whole world financial system crash and burn. I am a man of many skills and I will survive whatever hell comes forth as I don't rely on the SYSTEM I rely upon myself because I trust me. I won't worry about what I cannot control. I will worry about what I do control in this world. As little as it may be. Perhaps if more people did things instead of pondering or discussing things somethings might change.
The very fact someone can claim to be poor while having internet, cell phones, cable TV on a big ol flatscreen, living in a climate controlled building is a joke. Spend some time living life in the open air and make your way off the land, Oh forget it it would be too inconvenient.

Sadly we are too comfortable in the mess we call the USA. You think its bad huh? Well I got news this is all fluff and marshmallows. Just tired of Americans complaining their standard of living is falling. Well it is still better than at least 80% of the rest of the world. No it is not your Mom and Dads America but what it is and can become is up to you and I. Shall we WORK for a better life or wish it would just happen for us? I choose to WORK!

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
*Let's tax the top earners a LOT more...they don't "need" that much money.
Again, who is going to decide how much someone "needs"? I don't want the government deciding that.

Here's the problem with that. In the past 40 years or so, the upper income class in our society has been given all sorts of breaks and they effectively increased their wealth, due to a myriad of tax shelters and low tax rates, sanctioned by our government. All this time, the low and middle income paid their taxes, which was a larger percentage of their income than the wealthy. In other words, our government arranged it such that the wealth in the nation was redistributed to the already wealthy,

Now, that it's gotten entirely out of hand, as the OP beautifully illustrates, people cry and moan about redistribution of wealth to the poor, communism and socialism... Where were these same people when it was working the other way around???

No one (or very few) want the US to be a socialist or communist country. It would be nice, however, to deal with this great discrepancy that government allowed and even perpetrated in the first place.

The middle class is disappearing. If things keep going the way they are, we will have a country of nobility and serfs.

Originally posted by camaro68ss
your so ignorant of business it’s not even funny. haha, his own team of slaves. Those slaves you are referring to have a choice to work for him or not. your view of capitalism is wrong. We have not had capitalism in this country since FDR raped this country of its freedoms and over stepped the powers of government. Everything wrong today can be traced back to him.

Actually you are the ignorant one. You do not choose to work, you are coerced to work. How many people really choose their job? Most people take what they can, if they can.

As far as not having capitalism, you obvioulsy don't know what it is. Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production. The top 1% are the capitalists that actually control and manipulate politics, and use the government as their tool of control of the economy. Whoever controls the economy controls the world.

Capitalism is not free-markets, or even money. How can capitalism be free-markets when the means to produce for the market are owned, and controlled, by a minority group of extremely wealthy entities?

How do normal people compete on that level? We can't. We are at the mercy of those 'private owners', who will remove their contribution to the economy if they don't make enough profit. The machinery, means of production, go unused, the labour goes unused (unemployed). The problem is not lack of means, or lack of labour, it is the private owner.

We already have the means and labour to feed and house the world. But capitalism has to keep resources, including 'jobs', artificially scarce in order for them to make profit.

libcom.org...

Shareholders gamble and dump there money into a company to get a return. Yes they should make out on the winnings. its there money. if your "slaves" dont want to work for the wages then leave.

If you want fair wages, move to china, i hear Communism is a gas.

China is not communist, never has been...

There are no communist states today. Indeed, there have never been communist states. The former communist countries such as the Soviet Union or DDR (East Germany) were a twentieth century modification of the old Oriental despotism.

www.themontrealreview.com...

Wakey Wakey.

The USA is not alone. We are seeing yet another crash engineered by the owners of the banks who have no country.

They cast a net out (Fake cash). We work hard and we are encouraged to borrow on cars, homes. Build businesses. The lending rate is made low, why not everything is rosey.

Thats the point when the banksters pull in the net by raising the interest rate. A net full of people who previously could manage their debts now loose everything and the banksters buy up what we loose for penny's but we still have the debt.

Now you work your arses off for nothing. If the boss says jump you had better jump as high as you can because the unemployed are waiting at the gate like zombies at a brain bank.

Your lifers in a prison planet and your kids are in it too.

So you have a choice. Help the prison guards or join up with your inmates.

Forget this capitalist v communist clap trap. Its us or them. We out number them 1000,000 to 1. They know that so their next move is to cut the odds. The longer we wait the better chance they have to pull this off and the tighter our chains become.

Stop playing their game, play ours.

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
Occupy the Voting Booth

Actually I had a different idea.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by ANOK


Thank you. You have eloquently stated what I was trying to say with my post. I couldn't agree more.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
The middle class is disappearing. If things keep going the way they are, we will have a country of nobility and serfs.

edit on 11/15/2011 by Benevolent Heretic because: grammar

I completely agree with this too. The data presented shows this without a doubt. I know there is a term for what you are describing, I just can't remember it right now. Anyway, this is a sad state of affairs.

I also wanted to point out that the problem isn't just with the top 1% but I also believe with social programs that raise what SHOULD be considered the bottom 1% up. These social programs have basically brought the lower class up to the middle class, which has even further caused the inequality divide. This alienates the hard working middle class (as one poster posted an example of the teacher talking about Socialism and how he failed an entire class). If you can just get on social programs then why bother working at all?

I see that a solution (in whatever way we want to go about implementing it) would have to redistrubte some of the wealth and/or opportunity back into the middle class while at the same time abolishing many of these social programs that give free-rides to people who don't earn them.

I for one want to get back to the way it was when if you worked hard, were dedicated and determined you could secure a semi-comfortable existence for you and your family. Those days are gone, sadly.

reply to post by zeeon


I feel I have to point something out here. Those at the very bottom are there for a reason. Pressure on labour costs and a warning to the employed.

If you are standing in water and have only your mouth and nose above the water line and everytime you struggle you just stir up the water and almost drown you learn to stand still and accept all you can do is breath and try not to cause waves.

Dont blame the have nots for the action of the have everythings

reply to post by zeeon


My question: So, if I make $160K a year which places me in the "90%" ( ), I should be concerned about this and try to change it because the 90% is such a bad place to be?

reply to post by Gridrebel


To me the answer is everyone willing to work should earn at least enough each week to be £1 ahead of their costs and not £1 short.

Originally posted by colin42
reply to post by Gridrebel

 

To me the answer is everyone willing to work should earn at least enough each week to be £1 ahead of their costs and not £1 short.

They would, if they weren't supporting those UNWILLING to work!

reply to post by Gridrebel


Thats a bunch of crap and you know it. Look at the figures in the OP. 90% of us live and share out the small change of the 1%.

Time you stopped acting as an unpaid prison guard and put the blame where it really is and it is not with the poor.

Originally posted by ANOK

Originally posted by camaro68ss
your so ignorant of business it’s not even funny. haha, his own team of slaves. Those slaves you are referring to have a choice to work for him or not. your view of capitalism is wrong. We have not had capitalism in this country since FDR raped this country of its freedoms and over stepped the powers of government. Everything wrong today can be traced back to him.

Actually you are the ignorant one. You do not choose to work, you are coerced to work. How many people really choose their job? Most people take what they can, if they can.

As far as not having capitalism, you obvioulsy don't know what it is. Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production. The top 1% are the capitalists that actually control and manipulate politics, and use the government as their tool of control of the economy. Whoever controls the economy controls the world.

Capitalism is not free-markets, or even money. How can capitalism be free-markets when the means to produce for the market are owned, and controlled, by a minority group of extremely wealthy entities?

How do normal people compete on that level? We can't. We are at the mercy of those 'private owners', who will remove their contribution to the economy if they don't make enough profit. The machinery, means of production, go unused, the labour goes unused (unemployed). The problem is not lack of means, or lack of labour, it is the private owner.

We already have the means and labour to feed and house the world. But capitalism has to keep resources, including 'jobs', artificially scarce in order for them to make profit.

libcom.org...

Shareholders gamble and dump there money into a company to get a return. Yes they should make out on the winnings. its there money. if your "slaves" dont want to work for the wages then leave.

If you want fair wages, move to china, i hear Communism is a gas.

China is not communist, never has been...

There are no communist states today. Indeed, there have never been communist states. The former communist countries such as the Soviet Union or DDR (East Germany) were a twentieth century modification of the old Oriental despotism.

www.themontrealreview.com...

Actually you are the ignorant one. You do not choose to work, you are coerced to work.

I guess you should just get everything for free then huh. who needs to work for slave wages. we should all get paid $100,000 no matter what.

The top 1% are the capitalists that actually control and manipulate politics, and use the government as their tool of control of the economy.

So essentially government is again the problem. Who do you blame, the man who is paying for the vote or the man taking payment and letting his vote be bought? Government is the root problem here.

How do normal people compete on that level? We can't. We are at the mercy of those 'private owners', who will remove their contribution to the economy if they don't make enough profit.

where the heck do you make this stuff up? so if companys are not turnning a profit they are still suppose to keep their people and not cut cost? I don’t understand this statement? Companys and investors are there to make money not to keep people employed.

At the mercy of their private owners? Yes, it’s there company, they can lay everyone off if they want to. If you don’t like it find another job!

The problem is not lack of means, or lack of labour, it is the private owner.

Its not the private owners fault. Its supply and demand. If someone wants to work for 10hr they get 10hr. If they dont want that, dont sign up. you see the real problem is people like yourselfs and you sense of entitlements. just because your breathing doesn’t mean anything is owned to you. If you dont like low wages, start your own job and stop being lazy.

Your all high and mighty preaching what private owners of business should do. Its not yours and you have no rights to tell someone what to do. the terms are the terms and if you dont like it, dont work for them.

reply to post by Gridrebel


Well if you make 164k annually then you are not in the 90%, your in the top 1-10% according to the charts I posted. Thats what I'm saying about the middle class. The middle class theoritcally should be the biggest group, whereas right now if you make 164k+ annually, then you are in the top 10% of income earners per family.

If you make anything below that mark then you'd be in the bottom 90%. So to answer your question, no making 164k+ annually wouldn't be a bad place to be.

Unfortunately according to the data, only 10% of american's make that much a year. That's the point of this thread, to point out the disparity of income in America. If 164k+ annually were the middle class, then shouldn't most of us, who are working decent paying jobs 40 hours a week be making this much?

reply to post by zeeon


Uhhh, 160K is in the 90% according to your chart. But, I'll play nice. If I made $159,000.00 a year, then I should be unhappy about that?

Something people don't consider when they want to make "all that money" is, we adjust our spending level to our income. Those making 250K a year (or more) aren't living in $135,000 homes with a $200.00 a month electricity bill and a $300.00 a month car payment. Most of them are in debt up to their eyeballs and if they lost that wage income, they most likely would be poorer than you and I. It's all relative.

One of the main problems is that the very rich got rich on the backs of the same people they've thrown under the bus and now they're running out of people to throw. This won't work out well for too many for too much longer as they march their way through the former and current third world countries at the expense of everyone else. They give people hope for a good life but in reality squeeze life out of them.

They got uber-greedy and they really don't like to share and they don't care. They're in essence cutting their own necks because what they've done and are doing is getting clearer and clearer, despite their control of the media, education, and your paychecks. The people won't stand for it too much longer.

reply to post by camaro68ss

just because your breathing doesn’t mean anything is owned to you.

No one is talking about getting stuff for free. We are talking about equality. That doesn't mean we all get thousands of dollars a year for nothing, it means we work thousands of hours a year for a fair and reasonable return! Do you understand the difference?

Your all high and mighty preaching what private owners of business should do. Its not yours and you have no rights to tell someone what to do. the terms are the terms and if you dont like it, dont work for them.

You are exactly right, but no matter what business one turns to, they will still offer similar wages, and that's assuming one can even find a job elsewhere. Why do you think so many businesses outsource their work overseas and conduct business in other countries...because the work is cheaper. They minimize costs in every way they can, even by paying out slave wages and shipping work offshore. They don't care about people at all, the only thing they care about is playing the capitalistic game of greed. You say 'start your own business' but who the hell has the resources to do that when there is such an absurd amount of inequality and the competition already rules the entire gameboard! Only those who are already rich have the chance to 'gamble' with business. It's one big rigged game designed to make the rich richer and milk the working class like cattle.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


its really easy to fix the China problem. you place a trade tax on them explaining that the tax is a tax on human rights violations regarding the work places in china. All good and services coming from China most prove they are not violating basic human rights and that tax will be waved.

you start taxing these people and force them to bring there standard of living up. Once that happens you will then gain equal competition in both nations. This will entice business to start reinvesting in America, because products are being made closer to the consumer, less trasportation cost, but be warned. The price of goods will increase nationwide. You no long have cheap labor making cheap goods. catch 20-2

reply to post by camaro68ss


There is an easier fix. You make the rich and the Multi nationals pay tax in the on the profits made locally and fine them for human rights violations that they carry out in your own country under your nose.

If they outsource labour to a cheaper country then their products can no longer be sold in your country.

There's an old saying that I am sure you know. 'Charity begins at home.' so does honesty