If this is true, we are in trouble...

[Deno]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

These are no doubt dumacrats……...

 

[Markle]

Greed begets more greed.

Do you agree or disagree that there is both good greed and bad greed? Why?

 

[Markle]

Here ya go!

-Base Federal tax for corporations at 30% of revenue.

-Raise minimum wage to $23.50/hr. Based on where minimum wage should be using 1970-2018 rise in food, shelter, and transportation.

-Eliminate all business subsidies (deductions/write-offs/write-downs) except for employee expenses which are deducted dollar-for-dollar on all city, state, and Federal taxes and fees with the Feds refunding city, State, and fees.

-Companies with unlimited employees; employee expenses above the deduction are subsidized at 100% with funds usually give back to the States.

-Adjust Social Security and private/public retirement and pension payments using 1970-2018 price structure.

-Remove the FICA limit.

-Back down ALL costs, prices, fees, to January 1, 2009 levels and hold them for 15 years which will eliminate inflation.

-Recall ALL off-shore investments tax free, and disallow any further off-shore investments.

-Make inversion illegal.

My plan would reduce business costs for employees and taxes to 30%. That's a 15%-30% drop.

My plan would put BILLIONS into the economy daily.

My plan would put the $100 trillion plus currently owned by corporate America back into the economy.

My plan would end all welfare.

My plan would significantly increase social security and pension payments.

My plan would hold prices for 10 years, thus eliminating inflation.

Quite a hoot!

Was this written as a humor column? Does USMB have a humor forum?

 

[Markle]

Its mad that people who moan most about "globalisation" are also virulent against workers trying to take action through their unions. How does that work ?

What unions are left in the private sector? Any? What percent?

 

[Markle]

Prices would go up as a result of 300% of the current minimum wage..........Business costs go up .........inflation goes up........They don't eat the extra expenses ........they pass it on to the consumer. Now you would give that wage to someone flipping burgers........and everyone else would be where is my raise.....Your giving a pay that is near the pay scale of some skilled labor..............

Inflation would go up because everything costs more on labor..........Not to mention that the cheap labor overseas would eat our lunch............

I have shown ...........and it is being ignored that the debt and money creation have destroyed the value of the dollar.......The dollar being worth less makes everything COST MORE..............The Debt is the elephant in the room................We have the worlds Reserve Currency for now..........It is tied to OIL.........but the rest of the world wants our power gone.........and are taking steps to use other currencies..........BRIC being an example........They DEPEG our currency......we are screwed..............The DEBT NEEDS TO GO..................or NONE OF THIS MATTERS.

I'm sure Onepercenter was being facetious. Either that or a Troll throwing out chum.

 

[Markle]

So workers should have asked for less money correct? That's almost comical. Neanderthal mentality. The job of a worker is to constantly make more money.

The job of the worker is to continue to improve their skills and value to the company thus becoming more valuable to the employer who can now afford to pay that worker more money.

 

[Markle]

American workers had zero to do with jobs going overseas. It's a workers goal to continually seek more money not less. Where does this Neanderthal thinking come from? Blame the worker. How blatantly idiotic that is.

What did the unions and workers do that led to the grand success of Detroit today? Where are cars made today? Which states?

 

[SobieskiSavedEurope]

Fascists regulate business through Councils, they don't completely replace business through Communist businesses if we can call them that.

What is it that you think the word "Soviet" means?

There's a big difference there, I'm so sorry you're not smart enough to pick up on it.

Monopolies have become more, and more prevalent, with striking results mirroring Communism.

Products have in many ways become junk in comparison to say 30 + years ago, real wages have flatlined in the past 45 years.

Mussolini ensured monopolies, backed by the state. It was the key to economic control.

You know literally nothing about fascism.

Here's an article proving it's YOU who don't know what you're talking about.

http://www.ub.edu/graap/bel_Italy_fascist.pdf

THE FIRST PRIVATIZATION: SELLING SOEs AND PRIVATIZING PUBLIC MONOPOLIES IN FASCIST ITALY (1922-1925) Germà Bel Universitat de Barcelona (GiM-IREA) & Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (FORTHCOMING IN CAMBRIDGE ECONOMIC JOURNAL) Abstract: Italy’s first Fascist government applied a large-scale privatization policy between 1922 and 1925. The government privatized the state monopoly of match sale, eliminated the State monopoly on life insurances, sold most of the State-owned telephone networks and services to private firms, reprivatized the largest metal machinery producer, and awarded concessions to private firms to build and operate motorways. These interventions represent one of the earliest and most decisive privatization episodes in the Western world.

 

[Markle]

/----/ Sears was the Amazon of its day. They pushed out the local Mom & Pop variety store who could not compete with the Sears, selection, prices, and catalog. They were the evil, greedy demon of their day. Sears, like Woolworth, had the $$$ resources and power to stomp Amazon into the ground but they ignored it and when they realized what happened it was too late.

The large retail chains were much more like the newspapers. Having been dominant for so many decades, they never considered the internet a threat. The big retail chains were in an ideal position to dominate the internet. They already had the distribution centers. Had they looked at the internet as the Sears Catalog of tomorrow, no one would have heard of Amazon today.

 

[Foxfyre]

/----/ Sears was the Amazon of its day. They pushed out the local Mom & Pop variety store who could not compete with the Sears, selection, prices, and catalog. They were the evil, greedy demon of their day. Sears, like Woolworth, had the $$$ resources and power to stomp Amazon into the ground but they ignored it and when they realized what happened it was too late.

The large retail chains were much more like the newspapers. Having been dominant for so many decades, they never considered the internet a threat. The big retail chains were in an ideal position to dominate the internet. They already had the distribution centers. Had they looked at the internet as the Sears Catalog of tomorrow, no one would have heard of Amazon today.

I agree that Sears failed to read the signs of the times and went about business as usual as it had served them well for a century. But as the bulk of America started researching products on line, Sears didn't understand what was happening, or their management were such dinosaurs that they didn't know how to respond to it. So as Lowe's and Walmart and Office Depot and Staples and most of the other big boys created user friendly on line shopping and were doing profitable on line business in addition to in store business, Sears was laying off people and wondering where the customers were.

Old School serves magnificently in culture and values, but it can be deadly when it comes to marketing or preparing oneself to prosper in a rapidly changing world.

 

[Bush92]

Its pretty much the same over here. I will also add in zero hours contracts. A large section of society does not earn enough to save for a pension and this will have a huge impact in 20 years or so.

Inequality is the big problem. Capital exploits the differences to drive down wages. Strike for better pay or conditions and we will move your job to India where they will work for half your pay. How to break the cycle is a big conundrum.

It's not a big conundrum.

All that needs to happen is to take away all the tax benefits of moving jobs out of America and impose huge penalties to move our jobs to low wage nations.

Impose huge penalties in the form of huge taxes on all companies that move our jobs to other nations. Make it very expensive to move our jobs out of our nation. The republicans enacted tax laws that reward companies for moving out of our nation in the reagan years when reagan was sending our jobs to Japan. When the House was in democratic hands in 2007 they passed a bill that removed tax benefits for moving our jobs to other nations. The republicans filibustered it when it got to the senate. republicans won't do one thing to penalize any company that moves our jobs to other nations.

When greedy CEOs and business owners see that it's more expensive to move our jobs out of the nation they will stop doing it.

Tariffs won't stop it. Giving corporations and business huge tax cuts won't stop it.

Imposing huge penalties will.

However, I thought trump and republicans have been declaring us at full employment with 3.7% unemployment. Why would anyone worry about jobs being sent off shore if we have such low unemployment?

By the way, the unemployment rate was 4.7% when Obama left office. trump has lowered the unemployment rate by 1% in nearly 2 years, yet republicans and conservatives believe he's responsible for such a low unemployment rate.

When any republican lowers the unemployment rate from 10% down to 4.7% I'll give them credit for it. Yet I've not seem any republican president do that in the last over 20 years.

The Capitalist Republican solution is to have Americans compete with China's wages.

Apparently we deserve less as a society.

No, but we can't have unions forcing companies to grossly overpay their workers while Chinese make what they do. You can't compete that way, and outside of government, unions are now a thing of the past.

So you want to ****-over the American worker because the Chinese don't make as much?

Its mad that people who moan most about "globalisation" are also virulent against workers trying to take action through their unions. How does that work ?

Your a government worker at the DMV aren’t you? Lazy ******* bureaucratic asshole.

 

[Dragonlady]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

All your points have validity , but all won't be solved by any given politician OR election

Nothing in our lives will change this November , because this is a course we've been on for a generation.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer in America , that's FACT

No...the rich get richer and the poor get richer....in America, not so for the rest of the world...our "poor" live better than the middle class of Europe.

So why did 13 European Countries outrank the USA in “Quality of Life ranking? The US finished 17th, with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand being the non-European countries out-ranking you.

The poor in properly run capitalist democracies live better than the middle class in the US. Americans have a lower standard and quality of life than most other first world nations.

Education in Europe is free and poor children get the same investment by government in their education that wealthy and middle class kids get so they don’t start out two steps behind in education.

Their health care is also paid from government funds and again, it’s high quality. When poor people get sick, they are entitled, by right, to proper, high quality care.

 

[Dragonlady]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

All your points have validity , but all won't be solved by any given politician OR election

Nothing in our lives will change this November , because this is a course we've been on for a generation.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer in America , that's FACT

Actually more people move up than move down compared to their parents in America. Possibly due to increased ease of information but no, few grow poorer and if they do it's due to their choices.

This was true in the past but is no longer true. This generation will not be as successful as their parents. The middle class is shrinking, but more are falling into poverty than are rising into wealth.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

/----/ Sears was the Amazon of its day. They pushed out the local Mom & Pop variety store who could not compete with the Sears, selection, prices, and catalog. They were the evil, greedy demon of their day. Sears, like Woolworth, had the $$$ resources and power to stomp Amazon into the ground but they ignored it and when they realized what happened it was too late.

The large retail chains were much more like the newspapers. Having been dominant for so many decades, they never considered the internet a threat. The big retail chains were in an ideal position to dominate the internet. They already had the distribution centers. Had they looked at the internet as the Sears Catalog of tomorrow, no one would have heard of Amazon today.

The large chains also are at a disadvantage to online in that they pay rent for sites and also local taxes. These can be quite considerable costs.

 

[jasonnfree]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

All your points have validity , but all won't be solved by any given politician OR election

Nothing in our lives will change this November , because this is a course we've been on for a generation.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer in America , that's FACT

Actually more people move up than move down compared to their parents in America. Possibly due to increased ease of information but no, few grow poorer and if they do it's due to their choices.

This was true in the past but is no longer true. This generation will not be as successful as their parents. The middle class is shrinking, but more are falling into poverty than are rising into wealth.

I have to agree with you there. In the '60's college in california was something like 2 grand a year.

 

[gipper]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

All your points have validity , but all won't be solved by any given politician OR election

Nothing in our lives will change this November , because this is a course we've been on for a generation.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer in America , that's FACT

Actually more people move up than move down compared to their parents in America. Possibly due to increased ease of information but no, few grow poorer and if they do it's due to their choices.

This was true in the past but is no longer true. This generation will not be as successful as their parents. The middle class is shrinking, but more are falling into poverty than are rising into wealth.

I have to agree with you there. In the '60's college in california was something like 2 grand a year.

I doubt it was that high. I paid less than $2,000 a year at a state university in Michigan, in the early 80s.

 

[JoeB131]

You were obviously fired for cause you just can't admit it and FYI your employer is not responsible for your medical payments and I doubt if your alleged illness raised the the employer's portion of your insurance premium by 60K

Um, nope. Got outstanding reviews every year, and they paid me a fairly hefty severance package.

And, um, yeah, when health insurance is part of the employment package and I paid into insurance every month, they were responsible.

 

[Cellblock2429]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

All your points have validity , but all won't be solved by any given politician OR election

Nothing in our lives will change this November , because this is a course we've been on for a generation.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer in America , that's FACT

Actually more people move up than move down compared to their parents in America. Possibly due to increased ease of information but no, few grow poorer and if they do it's due to their choices.

This was true in the past but is no longer true. This generation will not be as successful as their parents. The middle class is shrinking, but more are falling into poverty than are rising into wealth.

I have to agree with you there. In the '60's college in california was something like 2 grand a year.

/——/ $2 grand a year was a lot of $$$$ in the 60s. A new VW was about $1,700. I thought California had free college back then.

 

[Cellblock2429]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

All your points have validity , but all won't be solved by any given politician OR election

Nothing in our lives will change this November , because this is a course we've been on for a generation.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer in America , that's FACT

No...the rich get richer and the poor get richer....in America, not so for the rest of the world...our "poor" live better than the middle class of Europe.

So why did 13 European Countries outrank the USA in “Quality of Life ranking? The US finished 17th, with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand being the non-European countries out-ranking you.

The poor in properly run capitalist democracies live better than the middle class in the US. Americans have a lower standard and quality of life than most other first world nations.

Education in Europe is free and poor children get the same investment by government in their education that wealthy and middle class kids get so they don’t start out two steps behind in education.

Their health care is also paid from government funds and again, it’s high quality. When poor people get sick, they are entitled, by right, to proper, high quality care.

/—— / Fake poll by jealous Eurotrash. People risk their lives to get to America for our “crappy capitalism.” And our poor are the envy of the third world.

 

[Cellblock2429]

America stands for greed. ItsItcalled capitalism and it's about going out and taking care of yourself. Personal responsibility. America is about greed. Get over it. Morals cannot compete.

/——/ And yet we’re the most charitable country in the world. When disaster strikes who does the world call first?