Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall

Indigo_Girl

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Aug 22, 2009
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Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall

By DAVID LEONHARDT and GERALDINE FABRIKANT
Published: August 20, 2009
NY Times



The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent.


They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent news about resurgent Wall Street pay has seemed to suggest that not even the Great Recession could reverse the rise in income inequality.


But economists say — and data is beginning to show — that a significant change may in fact be under way. The rich, as a group, are no longer getting richer. Over the last two years, they have become poorer. And many may not return to their old levels of wealth and income anytime soon.


For every investment banker whose pay has recovered to its prerecession levels, there are several who have lost their jobs — as well as many wealthy investors who have lost millions. As a result, economists and other analysts say, a 30-year period in which the super-rich became both wealthier and more numerous may now be ending.


The relative struggles of the rich may elicit little sympathy from less well-off families who are dealing with the effects of the worst recession in a generation. But the change does raise several broader economic questions. Among them is whether harder times for the rich will ultimately benefit the middle class and the poor, given that the huge recent increase in top incomes coincided with slow income growth for almost every other group.
In blunter terms, the question is whether the better metaphor for the economy is a rising tide that can lift all boats — or a zero-sum game.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/business/economy/21inequality.html

Edited for copyright policy - KK
 
coldfusion:

...with all the Swiss Banks, and offshore banks giving up their secrets to the IRS, we can look forward to many wealthy people who have stashed their untaxed millions in foreign banks will now have to pay taxes owed, penalties, plus having their names published toooooo. Oh the futility of it all.

The US government will be very rich after the wealthy pay their back taxes, penalties plus universal health care for the poor. Da Dems have it all if we can get da black guy to focus a little more, and get rid of Rahm, Geithner, and a few others we can get America back to nearly normal.
 
coldfusion:

...with all the Swiss Banks, and offshore banks giving up their secrets to the IRS, we can look forward to many wealthy people who have stashed their untaxed millions in foreign banks will now have to pay taxes owed, penalties, plus having their names published toooooo. Oh the futility of it all.

The US government will be very rich after the wealthy pay their back taxes, penalties plus universal health care for the poor. Da Dems have it all if we can get da black guy to focus a little more, and get rid of Rahm, Geithner, and a few others we can get America back to nearly normal.




The problem is that the Swiss banks are hiding behind their rules and trying to deny just that very info.
 
coldfusion:

It is my understanding that the Swiss and United States have come to an agreement as to names, addresses and balance of accounts. We are still in negotiation with offshore banks as we speak.

Many wealthy US citizens who have Swiss accounts have already capitulated in regard to the IRS and have agreed to pay their back taxes and penalties. I am waiting for Halliburton, Big Oil, Pharmaceuticals, Cigna etc to give it up on their off-shore accounts also. It is gonna happen unless President Obama breaks a deal and calls it "negotiation".....
 
The problem is that it takes all the less rich people together to make the rich people rich, and the well is dry. How freakin rich do they have to be? They got all of Bush's tax breaks and we got no jobs and bogus financial instruments and a $60T pile of CDS. How many yachts does one need?
 
The problem is that it takes all the less rich people together to make the rich people rich, and the well is dry. How freakin rich do they have to be? They got all of Bush's tax breaks and we got no jobs and bogus financial instruments and a $60T pile of CDS. How many yachts does one need?

So if it were up to you, you would cap their wealth?

Lets run with this, what's your cap? How much should we let them make through their own hard work before we take it and spread it around?


:lol:
Amazing.
 
coldfusion:

...with all the Swiss Banks, and offshore banks giving up their secrets to the IRS, we can look forward to many wealthy people who have stashed their untaxed millions in foreign banks will now have to pay taxes owed, penalties, plus having their names published toooooo. Oh the futility of it all.

The US government will be very rich after the wealthy pay their back taxes, penalties plus universal health care for the poor. Da Dems have it all if we can get da black guy to focus a little more, and get rid of Rahm, Geithner, and a few others we can get America back to nearly normal.

What?

Why aren't any libs here calling you out for this racist comment?
 
concept:


// What? Why aren't any libs here calling you out for this racist comment?//


Calling my words a "racist comment" is pure conjecture and projecting on your part. As you read the written word, beware what your own subconscious thoughts and feelings will make it different in intent.

I do not have any racial motivation in anything I write, I merely wrote on our president's skin color while playing to a previous reply. Please stay calm and do not immediately attack someone as being a racist. I do understand the republican ploy of directing others into a defensive position, but I do not see the need here, tyvm.

sign me 'da white gal' who voted for 'da black guy'..one of many who gave him a huge landslide success in 2008.
 
Well, we have two wars going and are trying to pull the nation out of a quagmire created by the last administration. Why not return to the tax structure of WW2?
 
Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall

By DAVID LEONHARDT and GERALDINE FABRIKANT
Published: August 20, 2009
NY Times



The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent.

the very rich getting very much richer is probably fairly permanent.

But the superrich fleece the merely affluent when they're the only people left with anything worth stealing, you can count on that.

To some extent, that's what the decline in stock market is all about.

No welfare mother was robbed when that happened,

the people who got hurt were the upper middle class, mostly.

You know, the same class of people who were most supportive of the tax breaks for billionaires?

Looking at this from my personal perspective, it's almost funny how easily people can be convinced to vote against their own interests.


They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent news about resurgent Wall Street pay has seemed to suggest that not even the Great Recession could reverse the rise in income inequality.

What it is more likely to do is flatten the inequality in the lower classes while exascerbating how unequal the inequality between the wealthy and the superwealthy really is.




But economists say — and data is beginning to show — that a significant change may in fact be under way. The rich, as a group, are no longer getting richer. Over the last two years, they have become poorer. And many may not return to their old levels of wealth and income anytime soon.

Those who are affluent do to American affluence will likely get less affluent.

Those whose wealth comes from the international economy are apt to continue to get wealthier relative to the rest of Americans.


For every investment banker whose pay has recovered to its prerecession levels, there are several who have lost their jobs — as well as many wealthy investors who have lost millions. As a result, economists and other analysts say, a 30-year period in which the super-rich became both wealthier and more numerous may now be ending.

Yes the bottom 99.9% are apt to get less affluent because their economies and America's economy are interlinked.

Now many of them believed they could abandon the rest of the working classes of this nation and come out smelling like roses, but they are going to discover than their neighbors pain and theirs are likely to be links\ed.


The relative struggles of the rich may elicit little sympathy from less well-off families who are dealing with the effects of the worst recession in a generation. But the change does raise several broader economic questions. Among them is whether harder times for the rich will ultimately benefit the middle class and the poor, given that the huge recent increase in top incomes coincided with slow income growth for almost every other group.
In blunter terms, the question is whether the better metaphor for the economy is a rising tide that can lift all boats — or a zero-sum game.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/business/economy/21inequality.html

Edited for copyright policy - KK


Face it. for most of us, if the USA economy goes down, our economies go down with it.

This is exactly what some of us have been telling you libertarians assholes for years now.

The fucking people you so admire, don't give a shit what happens to you or this nation.

FREE TRADE is not a good thing. When you make your neighbos poorer, your fate and theirs are going to, in the longer run, both go down.

We live in a consumer driven economy.

Any class of consumers doing poorly effects every other class of workers who depend on that class buying stuff.

Der!
 
"the rich" have a solution to this problem

move their accounts to the Caymans
problem solved
 
coldfusion:

...with all the Swiss Banks, and offshore banks giving up their secrets to the IRS, we can look forward to many wealthy people who have stashed their untaxed millions in foreign banks will now have to pay taxes owed, penalties, plus having their names published toooooo. Oh the futility of it all.

The US government will be very rich after the wealthy pay their back taxes, penalties plus universal health care for the poor. Da Dems have it all if we can get da black guy to focus a little more, and get rid of Rahm, Geithner, and a few others we can get America back to nearly normal.





obama_index_august_23_2009.jpg






Ooooooooooooooops!!!!!!!:lol:
 
I don't know how the fuck anyone can celebrate success being increasingly difficult to achieve.
Encouraging and promoting mediocrity results in a mediocre country, not a world leader.

As Concept asked, what is considered "rich"?

It's become evil to be wealthy, (unless you're a celebrity or democrat), in America and that's a dangerous road to be on. It might take 50, 100, or even more yrs, but eventually this attitude will have the country closer to the bottom of the shit pile, rather than the greatest nation on the planet.
Yes, there are people with money who are evil, but these type of people come from all walks of life. Deal with the assholes who break the law, but for fuck sakes, don't stifle the American dream to do so!
 

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