The Limping Middle Class

[thereisnospoon]

How is that their fault?

And who says that those 155 million of the lower 50% earnings group will remain in that percentile for the entirety of their lives?....Oh yeah, the class war pimps do.

Rube.

Who is saying it's "their" fault? I'm pointing out a fact...that 400 people in this country hold more wealth than 155 million people.

Wealth inequality is going to just keep growing...and the anger along with it.

In what way does that take anything out of your pocket?

Maybe if you spent a little more time accumulating some wealth for yourself and a little less wringing your hands over what others have, you'd be a little less angry about it.

You'll never convince these people that the zero sum game does not exist.

 

[thereisnospoon]

There are plenty of rich people who believe that they are taxed too low, and I don't think its because they are socialist or communist. Warren Buffet was accused of being just that when he said that he thought he was taxed too low. The richest man in the country is a commy? No thats ridiculous.

I also don't think he feels that he and people like him should pay more taxes because he cares so much about people less off then him, it's because he cares so much about his country and its future, because he realizes that we cannot continue like we are and be the great nation that we once were.

Warren Buffet has an opinion. That opinion resonates with the class envy crowd. Buffet also has a political agenda that includes a methodology of controlling the people. Certain wealthy people are threatened by economic freedom. They believe it is in their best interest to have government maintain control over the people so that the wealthy can be left alone to their pursuits.
Many other wealthy people responded to Buffet's comments. They disagreed. Some rather vehemently. Buffet does not care about anyone but Warren Buffet.
What makes you think giving more money to the federal government is going to change the way it does it's work?

I would say that probably most of the wealthy people who disagreed with Mr. Buffet also care about no one else but themselves.

As far as giving the government more money, its the only way to solve the deficit problem. As far as the middle class goes the only way to bring that back is to make things in this country and for citizens of this country to care about little things like "made in China" VS "made in America".

Oh yes. By the virtue of having money makes someone selfish. Never mind that the possibility exists that these people worked for it.
See your perception of compassion is feeling bad for people then demanding others pay for your compassion. You people never seem to want to set an example by doing your "good works" privately.
Wanna read something really politically incorrect....I have busted my ass to get where I am. And it is my intention to hold onto every bot of it that I possibly can. If that makes selfish, then I'm selfish and doling a whole lot of "fuck you" to people who label me as such.

 

[thereisnospoon]

I'd be pleased if you would entertain the following question:

How does it harm you if your neighbor earns ten times what you earn?

The lib class envy crowd refuse to touch a question like that.
You may get a response such as " if a person made ten times my income he would not be living next door to me" and they would leave it at that. The lib class envy person would consider that an answer to your query.

How about this....the fact that he makes ten times what I do alone does not harm me at all. But if the reason why he makes ten times more then me is that he sold my grandmother on some investment at the same time he was dumping it left and right, told her just to hold on a little longer and the stock would bounce back when he knew the company was about to go bankrupt....Or he bought the local manufacturing plant, fired half the work force while at the same time expecting the workers he didn't let go to do more work at the same rate of pay..... Well, then it kind of hurts me.

That's an emotional opinion. Based on your view. So what.
There are crooks all across demographic lines. Expecting more from others while excusing someone else is your problem.
The fact while the investment broker or the plant owner broke no laws and the broker may have some moral issues and the plant owner may have resurrected a dying business and the only way to make it work was to reduce labor costs is immaterial to the issue at hand.
That is, it is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS how large or how small the income of others.
Nor is it your business the size of their home or the number of vacations they take.
The bottom line is they took NOTHING FROM YOU.
You people should expend an equal amount of effort trying to increase your income as you spend worrying about what other people are doing.

 

[thereisnospoon]

The Greatest Generation survived the Great Depression and a World War to go on to build
a life that favored the middle class over the wealthy, while having enough children to
pay for their social security in their later years.

Their baby boom offspring, as a generation, have squandered the legacy of their
parents with greed for the almighty dollar, and by forgetting about the class
they grew up in, while placing wealth over their fellow Americans. Greed and
selfishness are what the babyboomers have wrought for their generation,
and that is why this once great nation is in peril.

Americans will need to stop the wealthiest and their mission the past 30 years or so
of massive wealth redistribution out of the middle class and into the top 1%.
That is, if America is going to be strong again. A large solid middle class is what
made this nation strong, and it can be again, if we all stop pandering to the
rightwing propaganda and misguided policies that favor the wealthy over the middle class.

What a load of shit.
Woe is me ,right?

 

[bripat9643]

The new slogan for those on the far right,,,,, Freedom is what made this nation great, not socialized medicine

It makes a pretty good slogan, and the best part is that it's true.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

THE 5 percent of Americans with the highest incomes now account for 37 percent of all consumer purchases, according to the latest research from Moody’s Analytics. That should come as no surprise. Our society has become more and more unequal.

When so much income goes to the top, the middle class doesn’t have enough purchasing power to keep the economy going without sinking ever more deeply into debt — which, as we’ve seen, ends badly. An economy so dependent on the spending of a few is also prone to great booms and busts. The rich splurge and speculate when their savings are doing well. But when the values of their assets tumble, they pull back. That can lead to wild gyrations. Sound familiar?

The economy won’t really bounce back until America’s surge toward inequality is reversed. Even if by some miracle President Obama gets support for a second big stimulus while Ben S. Bernanke’s Fed keeps interest rates near zero, neither will do the trick without a middle class capable of spending. Pump-priming works only when a well contains enough water.

Look back over the last hundred years and you’ll see the pattern. During periods when the very rich took home a much smaller proportion of total income — as in the Great Prosperity between 1947 and 1977 — the nation as a whole grew faster and median wages surged. We created a virtuous cycle in which an ever growing middle class had the ability to consume more goods and services, which created more and better jobs, thereby stoking demand. The rising tide did in fact lift all boats.

During periods when the very rich took home a larger proportion — as between 1918 and 1933, and in the Great Regression from 1981 to the present day — growth slowed, median wages stagnated and we suffered giant downturns. It’s no mere coincidence that over the last century the top earners’ share of the nation’s total income peaked in 1928 and 2007 — the two years just preceding the biggest downturns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/o...llow-a-strengthening-of-the-middle-class.html

Define middle class.

By the way, midcan dates the decay of the middle class to the 80s, your link puts it in the 70s. which one should I believe? What gives us the right to dictate wages in other countries? Is the idiot that wrote that opinion page aware that the liberals fought for deregulation in the 70s? Or that it resulted in exactly what they said it would, lower prices, more competition, and an increase in the standard of living?

 

[Jarhead]

I dont get it. I look around me and it seems that, other than dealing with a recession, the middle class is doing just fine.
I see well manicured lawns, impressive cars in their driveways, filled stadiums for just about any game of importance, record breaking box office sales for movies, big screen TV's in most homes, boats owned by many...and I can go on and on.

What's all this talk about the middle class struggling?

WHy? Becuase we hit a recession? Folks, we would be in a recovery by now if we had a president that cared more about prosperity than he does about ideology.

Relax...all is good.