Top 8% Own 85%

[NightFox]

Thank you. At least you get it. How others in this thread fail to see the obvious is beyond me.

Thanks for the great thread, as far as others go, one has to consider that overcoming the constant barrage of propaganda (re: "The system works for you and you can't do without us") emanating from those in power is hard for folks to overcome. One really has to do a deep dive into the nature of the global financial system and it's relationship with state power to understand that the root cause of the alarming concentration of global wealth is the state and central banks and systems like socialism only exacerbate the problem.

I just find it incomprehensible that particularly after what has occurred since the crash of 07/08, that some still think the system is not rigged.

The mere fact that only 8% own 85% of the wealth, clearly proves collusion and corruption.

Remember who got sole blamed for the crash of 07/08 ? "Greedy Wall Street Bankers", the average Joe buys into that because on the surface it makes sense. What the common folk weren't told is that it was central banks pumping money into the system, sub-par returns on treasuries and "ownership society" policies that drove the rush into the housing market and the huge demand for MBS (and arcane derivatives from them).

Of course "Wall Street Bankers" share the blame (they were greedy and stupid) but the lions share of the blame falls upon government and central bankers (who in the end profited ENORMOUSLY in terms of power and wealth from the whole mess), the supposed "guardians of the people" were exactly the ones that forced "the people" to foot the bill for the whole mess AND took unprecedented power upon themselves to "prevent it from happening again" (which means it WILL happen again and next time will be worse), at the end of the day you have to kind of admire how adroitly this grand deception was pulled off.

 

[Wilbur Right]

Can someone please tell me how a rich guy has ever stopped anyone of you from earning more, owning more, or anythig else?

Sure. Let me explain it to you.

A ultra rich guy owns a business in America employing Americans.

The owner/ultra rich guy comes to realize that he could become MUCH richer moving his business out of the country.

His American employees lost their jobs, their houses and their savings.

Rich got richer. Middle got poorer. Poor got some new people.


I know you won't believe this happens. All the former employee has to do is borrow 50 million dollars and start their own manufacturing company. Right?

Will you loan the 50 million? 10 million? No?

 

[gipper]

Thank you. At least you get it. How others in this thread fail to see the obvious is beyond me.

Thanks for the great thread, as far as others go, one has to consider that overcoming the constant barrage of propaganda (re: "The system works for you and you can't do without us") emanating from those in power is hard for folks to overcome. One really has to do a deep dive into the nature of the global financial system and it's relationship with state power to understand that the root cause of the alarming concentration of global wealth is the state and central banks and systems like socialism only exacerbate the problem.

I just find it incomprehensible that particularly after what has occurred since the crash of 07/08, that some still think the system is not rigged.

The mere fact that only 8% own 85% of the wealth, clearly proves collusion and corruption.

Remember who got sole blamed for the crash of 07/08 ? "Greedy Wall Street Bankers", the average Joe buys into that because on the surface it makes sense. What the common folk weren't told is that it was central banks pumping money into the system, sub-par returns on treasuries and "ownership society" policies that drove the rush into the housing market and the huge demand for MBS (and arcane derivatives from them).

Of course "Wall Street Bankers" share the blame (they were greedy and stupid) but the lions share of the blame falls upon government and central bankers (who in the end profited ENORMOUSLY in terms of power and wealth from the whole mess), the supposed "guardians of the people" were exactly the ones that forced "the people" to foot the bill for the whole mess AND took unprecedented power upon themselves to "prevent it from happening again" (which means it WILL happen again and next time will be worse), at the end of the day you have to kind of admire how adroitly this grand deception was pulled off.

Agreed.

Government and big business colluding. That is what we have today....a soft Fascism if you will. As government continues to grow in size and power, this will only get worse. This increased centralization of power and wealth is going to lead to something ugly, if not stopped.

 

[Wilbur Right]

Government and big business colluding. That is what we have today....a soft Fascism if you will.

We live in a plutocracy. Government of the rich, by the rich for the rich.

Everybody else has to get what they can.

 

[Weatherman2020]

This is really screwed up...and we Americans fight among ourselves over stupid things. All the while the elites are screwing us. When will we wake up and take action?


The Panama Papers offer damning proof of this: increasing concentrations of wealth and power that are free of any constraint (such as taxes) is not just the consequence of centralized money and state power--this inequality is the only possible output of centralized money and state power.

Here is a graphic portrayal of just how concentrated global wealth really is: the top .7% (less than 1%) own 45% of all global wealth, and the top 8% own 85%.

Of Two Minds - The Panama Papers: This Is the Consequence of Centralized Money and Power

And most of the 8% turn out to be left wingers who preach the little people must be taxed more.

 

[initforme]

The system was not set up for a hard working middle class person to advance. From the get go, it was designed for the uber wealthy to control things. Its basic economics. People who have been sold that if you are Willi g to work very hard you can become very successful have been taught wrong. Be happy with scraping by, that's the dream.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

The "system" is rigged, for the wealthiest to stay the wealthiest... if you can not recognize this, then you are blind, and willfully ignorant.

One of the greatest things about being in a country like this is you can be anybody you want.

If you don't need much, are lazy, and don't care about your future, you can not work and be poor.

If you have more ambition, you can be middle-class. That means you have to go go work everyday however. You probably need a skill or trade to get by, but it can be done.

If you want to live better than middle-class, then you need to open up your own business, get an advanced education, and work night and day.

And of course, if you want to be wealthy, you must do some of the things above and more, such as invest every spare dollar and dime you have. You will need to give up all those extras and focus on money only. You need to educate yourself on the stock market, real estate, the commodities market, foreign markets and so on.

But it's all up to the individual and you have to start very early in life.

Completely naive and poorly thought out. While everyone can certainly improve their lot in life, it's ridiculous to think that everyone has an equal opportunity to earn even an above average level of success let alone make it into the highest percentiles. There simply aren't enough high paying positions for that to even be possible. The idea that if people only worked hard and were diligent enough, they too could hit it big is foolish. The higher the income the more exclusive the club becomes. Why is that? Because everyone can't be a chief, the world needs Indians and a lot of them. I'm fine with that dynamic. It's the way the Indians are treated, often times unfairly and for the benefit of the chiefs, that is the problem.

 

[gipper]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

My guess is the billionaire class pays very little in taxes now. They have loopholes everywhere, which they bought from politicians. The Panama Papers certainly seem to indicate this.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Can someone please tell me how a rich guy has ever stopped anyone of you from earning more, owning more, or anythig else?

By keeping wages flat for decades and transferring those savings into their accounts.

 

[NightFox]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

It has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with WHO IS IN CONTROL, you can raise taxes to 100% of income on the 8% and it won't make one bit of difference, what don't you guys get about the fact that THEY (i.e. the financial manipulators and rent seekers) CONTROL THE SYSTEM. You can tax them all you want on the front end, they'll get theirs on the back end, that's why they're all for the current tax & redistribute system that the gub'mint worshipers love so much, it just makes the system that they control that much more powerful. It "redistributes" wealth and power UP the ladder at a faster rate, why do you think that the more centralized the power of the state has become the greater the wealth disparity, you think that's an accident? The welfare state doesn't redistribute WEALTH it simply provides a highly inefficient and corrupt means of SUBSISTENCE.

If you want to even out the distribution of wealth then you want DECENTRALIZATION of power not further centralization, this was what the founders were going after by creating a Republic and a Constitution that explicitly limited the authority of the central government.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

My guess is the billionaire class pays very little in taxes now. They have loopholes everywhere, which they bought from politicians. The Panama Papers certainly seem to indicate this.

Of course they do. Giving a wealthy person a tax break only grows their wealth.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

It has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with WHO IS IN CONTROL, you can raise taxes to 100% of income on the 8% and it won't make one bit of difference, what don't you guys get about the fact that THEY (i.e. the financial manipulators and rent seekers) CONTROL THE SYSTEM. You can tax them all you want on the front end, they'll get theirs on the back end, that's why they're all for the current tax & redistribute system that the gub'mint worshipers love so much, it just makes the system that they control that much more powerful. It "redistributes" wealth and power UP the ladder at a faster rate, why do you think that the more centralized the power of the state has become the greater the wealth disparity, you think that's an accident? The welfare state doesn't redistribute WEALTH it simply provides a highly inefficient and corrupt means of SUBSISTENCE.

If you want to even out the distribution of wealth then you want DECENTRALIZATION of power not further centralization, this was what the founders were going after by creating a Republic and a Constitution that explicitly limited the authority of the central government.

Nice rant but I said nothing about redistribution. My point was much simpler. Giving the largest pie holders a larger share of pie does nothing for those eating crumbs.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

You'll have better luck putting an end to gravity than putting an end to income inequality.

Yes income inequality will always be with us, but it doesn't have to be this bad. It is this bad because the elites have control of everything. Centralization of power leads to centralization of wealth.

Where do you people get this idea that how rich the rich are affects your life any?

This entire liberal fallacy that if the rich have too much, it's the reason you have too little is ridiculous.

Let me ask: if the government took 4/5 of the wealth away from every millionaire and billionaire in this country, how does that help you or me? It doesn't. Oh, but government would have more money. And just what does government do with any money they have????

The system is rigged and it will eventually crater. How in the Hell do you not see that?

Concentrations of private wealth and the central state are simply two sides of the same coin. Private wealth, monopolies and cartels are all protected and enforced by the state/central bank: the status quo exists to protect the privileges of the few at the expense of the many.

As long as central banks create and distribute money to banks, which are free to use the money for speculation and lend vast sums at near-zero rates of interest to corprorations and financiers, nothing can possibly change.

Recall that the central state enforces moral hazard: if banks reap vast profits on their gambles, they keep the winnings and can use a sliver of this wealth to buy political favors from politicos like Hillary Clinton.

If they lose the bets and are insolvent, the federal government and the central bank (Federal Reserve) bail them out by transferring the losses to the public or by rigging the system to funnel cash to the banks via paying interest on deposits held at the Fed (while slashing interest income to the serfs to near-zero).

There is another way to run the world: if money is decentralized, i.e. created by a distributed, decentralized system that pays people directly for their labor, rather than being distributed to banks to lend at interest, the sort of concentrations of wealth, power and exploitation enabled by central banking would no longer be possible.

Technologies such as the blockchain are enabling alternative ways of creating and distributing money outside central banks and states. I describe a labor-backed crypto-currency in my book A Radically Beneficial World. The potential of the blockchain to disrupt and bypass central banks' monopoly of money creation is revolutionary, which explains why Goldman Sachs and their cronies are desperate to own their own versions of blockchain technologies.

But the cats are out of the bag, and central bankers and their cronies will have a difficult time herding these new technologies back into the enforced serfdom of central banking. The only way to bring down the corruption created by the concentration of wealth and power is to dismantle the monopoly of money creation held by central banks and their private-bank cronies.

As long as central banks create and distribute money to banks, which are free to use the money for speculation and lend vast sums at near-zero rates of interest to corprorations and financiers, nothing can possibly change.

Distribute? What do you mean?

rather than being distributed to banks to lend at interest,

Rather than lend at what?

Technologies such as the blockchain are enabling alternative ways of creating and distributing money outside central banks and states.

Looks unstable.

 

[NightFox]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

It has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with WHO IS IN CONTROL, you can raise taxes to 100% of income on the 8% and it won't make one bit of difference, what don't you guys get about the fact that THEY (i.e. the financial manipulators and rent seekers) CONTROL THE SYSTEM. You can tax them all you want on the front end, they'll get theirs on the back end, that's why they're all for the current tax & redistribute system that the gub'mint worshipers love so much, it just makes the system that they control that much more powerful. It "redistributes" wealth and power UP the ladder at a faster rate, why do you think that the more centralized the power of the state has become the greater the wealth disparity, you think that's an accident? The welfare state doesn't redistribute WEALTH it simply provides a highly inefficient and corrupt means of SUBSISTENCE.

If you want to even out the distribution of wealth then you want DECENTRALIZATION of power not further centralization, this was what the founders were going after by creating a Republic and a Constitution that explicitly limited the authority of the central government.

Nice rant but I said nothing about redistribution. My point was much simpler. Giving the largest pie holders a larger share of pie does nothing for those eating crumbs.

.....and you missed the whole point, increasing taxes on the "wealthy" is just bread & circuses for the masses that just ends up giving them a LARGER SHARE OF THE PIE, they control the "pie" in Washington, why would anybody think further empowering Washington would make the situation any better?

All this nonsense about "tax cuts for the wealthy" is just smoke & mirrors that provides cover for what's really going on beneath the surface.

Finally if you're not talking about tax & redistribution, what exactly are you proposing?

 

[Skull Pilot]

Can someone please tell me how a rich guy has ever stopped anyone of you from earning more, owning more, or anythig else?

By keeping wages flat for decades and transferring those savings into their accounts.View attachment 70629

So you have absolutely no ability to earn more money because some rich guy is keeping you down?

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Can someone please tell me how a rich guy has ever stopped anyone of you from earning more, owning more, or anythig else?

By keeping wages flat for decades and transferring those savings into their accounts.View attachment 70629

So you have absolutely no ability to earn more money because some rich guy is keeping you down?

I didn't say that at all. That's your absolutist bullshit. Everyone could certainly improve their lot in life.

The question was how earning more is prevented and I provided an example. Is that inaccurate?

 

[Hutch Starskey]

I know, let's give huge tax cuts to the 8%. That will surely help the problem.

It has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with WHO IS IN CONTROL, you can raise taxes to 100% of income on the 8% and it won't make one bit of difference, what don't you guys get about the fact that THEY (i.e. the financial manipulators and rent seekers) CONTROL THE SYSTEM. You can tax them all you want on the front end, they'll get theirs on the back end, that's why they're all for the current tax & redistribute system that the gub'mint worshipers love so much, it just makes the system that they control that much more powerful. It "redistributes" wealth and power UP the ladder at a faster rate, why do you think that the more centralized the power of the state has become the greater the wealth disparity, you think that's an accident? The welfare state doesn't redistribute WEALTH it simply provides a highly inefficient and corrupt means of SUBSISTENCE.

If you want to even out the distribution of wealth then you want DECENTRALIZATION of power not further centralization, this was what the founders were going after by creating a Republic and a Constitution that explicitly limited the authority of the central government.

Nice rant but I said nothing about redistribution. My point was much simpler. Giving the largest pie holders a larger share of pie does nothing for those eating crumbs.

.....and you missed the whole point, increasing taxes on the "wealthy" is just bread & circuses for the masses that just ends up giving them a LARGER SHARE OF THE PIE, they control the "pie" in Washington, why would anybody think further empowering Washington would make the situation any better?

All this nonsense about "tax cuts for the wealthy" is just smoke & mirrors that provides cover for what's really going on beneath the surface.

Finally if you're not talking about tax & redistribution, what exactly are you proposing?

No I think you missed my point. That's what I said in the first place.

 

[Wildman]

$$$$$$$$$$$ envy!!

 

[BuckToothMoron]

This is really screwed up...and we Americans fight among ourselves over stupid things. All the while the elites are screwing us. When will we wake up and take action?


The Panama Papers offer damning proof of this: increasing concentrations of wealth and power that are free of any constraint (such as taxes) is not just the consequence of centralized money and state power--this inequality is the only possible output of centralized money and state power.

Here is a graphic portrayal of just how concentrated global wealth really is: the top .7% (less than 1%) own 45% of all global wealth, and the top 8% own 85%.

Do
Of Two Minds - The Panama Papers: This Is the Consequence of Centralized Money and Power

Thanks for the graphic, but I would be more interested in the breakdown for the US only. its probably safe to say, the more corrupt the government the more concentrated the wealth.

Do you really think it is any different in the US?

Here it is...

Do you really think it's the same in every country?