Separate but unequal: Charts show growing rich-poor gap

[Samson]

I'd like to see the OP contrast the lifestyle of the average person in the lower 90% with that of nobility in the middle ages.

The former have indoor plumbing, air conditioning, televisions, cars, computers, cellphones, internet access, refrigeration...all due to investments in new products made by the EVUL Rich.

You mean, the Chinese?

 

[theHawk]

The question is "Why do Republicans support this inequality"?

The top ten donors to political parties - 7 big corporations - 3 unions. The reason the Republicans have been given the orders by their corporate masters to go after unions is to make it impossible to fight back. Corporations want to move all taxes to the middle class. They don't want to be bothered by clean air and clean water regulations. They don't want an educated public.

The problem Republicans either can't see, or don't care about, is the country actually revolves around the middle class. Destroy the middle class and you destroy the country. The only thing standing in the way are the Democrats and the Unions.

What "inequality"? Not everyone measures people by how much money they have in their wallets. Do rich people get more votes in elections? Are they exempt from certain laws?

I'm sure "corporations" would rather not pay any taxes, but same could be said about anybody. You can just as easily say Democrats want all taxes moved to the upper class.

The only people trying to "destroy" the middle class are Dems and the progressives. They want a divided America, a small elite class ruling over the peons. This is how it is in every society that has implemented socialism to the fulliest extent.

 

[rightwinger]

If you could grasp the difference between 'jobs' and 'individual wealth', that would be a good start. When you overtax the wealthy, they bolt. They have done so from every country that has tried it. Individual wealthy people leave, they set up 'home' somewhere more financially attractive.

And, the same with companies.... overburden them and they go. Simple.

We should all listen to CaliGurl

We need to grovel at the feet of the wealthy. If they are displeased with us they will desert us and leave us to our filthy ways

Or....you could try to become one of them.



Its been known to happen

Hey.....it happened to Jed Clampett

 

[rightwinger]

I'd like to see the OP contrast the lifestyle of the average person in the lower 90% with that of nobility in the middle ages.

The former have indoor plumbing, air conditioning, televisions, cars, computers, cellphones, internet access, refrigeration...all due to investments in new products made by the EVUL Rich.

 

[william the wie]

30 Years... Hmm about the same time as the trickle down myth started...
I guess the Republicans had to start some myth to "justify" their preferential treatment of the upper class though.

More like 40 years and Carter was the one who started the cutbacks in the Great Society and deregulated to favor wealthy D contributers.

 

[william the wie]

Except for the 80 20 post and the lower 90% being aristocrats by historical standards I haven't seen a lot of posts I agree with on this thread. Pareto's income studies in the 1920s seem to have been forgotten.

 

[Trajan]

Wed Feb 23, 5:13 pm ET
Separate but unequal: Charts show growing rich-poor gap

The Great Recession and the slump that followed have triggered a jobs crisis that's been making headlines since before President Obama was in office, and that will likely be with us for years. But the American economy is also plagued by a less-noted, but just as serious, problem: Simply put, over the last 30 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm.

Gradual developments like this don't typically lend themselves to news coverage. But Mother Jones magazine has crunched the data on inequality, and put together a group of stunning new charts. Taken together, they offer a dramatic visual illustration of who's doing well and who's doing badly in modern America.

Here are three samples:

• This chart shows that the poorest 90 percent of Americans make an average of $31,244 a year, while the top 1 percent make over $1.1 million:

Separate but unequal: Charts show growing rich-poor gap - Yahoo! News

But Mother Jones magazine has crunched the data on inequality, and put together a group of stunning new charts. Taken together, they offer a dramatic visual illustration of who's doing well and who's doing badly in modern America.

uhm, not quite.....wheres the chart tracking upward mobility?And standard of living gains in that time period?

 

[skeptic]

uhm...wheres the chart for upward mobility?

and standard of living gains in that time period?

exactly. Income disparity is something. But it isn't everything. It may not even be the most important thing.

If everybody did get wealthier while the disparity gap widened would that be bad?

And why is it important that anybody be getting wealthier? Serious question, think about it.

We can either have more people sharing the earth's finite wealth in smaller shares, or fewer people sharing that finite wealth in larger shares, or some combination of the two.

But we can't have more people all of whom are eternally getting wealthier with each generation.

See Have Cake v. Eat Cake.

Labor is not the source of all wealth. Most wealth is reaped not sown.

 

[rdean]

The link I have from open secrets has the 13 of the top 20 donors donating heavily democratic, 6 donating to both parties nearly equally and 1 donating heavily republican. Thats odd.

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2010 | OpenSecrets

Maybe this will help.

2010 Outside Spending by Groups | OpenSecrets

 

[California Girl]

It doesn't

But it does cause one to question why we need to pass legislation that continues to favor the wealthy?

I don't necessarily agree that we should have legislation that 'favors the wealthy' but... I certainly do not see other people's money as some justification to force them to carry my share of the country's burden.

If you create an unfavorable environment for wealth, that wealth leaves. Ask any country who has tried it. It has never worked to over burden them.... they are the ones with the ability to take their 'wealth' away. I would rather treat them fairly - just like everyone else.

Not much chance of that happening, Cali.

Keep telling yourself that... if it helps. But it happens. It has happened in other countries - we are not special.

 

[California Girl]

They already are going elsewhere with their money...it is called outsourcing. If you want to cite history, then every wealthy American would have left the country between the end of WWII and the mid 1960's.

If you could grasp the difference between 'jobs' and 'individual wealth', that would be a good start. When you overtax the wealthy, they bolt. They have done so from every country that has tried it. Individual wealthy people leave, they set up 'home' somewhere more financially attractive.

And, the same with companies.... overburden them and they go. Simple.

We should all listen to CaliGurl

We need to grovel at the feet of the wealthy. If they are displeased with us they will desert us and leave us to our filthy ways

Hyperbolic deliberate misunderstanding does not help your ability to look intelligent, right. True story.

I happen to believe we should each take responsibility for our own lives and not fall for the crap about how 'evil rich people' are destroying the country. They aren't.

 

[rightwinger]

If you could grasp the difference between 'jobs' and 'individual wealth', that would be a good start. When you overtax the wealthy, they bolt. They have done so from every country that has tried it. Individual wealthy people leave, they set up 'home' somewhere more financially attractive.

And, the same with companies.... overburden them and they go. Simple.

We should all listen to CaliGurl

We need to grovel at the feet of the wealthy. If they are displeased with us they will desert us and leave us to our filthy ways

Hyperbolic deliberate misunderstanding does not help your ability to look intelligent, right. True story.

I happen to believe we should each take responsibility for our own lives and not fall for the crap about how 'evil rich people' are destroying the country. They aren't.

Destroying the country? Not quite

Using their influence on the US political system to ensure that they accumulate more wealth ? Absolutely

The Golden Rule.....He who has the Gold, makes the rules

 

[Samson]

We should all listen to CaliGurl

We need to grovel at the feet of the wealthy. If they are displeased with us they will desert us and leave us to our filthy ways

Or....you could try to become one of them.



Its been known to happen

Hey.....it happened to Jed Clampett

See: I knew you could find a realistic role model.

 

[Bern80]

What annoys me the most about rich poor gap debate is the constant whining by people that it's someone elses responsibility to make sure a certain amount of people are in the middle class. Newsflash: Being 'middle class' isn't something that is just supposed to happen to you. The incomes and jobs associated with middle class require certain skills sets. It's the individuals job to figure out what they are and how to acquire them. On top of that, the value of those skill sets can change over time. You don't have any right to assume that the skills that were valuable ten or even five years ago are going to be valuable today.

If you want to blame any group for the shrinking middle class, blame the middle class. So many on here, whom I would imagine are middle class whine about this issue as if you have no responsibility in this change. You aren't garunteed a job for life. No one owes you a job. No one owes you a middle class standard of living. No one promised you the skills that allow to be middle class now will be still be just as valuable tomorrow. If the middel class wants this gap to shrink, then the middle class needs to start taking some ownership in responsibility.

 

[Oddball]

^^^^^
Ditto.

 

[Samson]

If the middel class wants this gap to shrink, then the middle class needs to start taking some ownership in responsibility.

^^^^^
Ditto.

You guys wanna send me a check or cash?

 

[Bern80]

If the middel class wants this gap to shrink, then the middle class needs to start taking some ownership in responsibility.

^^^^^
Ditto.

You guys wanna send me a check or cash?

Did you miss the point? Why would I send you money?

 

[skeptic]

What annoys me the most about rich poor gap debate is the constant whining by people that it's someone elses responsibility to make sure a certain amount of people are in the middle class. Newsflash: Being 'middle class' isn't something that is just supposed to happen to you.....

Between 1950 and 2002 the US was the strongest economy in the history of the world due largely to the strength of it's middle class. The middle class is what made America prosperous and strong in that era. The nation needed a middle class to support our role as the worlds geopolitical leader.

Times have changed. Middle class is now a burden on the nation in terms of entitlements coming due and resources and econ strength in decline due to the population bomb and outsourcing.

I agree with you but only to a point. The American Dream, or rather the promise America made to it's own citizens, was very much that of a middle class potential for all.

But like I said, times have changed. It is no longer realistic for Americans to expect a middle class status in a world in which population is exploding, resources are declining and our wealth is contracting.

The sooner Americans realize that their future is that of a third world nation, the sooner we can get on with making the most of that. Clinging to old expectations (99 weeks of unemployment insurance, food stamps and an expectation of free health care courtesy of Uncle Sam, as well as numerous nanny state perks) serves no purpose because the means simply do not exist to satisfy them anymore.

That America is dead already. The sooner Americans realize it the sooner they can begin being a part of what is next. We all need a new plan, as individuals, families, communities and as a nation.

Suburbia may begin to fail soon and you don't want to be behind the curve when that happens.