Engineered Inequality

[danielpalos]

How, in a nation as wealthy as America, can the economy simply stop working for people at large, while super-serving those at the very top? Through exhaustive research and analysis, the political scientists Hacker and Pierson — whom Bill regards as the “Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson” of economics — detail important truths behind a 30-year economic assault against the middle class.

Who’s the culprit? “American politics did it– far more than we would have believed when we started this research,” Hacker explains. “What government has done and not done, and the politics that produced it, is really at the heart of the rise of an economy that has showered huge riches on the very, very, very well off.”


Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson on Engineered Inequality | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com

JFK once said about the economy....a rising tide lifts all boats

Since we sold out to supply side economics....a rising tide only lifts the yachts

yet, the right Only complains when socialism may be of some benefit to the least wealthy.

To them, socialism is anything the government does to help working Americans

maybe we also need a "labor gains" tax preference for labor at ten percent.

 

[g5000]

Over the years on this forum, I have documented many examples of how the playing field has been legislatively tilted in the favor of a select few.

"Tax the rich more" is a simpleton's answer to the very real problems which have resulted from these manipulations.

 

[Brain357]

Higher paying jobs are the currency politicians trade with. Politicians trade your jobs for campaign contributions and political favors from other countries. Sucks to be you, stop electing the assholes.

There is only the choice of one ahole or another ahole. only option to not vote for an ahole is to not vote.

 

[LogikAndReazon]

The green party !

For the people Chavistas !!!!!!! Lol

 

[blackhawk]

That's a fresh way of presenting the same old bullshit the problem is it's still bullshit.

 

[LogikAndReazon]

If only others paid their "fair share" your life would be better !

Lmfao

 

[rightwinger]

If only others paid their "fair share" your life would be better !

Lmfao

What is a fair share?

 

[LogikAndReazon]

Fair Share = That imaginary pot of gold liberals think theyre entitled to.

Workers of the world, unite ! Lol

 

[Obiwan]

If only others paid their "fair share" your life would be better !

Lmfao

What is a fair share?

What you earn, after taxes....

 

[rightwinger]

Fair Share = That imaginary pot of gold liberals think theyre entitled to.

Workers of the world, unite ! Lol

So you object to We the People collecting revenue

 

[LogikAndReazon]

Im against corrupt civil servants promising unearned rewards to their constituents in exchange for votes...

The govt, nor anyone else owes you a thing.....

Wasteful f---ing cretins......

 

[RodISHI]

Dear Sallow person. Take a moment and summarize the facts. What you have posted, and the link are nothing but descriptions of conclusions, with no factual or logical support.

The troubles of the non-educated, unskilled "working class" in this country are more a product of the global economy than any overt action taken by any politician or group of politicians. Manufactured products made by unskilled people making $25/hr are not competitive in the global marketplace because they are sold alongside the same products made elsewhere by people making a fraction of that rate. And anyone who supposes we can just close our economic borders and ignore the global marketplace is an ignorant fool.

Same for anyone who supposes that because SOMEONE ELSE is making a lot of money, it is because they exploited YOU.

The Rich is not a class of people or a fixed group of people. They are people who have been successful, as we all may be. And because they intermarry, their children are likely to be even more successful. Deal with it.

Where is unskilled labor drawing $25.00 an hour? Hell a skilled heavy equipment operator couldn't even make $15.00 dollars an hour the last time we were in Florida, Texas or any southern states we went through.
So what do you consider unskilled labor? Is that the guy that is on a bridge crew that must know how to set the steel beams. Or the concrete guy that must know how much water or how many bags of cement are required to insure the mix does not fall apart when people like you drive over that bridge. Possibly it is the dam janitor that must know how to fix a plumbing leak, not mix the chemicals improperly for they don't poison the air anyone else must breath as they are walking by. Hell even the person who runs the copy machines in those high rise offices have to have a certain amount of skill to know how to set the paper into the machines and what weight of paper that the copy machine will accept. Those people that work at the Maytag factories surely must have been unskilled labor in your mind also; even though they were hired to go train those unskilled laborers over in China to do their jobs so the people here could buy the product. Even the poor slob out their running the machines to harvest the cotton used in making the cash that floats dumbasses boats has to have certain skills.

 

[DGS49]

If The Rich make all the rules, how do you account for the fact that we have a graduated income tax? With a few noteworthy exceptions, people with high incomes not only pay proportionately more in taxes, they pay DISPROPORTIONATELY more in taxes than those with low incomes. Indeed, HALF OF ALL U.S. "TAXPAYERS" pay either zero or less than zero (EITC) in federal income taxes. It would almost seem that those at the BOTTOM are most influential in setting tax policy, because they have gamed the system to get all of the goodies that the Federal Government provides, while paying essentially NOTHING in federal income taxes.

Who could even make a "fairness" argument if we had a "flat" tax rate? Everyone pays the same percentage, thus if a person makes twice as much, they pay twice as much in tax? But it is far, far worse than that; you are essentially punished for economic success.

Morons/Progressives (sorry for the redundancy) like to point to the few bankers and whatnot who are able to pay taxes at a reduced rate due to aberrations in the tax code, but for corporate execs, rock stars, sports stars, highly-paid entertainers, and such, they are paying the full rate - which is about half one's income in Federal, state and local taxes. They don't seem to me to be gaming the system at all. They are getting screwed, and excoriated for their "advantages" at the same time.

You also hear the nonsense about Warren Buffett paying "less than" his secretary in Federal income taxes. What idiotic nonsense! He pays millions in taxes and his secretary pays a few thousand, and yet he is said to be benefitting from the system. Bull-oney!

 

[DGS49]

I grew up around the Pittsburgh steel mills, and the guys making a "good living" in those mills could expect to have a non-working wife, a home, and a new pickup truck every couple years on what they made in the mills. And retire at 50 years old with full benefits for the rest of their lives.

And those guys could be replaced in fifteen minutes with someone who would know everything they needed to know after two or three days of OJT. This is, by definition, "unskilled." Knowing how much water to put in the concrete mix? Are you kidding me?