The Greatest Redistribution of Income in History

[Oddball]

How much have the richest 1% stolen since 1980?

Quit reading the rank covetousness after that.

Try another note, tovarich.

Read this, Rothschild:

"The official US poverty numbers show we now have the highest number of poor people in 51 years.

"The official US poverty rate is 14.3 percent or 43.6 million people in poverty.

"One in five children in the US is poor; one in ten senior citizens is poor. Source: US Census Bureau."

The Class War

While taxation and regulation, at all levels, have never been higher.

If you think the two are unrelated, you're a bigger fool than even I had imagined.

 

[Oddball]

To address the idea which apparently has been placed in your head by one or more of the neo-conservative propagandists you obviously are parroting, we who oppose this systematic destruction of our Nation's economy are not "envious" of wealth. We have no problem with wealth but rather with excessive wealth. And if you would allow yourself to think for yourself and to contemplate the damage being done to America by Reaganomics you might be able to understand that what you've been led to perceive as envy is in fact concern with the damage being done to our Country by systematic greed.

Right....The neocons have thought ideas into my head...Shows that you know nothing about me.


Anyways, who gets to decide what's "excessive" and what's "necessary" wealth?

 

[rdean]

Clearly, the greatest redistribution of wealth happened first, under Bush, when more than a trillions dollars went to the top 1%. Then when the Republicans held the US unemployed hostage, forcing Obama to send another trillion to the same millionaires and billionaires.

Take a look at the insurance company Cigna. A few years ago, the CEO received a 120 MILLION dollar paycheck. This from a "middle man". A company without doctors or nurses or hospitals that sets up health care between doctors and patients.

How many policies do you have to skim to make a single 120 million dollar paycheck. Add the two private jets, the other executives. The dropped policies of sick people. This is one tiny reason how wealth is "transferred". Then you have Republicans defending this.

 

[zeitgeist2012]

They all really...SUCK!!!!

 

[georgephillip]

From Common Dreams.org:

How much have the richest 1% stolen since 1980?

"If you make less than $114,000 a year (90% of us), you've been financially damaged by the flow of income to the richest 1% of Americans over the past 30 years.

"Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year."

Since US GDP has increased five-fold since 1980 is it not reasonable to say upper-middle class families should have maintained their same share of the economic pie?

"But if earnings since 1980 were based on this measure of productiveness, the richest 1% of Americans would be making $1 trillion less per year.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's more than we spend on the entire military.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's seven times more than the budget deficits of all 50 states combined...

"Who are the people making up the richest 1%? Bankers, CEOs, upper management, university presidents, Congressmen...

"Taxing them is not 'soaking the rich.'

"The greatest redistribution of income in history has taken place over the last 30 years, and the victims are beginning to make a fuss about it."

MAKE a FUSS!

Jealous are we??

Try focusing on my arguments and not on your perceptions of my economic class which is correct, btw.

Do you agree with the following unemployment figures from October 2010?

"One of every six workers, 26.8 million people, is unemployed or underemployed. This 'real' unemployment rate is over 17 per cent.

"There are 14.8 million people designated as 'officially' unemployed by the government, a rate of 9.6 per cent. Unemployment is worse for African American workers of whom 16.1 per cent are unemployed.

"Another 9.5 million people who are working only part-time while they are seeking full-time work but have had their hours cut back or are so far only able to find work part-time are not counted in the official unemployment numbers.

"Also, an additional 2.5 million are reported unemployed but not counted because they are classified as discouraged workers in part because they have been out of work for more than 12 months. Source: US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics October 2010 report."

Do you think unemployment is affected by the one trillion dollars per year currently going to our richest 1% of the population that would have been shared by middle and upper middle class families had their share of American productivity remained at 1980 levels?

Do you think voting for a Republican or a Democrat will Change anything?

 

[MikeK]

Pure envy. Digusting.

Our "poor" are among the richest 5% of people in the world. Our "poor" are obese. Our "poor" have color TV's, cell phones, cars, xboxes, etc, etc. Along with free housing, healthcare, education, food, and handout cash.

Get over it. Our rich are rich. Our poor are rich. Our country is rich. You live in modern Rome. Enjoy.

You're right about the comparison with Rome but why are you apparently content to allow it to continue? Are you content to see America go the way of Rome? Because it surely is headed in that direction.

Step outside your mindset and have a look around. While America's former poor had all the things you've listed today's poor Americans are homeless and their number is growing. Are you certain beyond doubt that the source of their misfortune cannot reach to you? If so, why? What do you know that caught so many others by surprise?

Re: the "envy" factor; you would do yourself a favor by tuning out Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity. They are millionaire propagandists who are dedicated to bending your mind, which they apparently are doing.

 

[daveman]

From Common Dreams.org:

How much have the richest 1% stolen since 1980?

"If you make less than $114,000 a year (90% of us), you've been financially damaged by the flow of income to the richest 1% of Americans over the past 30 years.

"Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year."

Since US GDP has increased five-fold since 1980 is it not reasonable to say upper-middle class families should have maintained their same share of the economic pie?

"But if earnings since 1980 were based on this measure of productiveness, the richest 1% of Americans would be making $1 trillion less per year.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's more than we spend on the entire military.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's seven times more than the budget deficits of all 50 states combined...

"Who are the people making up the richest 1%? Bankers, CEOs, upper management, university presidents, Congressmen...

"Taxing them is not 'soaking the rich.'

"The greatest redistribution of income in history has taken place over the last 30 years, and the victims are beginning to make a fuss about it."

MAKE a FUSS!

 

[georgephillip]

From Common Dreams.org:

How much have the richest 1% stolen since 1980?

"If you make less than $114,000 a year (90% of us), you've been financially damaged by the flow of income to the richest 1% of Americans over the past 30 years.

"Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year."

Since US GDP has increased five-fold since 1980 is it not reasonable to say upper-middle class families should have maintained their same share of the economic pie?

"But if earnings since 1980 were based on this measure of productiveness, the richest 1% of Americans would be making $1 trillion less per year.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's more than we spend on the entire military.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's seven times more than the budget deficits of all 50 states combined...

"Who are the people making up the richest 1%? Bankers, CEOs, upper management, university presidents, Congressmen...

"Taxing them is not 'soaking the rich.'

"The greatest redistribution of income in history has taken place over the last 30 years, and the victims are beginning to make a fuss about it."

MAKE a FUSS!

Next time, try "I want what you have worked so hard for, handed to me for nothing"

It's a lot more to the point.

Thanks.

Even more to the point:

"There are 49 million people in the US who live in households which eat only because they receive food stamps, visit food pantries or soup kitchens for help.

"Sixteen million are so poor they have skipped meals or foregone food at some point in the last year.

"This is the highest level since statistics have been kept. Source: US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service."

Liberal math?

 

[Oddball]

All that, after more than 50 years of the socialistic welfare state.

So, is that supposed to be evidence of success?

 

[rdean]

Pure envy. Digusting.

Our "poor" are among the richest 5% of people in the world. Our "poor" are obese. Our "poor" have color TV's, cell phones, cars, xboxes, etc, etc. Along with free housing, healthcare, education, food, and handout cash.

Get over it. Our rich are rich. Our poor are rich. Our country is rich. You live in modern Rome. Enjoy.

You're right about the comparison with Rome but why are you apparently content to allow it to continue? Are you content to see America go the way of Rome? Because it surely is headed in that direction.

Step outside your mindset and have a look around. While America's former poor had all the things you've listed today's poor Americans are homeless and their number is growing. Are you certain beyond doubt that the source of their misfortune cannot reach to you? If so, why? What do you know that caught so many others by surprise?

Re: the "envy" factor; you would do yourself a favor by tuning out Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity. They are millionaire propagandists who are dedicated to bending your mind, which they apparently are doing.

Shhh, don't confuse it with "facts". It's on a mission. It has a ring to protect.

 

[georgephillip]

From Common Dreams.org:

How much have the richest 1% stolen since 1980?

!

Well, Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, was 7 years old in 1980. Now he is worth about $15B and one of the richest men in the world.
So he must have stolen all that money from other wealthy people.

Georgephilip is a crank of the first order. It is no wonder he is also a Jew-hater.

How would Sergey's net worth have been affected if he had founded Google as a non profit?

btw, shit that kill children for sport deserve to be hated.

Or maybe your hatred is reserved for Arabs only?

Fuck the Gipper on February 6th.

 

[rdean]

From Common Dreams.org:

How much have the richest 1% stolen since 1980?

"If you make less than $114,000 a year (90% of us), you've been financially damaged by the flow of income to the richest 1% of Americans over the past 30 years.

"Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year."

Since US GDP has increased five-fold since 1980 is it not reasonable to say upper-middle class families should have maintained their same share of the economic pie?

"But if earnings since 1980 were based on this measure of productiveness, the richest 1% of Americans would be making $1 trillion less per year.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's more than we spend on the entire military.

"A trillion dollars a year. That's seven times more than the budget deficits of all 50 states combined...

"Who are the people making up the richest 1%? Bankers, CEOs, upper management, university presidents, Congressmen...

"Taxing them is not 'soaking the rich.'

"The greatest redistribution of income in history has taken place over the last 30 years, and the victims are beginning to make a fuss about it."

MAKE a FUSS!

The Republican base are the ones talking revolution. What is it those dumb fucks plan to do other than "make things different"?

 

[zeitgeist2012]

Wealth, Income, and Power

The Wealth Distribution

In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.7%. Table 1 and Figure 1 present further details drawn from the careful work of economist Edward N. Wolff at New York University (2010).

Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power

 

[georgephillip]

We always blame someone else for our own inability to get what we want. I don't make alot of money but no one stole from me I just made some bad choices. Most people in the higher incomes either were born into it or just plain worked harder or luckier. You will drive your self crazy with the why me question. If you think your life is not going well take a look in the mirror.

Very few have made more bad choices than I have; however, I've also been working full time since the mid 60s, so I've experienced personally the redistribution of wealth that's taken place in this country since Japan and Germany rebuilt their economies after WWII.

My own laziness and poor choices don't change the fact that since the mid 70s it has become impossible for a middle class family to live on one income.

Wages have not kept up with inflation:

"In 1967, the middle 60 percent of households received over 52 per cent of all income. In 1998, it was down to 47 per cent. The share going to the poor has also fallen, with the top 20 per cent seeing their share rise."

Some of the rich can not stop stealing for the same reason sharks can't stop swimming. They will die, and they know it.

Those of you with children need to think about what this economy is likely to be like 30-40 years from now if it doesn't change trajectory.

Soon.

 

[georgephillip]

georgephillip - thanks for posting this. It's so interesting that things are getting more and more unfair and more and more unbalanced in this country...

It becomes more than interesting if we try to get ahead of the curve and look two years into the future.

Here's Michael Hudson's take on Obama's 1-2-3 tax punch:

"First, many former Democratic and independent voters will 'vote with their backsides' and simply stay home (or perhaps be tempted by a third-party candidate), enabling the Republicans to come in legislate the cuts in perpetuity in 2012 – an estimated $4 trillion to the rich over time.

"Second, Obama’s Republican act (I hate to call it a compromise) 'frees' income for the wealthiest classes to send abroad, to economies not yet wrecked by neoliberals.

"This paves the way for a foreign-exchange crisis.

"Such crises traditionally fall in the autumn – and as the 2012 election draws near, it will be attributed to 'uncertainty' if voters do not throw the Democrats out.

"So to 'save the dollar' the Republicans will propose to replace progressive income taxation with a uniform flat tax (the old Steve Forbes plan) falling on wage earners, not on wealth or on finance, insurance or real estate (FIRE sector) income.

"A VAT will be added as an excise tax to push up consumer prices.

"Third, the tax giveaway includes a $120 billion reduction in Social Security contributions by labor – reducing the FICA wage withholding from 6.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent.

"Obama has ingeniously designed the plan to dovetail neatly into his Bowles-Simpson commission pressing to reduce Social Security as a step toward its ultimate privatization and subsequent wipeout grab by Wall Street."

 

[georgephillip]

You can't steal what you earn through hard work.

Do you think it's likely Americans in the middle and upper-middle economic classes are working at least as hard today as they were in 1980?

"If you make less than $114,000 a year (90% of us), you've been financially damaged by the flow of income to the richest 1% of Americans over the past 30 years.

"Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year.

I don't believe the "flow of income" towards the richest 1% of Americans since 1980 has as much to do with hard work as it has with campaign donations to Republicans AND Democrats.

A tax bias of debt over equity investment seems to me a more likely explanation for most of that income flowing to the richest 1%.

The Big Obscenity

 

[daveman]

The Republican base are the ones talking revolution. What is it those dumb fucks plan to do other than "make things different"?

Obama ran on nothing more than "hope" and "change"...and you bought it.

Making things different that what they are now is a good thing.

 

[georgephillip]

I love it how some admire the ones who cornhole them on a daily basis.

"I'll be a millionare someday if I keep my nose to the grindstone and sycophantically brownnose every exploitative sociopath who pats me on the head and tosses me a snausage for being a good little minion. If I insidiously step on the toes of my equals in the name of upward mobility, I'll be one of those wealthy moguls myself! Someday! Someday. Someday..."

I'm far from an expert on propaganda, but it's hard to miss how deliberate deceptions in the US media repeatedly prejudice Americans against their own best interests.

"In Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Pantheon, 1988) Noam Chomsky and I put forward a 'propaganda model' as a framework for analyzing and understanding how the mainstream U.S. media work and why they perform as they do.

"We had long been impressed with the regularity with which the media operate within restricted assumptions, depend heavily and uncritically on elite information sources, and participate in propaganda campaigns helpful to elite interests.

" In trying to explain why they do this we looked for structural factors as the only possible root of systematic behavior and performance patterns."

 

[daveman]

My own laziness and poor choices don't change the fact that since the mid 70s it has become impossible for a middle class family to live on one income.

I support my family with one income.

 

[zeitgeist2012]

Ralph Nadar and Ross Perot has been saying these economic facts for years, and the progressive media tried their best to make them look like clowns or nonexistent in the so-called real political world they created for us to believe in....