So someone turned off the spout? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/income-inequality-is-at-a_n_259516.html
Blah blah blah. The corporations are screwing over the middle-class. The poor and middle-class are worse off now than they used to be. Blah blah blah.
Huffington Post = already dismissed by the conservatives. This country is fucked regardless of who is in control. It's the natural progression of civilizations. It happened to the Greeks, the Romans, the Spanish, the British, and every other dominate society in Earth's history. Rot from within. It's the United State's turn to fall. I for one will welcome our future Chinese and Indian overlords.
I don't think the study suggests either conclusion. Most explanations for rising income disparity point to inherent flaws in the system rather than malevolent forces tricking the population. And lower segments of society don't have to be worse off for wealth distribution to be more unequal.
I don't care because you're looking at a meaningless metric. Just like you don't care that the ratio of zarhoos to thingy-majigs is going up.
Well since you are looking at a meaningful metric (SARCASM) then you might want to adjust for inflation. Oh and I mean REAL inflation not the CPI garbage that measures the cost of play stations. Also the top 10% isn't being discussed here it's the top 1% where all the growth occurred. Your good buddies at the top of the pyramid are vampiring from you TOO! The only reason things appeared to get better for the middle class and poor is because of the massive credit bubble that has now imploded. But please defend the god given right for profit before everything else. When this country is but an empty husk the top 1% will remove their proboscis and move on to country's that have wealth left to steal. Countries like China and India. Hope you enjoy your new masters, oh and they won't look like you so you might have a harder time justifying THEIR dominance then the old wrinkly white guys you identify with.
I think his point is that the percentage of the pie you receive doesn't matter as long as you're receiving more pie. Allow me to ask a theoretical question. Say Harry takes home $50,000 annually and Sally takes home $400,000 annually (i.e., after taxes). Would it be a good thing or a bad thing for Harry if a new tax law were put in place that allowed him to take home $70,000 annually after taxes if that same bill meant that Sally took home $650,000 after taxes?
Exactly. As we moved from an industrial economy to a technological economy and now to a knowledge economy, raw labor becomes less valuable. A global economy means that a job in a factory probably shouldn't pay more than a subsistence wage. The fact one used to be able to make a great living putting rivets into metal doesn't matter. In the value chain, assembly work is valued much less than it was previously.
Actually, if you use the GINI index - China is worse than the USA. India is not as bad, but it is closing on us quickly.
That tinfoil hat is making you hard to understand. My "good buddies" at the top have provided a great job, with amazing pay, benefits, career path, flexibility, freedom and a great quality of life. That "vampiring" is so rough! Again... If you want to whine and cry about income disparity, go for it. It doesn't mean much. The bottom line is that income disparity is much less important than standard of living or the disparity in standard of living.
I think the inflation argument is not a very compelling one. When I was growing up, we were lucky to have a black and white TV, while today I'd guess most homes have more than one color TV and at least half have HDTV (rather expensive in current dollars). I use TV as an example, but I think it's true of absolutely everything in the economy except for higher education and health care. I mean washing machines, computers, etc. Look around your house and you'll see all kinds of items that our parents couldn't afford a few decades ago. There was a tragic story on the news a few years ago about a young child who was hit by a stray bullet in the worst project in Chicago (Cabrini Green). The kid was playing his nintendo when it happened. Think about it - our poor have nintendo (or XBox or whatever these days). I have no grudge against anyone making more than me, top 1% making the bulk of the money, or whatever. As long as there's plenty of money leftover for the poor to have nintendo, they're not hoarding everything at everyone else's expense. Food for thought: Inflation Adjusted Gasoline Prices Year / Price 1969 / $2.06 1976 / $2.27 1981 / $3.20 1998 / $1.35 2008 / $3.22 June 2009: $2.59 The long term average inflation adjusted price of gas (1917-present) is $2.37.
I'm assuming that the "tin foil hat" is the one you are wearing. I'm not gonna even talk to someone who throws out that kind of rhetoric.
I love it! You start throwing out garbage like: And then accuse others of throwing out "rhetoric". Classic!
what part of what I said was a conspiracy theory? That is what you are insinuating when you make the tin foil hat reference. You are saying what I'm saying is wild lunacy and crazy talk. Throwing out the tin foil hat rhetoric is just a way to get people to stop thinking for themselves and shut down dialogue. I on the other hand am insinuating that you are blind to the behavior of the elite because they look like you. I'm also insinuating that your commentary is a bit naive. By your standard of "better material existence" Hitler improved Germany. Or for that matter China now is on path to be better then we are because their standard of living has risen at a faster rate. Does freedom enter into your equation at all? How about happiness? If you're playing Nintendo but you get shot in the head is that really a better existence? I'll admit I was over the top in what I said, but nothing I said was crazy talk and it all is quite accurate. The move to China has already begun by the top 1% as far as business goes so the wealth comment is pretty accurate. Can I ask how old you are? I'm real curious as to what your profession is that you think is going to remain untouched by the massive wealth transference that is taking place in this country (Depression)? When you rob another's labor (and I'm talking about retirement plans of Millions of people) and take from them their life savings when you had guaranteed that they were safe (AAA rating on junk) what exactly do you call that behavior? I call it vampirism or theft, when I see people's life savings wiped out (I hear this story all the time at my job which involves talking to lots of folks). I'm using garish terms to be sure, but I'm curious how you would describe the behavior of Goldman Sachs and Bernard Madoff? I'm glad your job is as plush as you make it sound. I hope that as the economy further degrades you don't find yourself wiped out and on the street. The people I hear that story from never thought it would happen to them, and that didn't protect them. You're commentary is pretty arrogant that since you're ok you think everything is hunky dory for everyone else. You might want to take off the blinders and see what is happening to real families across this country. Hard workers who put in 40+ hours every week until they were laid off after working at that job for 15 years. Story after story of hard working Americans who have been wiped out because of this financial mess. I have no problem with people making an honest buck and am pro-free market. The top 1% in this country on the other hand are by and large working to make things a rigged game where only they benefit. If you can't see this happening every day then I would suggest you work on some compassion and do some reading from varied news sources. Things are getting pretty bad and are bound to get worse. Income inequality of the sort we have is invariably followed by oligarchy and banana republic status. The Middle Class in this country has been getting wiped out for about 30 years now. Now that the credit bubble is bursting this is becoming obvious to those with eyes to see. So here is a fellow tin-foil hat conspiracy theorist who just happens to be the former head economist of the IMF. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice Seriously man, pay attention these are real people getting hurt out there and you think it's cool that the top 1% have massively increased their wealth? At whose expense? It looks like a hell of a lot of people to me. So please take off your tin-foil hat because it's blocking out knowledge of the real world.
