The US Is Officially A Banana Republic: The Top 1% Now Own More Wealth Than The Entire Middle Class

[Dragonlady]

I was a teenager in the 1950s,

That was when we really had a middle class.

And the country was so much happier.

The American Middle Class was created by the unions and by Roosevelt's "New Deal" which heavily taxed the wealthy, and gave tax breaks to the working class and homeowners.

Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party gutted the New Deal, and rewrote the US tax code to favour the wealthy. Then Reagan attacked the Air Traffic Controllers Union and the assault on the union movement destroyed unions. Reagan said all workers would get a raise when the unions were gone. Workers are still waiting for that raise.

Reagan said that wealth would "trickle down" to the workers from their bosses. What happened is that all of the wealth "trickled up" to the richest Americans and corporations.

And still you vote Republican.

 

[Dragonlady]

Mushroom clouds in blue cities. End this.

All the right wing solutions proposed by the "English as a second language" crowd end up in people getting murdered. Violence and killing Democrats is your only solution.

 

[LeftofLeft]

Economic policies rooted in class envy and redistribution still end up with a 1 percent that is locked in.

 

[Dragonlady]

We live in two entirely different worlds.

No you don't - really. But you let people lie to you, to your own detriment.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

The American Middle Class was created by the unions and by Roosevelt's "New Deal" which heavily taxed the wealthy, and gave tax breaks to the working class and homeowners.

Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party gutted the New Deal, and rewrote the US tax code to favour the wealthy. Then Reagan attacked the Air Traffic Controllers Union and the assault on the union movement destroyed unions. Reagan said all workers would get a raise when the unions were gone. Workers are still waiting for that raise.

Reagan said that wealth would "trickle down" to the workers from their bosses. What happened is that all of the wealth "trickled up" to the richest Americans and corporations.

And still you vote Republican.

The American Middle Class was created by the unions and by Roosevelt's "New Deal" which heavily taxed the wealthy, and gave tax breaks to the working class and homeowners.

He sounds awesome!

What was the working class tax rate before FDR cut it? After?

Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party gutted the New Deal, and rewrote the US tax code to favour the wealthy.

Liar.

Then Reagan attacked the Air Traffic Controllers Union

Fired their illegally striking asses!!!

Reagan said that wealth would "trickle down" to the workers from their bosses.

When did he say any such thing? Are you lying again?

What happened is that all of the wealth "trickled up" to the richest Americans and corporations.

Liar.

 

[Dragonlady]

The American Middle Class was created by the unions and by Roosevelt's "New Deal" which heavily taxed the wealthy, and gave tax breaks to the working class and homeowners.

He sounds awesome!

What was the working class tax rate before FDR cut it? After?

Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party gutted the New Deal, and rewrote the US tax code to favour the wealthy.

Liar.

Then Reagan attacked the Air Traffic Controllers Union

Fired their illegally striking asses!!!

Reagan said that wealth would "trickle down" to the workers from their bosses.

When did he say any such thing? Are you lying again?

What happened is that all of the wealth "trickled up" to the richest Americans and corporations.

Liar.

So really, you've said NOTHING to refute what I wrote other than to call me a liar. That's typical for you.

 

[Whodatsaywhodat.]

The US Is Officially A Banana Republic: ​

The Top 1% Now Own More Wealth Than The Entire Middle Class​

The US Is Officially A Banana Republic: The Top 1% Now Own More Wealth Than The Entire Middle Class

In some ways, we sympathize with Neel Kashkari's fake "concern" about the unprecedented we...

austrian.economicblogs.org

Summary:
In some ways, we sympathize with Neel Kashkari's fake "concern" about the unprecedented wealth inequality that has emerged in the US in recent years and which has resulted in a slow, methodical and relentless destruction of the US middle class ... or rather make that precedented because there was another time when the top 0.1% had amassed as much wealth and it was just before the Great Depression. After all, who hasn't seen charts such as these showing the tremendous divergence in income earned by America's Top 1% at the expense of the middle and lower classes: Or that the top 10% now own 70% of all the US wealth, the same as the middle and lower classes combined...... up 10% from the 60% of wealth they controlled at the start of the century.
~Snip~
It's not just stocks that have benefited the super rich: housing has too. While a generation ago, the middle class held more than 44% of real estate assets in the country, it is now down to 38%. The pandemic generated a boom in housing values that has benefited most those who owned real estate in the first place. It also led to soaring rents this year, which hurt those who can’t afford a house. The self-feeding loop was yet another source of wealth transfer for the wealthier.
So the next time someone abuses the popular phrase "they hate us for our [fill in the blank]", perhaps it's time to counter that "they" may not "hate" us at all, but rather are making fun of what has quietly and slowly but surely become the world's biggest banana republic?
And it has not Russia, nor China, nor any other foreign enemy to blame except one: the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States.
Full story here

Comment:
Historically, bad shit ensues when this is sustained. Given a fed-up heavily armed populace, well....
The 18th century French banker and philosopher named Richard Cantillon noticed a phenomenon that when new money was issued by the king/government, it always flowed first to those closest to the source - the rich, powerful and connected.
He wrote called ‘An Essay on Economic Theory,” and his basic theory was that who benefits when the state prints a bunch of money is based on the institutional setup of that state. In the 18th century, this meant that the closer you were to the king and government power, the more you benefitted. The rich received “new money” first, often on beneficial terms. The further away you were, ie) average workers, the more you were harmed, due to inflation and debasement.
Money, in other words, is not neutral. This general observation, that money printing has distributional consequences that operate through the price system, is known as the “Cantillon Effect.”
The solution is simple. Break up Amazon and apply the law to politicians that have become multi-millionaires by insider trading.

Thanks democrats. You finally did it.

 

[Whodatsaywhodat.]

So really, you've said NOTHING to refute what I wrote other than to call me a liar. That's typical for you.

And typical for you , a lying sack of shit.

 

[Dragonlady]

And typical for you , a lying sack of shit.

Then post information to prove me WRONG. Calling me names simply proves I'm NOT lying and YOU'VE got NOTHING, which is typical for you fuck boy clowns.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

So really, you've said NOTHING to refute what I wrote other than to call me a liar. That's typical for you.

You are a liar.

If you weren't, you'd have been able to post the answers to my questions to prove I'm wrong.

You won't, because you can't. Liar.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Then post information to prove me WRONG. Calling me names simply proves I'm NOT lying and YOU'VE got NOTHING, which is typical for you fuck boy clowns.

The American Middle Class was created by the unions and by Roosevelt's "New Deal" which heavily taxed the wealthy, and gave tax breaks to the working class and homeowners.

Roosevelt didn't give tax breaks to the working class and homeowners. Liar.

Prove he did.

 

[sartre play]

Precisely!

Thank you for posting!

Don't forget bail outs, Every time they mess up we bail them out. So they never learn to cover there own back sides.

 

[BackAgain]

The US Is Officially A Banana Republic: The Top 1% Now Own More Wealth Than The Entire Middle Class​

Heck. I didn’t realize that had a fucking thing to do with the term “banana republic.”

Oh wait. It doesn’t.

 

[sartre play]

Yes, the middle class is somewhat smaller. At the same time, those below the poverty level, have remained constant. What has happened is that middle-income workers have moved into the upper-income group of workers.

The damage being done by Biden/Harris administration to our economy could take decades for us to recover. It is another disaster getting worse by the day.

Would have to disagree that" those below the poverty level have remained constant" Never in 80 years have seen any where near the numbers of homeless we have now.

 

[Dragonlady]

You are a liar.

If you weren't, you'd have been able to post the answers to my questions to prove I'm wrong.

You won't, because you can't. Liar.

You didn't post any information at all. Denying my facts and calling me a liar isn't refuting my post.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

You didn't post any information at all. Denying my facts and calling me a liar isn't refuting my post.

You want me to post proof that FDR didn't do what you claimed?

Why don't you post proof he did? Post your "facts".

Still waiting.

 

[bendog]

I was a teenager in the 1950s,

That was when we really had a middle class.

And the country was so much happier.

I didn't think anyone was older than me! LOL But I recall very distinctly the early 1960s, and my father and his friends, and I agree. The race "thing" was lurking, but the message was "unity." It was a little weird when one of the guys who had a lot of money threw a christmas party or barbcue for the other guys in the Kiwanis Club ... less so the Elks.

But the only fault I saw in Reagan moving the top income tax tier to 50% was I knew his "spending cuts" were lies. But if they'd stayed at that rate or even at 38%, my guess is we'd have been ok. But, even so, the very wealthy ended up making out like bandits, as while avg income rose 75%, the median income rose only 10%, during his term. The disparity of where the tax cut benefits eventually went is obvious, but inflation fell, and most of us considered ourselves better off. I certainly did. But the deficits tripled from 1980-90, and the top tax rate went to 28%.

Reagan tax cuts - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And as the OP said, the rich derived most of the benefit. And their % of tax on income paid has decreased as deficits rose. And even before the McConnell Trump tax cuts failed to produce their promised 4% growth, and grew the deficit by 1/3 even before the pandemic, the top 1% were paying close to their effective federal tax rate at the end of Reagan's term. I'd guess they are now close to W's achievement of lowering them further.

Effective Income Tax Rates Have Fallen for The Top One Percent Since World War II

While average effective tax rates barely changed in the US from 1945 to 2015, the average tax rates of high-income households fell sharply—from about 50...

www.taxpolicycenter.org

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I didn't think anyone was older than me! LOL But I recall very distinctly the early 1960s, and my father and his friends, and I agree. The race "thing" was lurking, but the message was "unity." It was a little weird when one of the guys who had a lot of money threw a christmas party or barbcue for the other guys in the Kiwanis Club ... less so the Elks.

But the only fault I saw in Reagan moving the top income tax tier to 50% was I knew his "spending cuts" were lies. But if they'd stayed at that rate or even at 38%, my guess is we'd have been ok. But, even so, the very wealthy ended up making out like bandits, as while avg income rose 75%, the median income rose only 10%, during his term. The disparity of where the tax cut benefits eventually went is obvious, but inflation fell, and most of us considered ourselves better off. I certainly did. But the deficits tripled from 1980-90, and the top tax rate went to 28%.

Reagan tax cuts - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And as the OP said, the rich derived most of the benefit. And their % of tax on income paid has decreased as deficits rose. And even before the McConnell Trump tax cuts failed to produce their promised 4% growth, and grew the deficit by 1/3 even before the pandemic, the top 1% were paying close to their effective federal tax rate at the end of Reagan's term. I'd guess they are now close to W's achievement of lowering them further.

Effective Income Tax Rates Have Fallen for The Top One Percent Since World War II

While average effective tax rates barely changed in the US from 1945 to 2015, the average tax rates of high-income households fell sharply—from about 50...

www.taxpolicycenter.org

And as the OP said, the rich derived most of the benefit. And their % of tax on income paid has decreased as deficits rose.

And yet, the rich pay a higher share of income tax receipts than they did before.

 

[Curried Goats]

Agree.. That was definitely a work in progress, but it shouldn't negate the fact that we had a better relationship between government and citizen's back then for the most part. What we have now is a failed federal government who has seriously lost it's way overtime, and a citizenry that is now paying the hellish price for it .

It was not a work in progress, it was a purposeful effort to leave Black Americans out of New Deal benefits. Benefits that helped to subsidize white home ownership which accounts for the vast majority of wealth in the white middle class. Posters like TheParser will reminisce about the 50s but are ignorant about who's policies made it great. They'll point to black communities and say look how democratic policies failed them never having the understanding or context of history to realize those socialist policies were being implemented by segregationists who didn't want to help the black the community. If we look at the white community who they were meant to benefit we see they worked spectacularly. It's isn't until we get to Reagan and trickle down economics we see the slowing down of growth and now the pulling back of the white middle class. Turns out when you subsidize corporations and the wealthy instead of working people and wait for that to trickle on down to you, what you actually get is an explosion of wealth in the 1%. Who knew? Totally unforeseeable.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Turns out when you subsidize corporations and the wealthy instead of working people

Who subsidized corporations and the wealthy? How?