America's wealth gap 'unsustainable,' may worsen: Harvard study

[dmcowen674]

9-8-2014

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ameri...worsen-harvard-study-110255435--business.html

America's wealth gap 'unsustainable,' may worsen: Harvard study



The widening gap between America's wealthiest and its middle and lower classes is "unsustainable", but is unlikely to improve any time soon, according to a Harvard Business School study released on Monday.


"Shortsighted executives may be satisfied with an American economy whose firms win in global markets without lifting U.S. living standards. But any leader with a long view understands that business has a profound stake in the prosperity of the average American," according to the report.


"Thriving citizens become more productive employees, more willing consumers, and stronger supporters of pro-business policies," it said. "Struggling citizens are disgruntled at work, frugal at the cash register, and anti-business at the ballot box."

==============================

Wait there's more from this Harvard study:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/08/businesses-reluctant-to-hire_n_5784384.html

America's 'Job Creators' Would Rather Do Anything But Create Jobs



America's capitalists take every chance they get to remind us that they are our "job creators," but it turns out that their least-favorite thing on earth to do is create jobs.


Most U.S. business leaders would rather build robots, outsource work or use part-time employees than hire workers full-time

 

[dmcowen674]

Those "Executives" know the ballot box won't do squat.

It will take pitchforks for change.

 

[MongGrel]

Yeah saw that one earlier.

Pretty true I'd say.

 

[MongGrel]

The pitchforks are starting to come out lately.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2398931

Among other things.

 

[Attic]

Our governments solution is to tell people they are better off and then show them numbers to "prove" it. Many grow increasingly distressed at the politicization of intelligence when discussing what is actually going on, common sense is becoming thought crime if it runs counter to what the government is trying to peddle.

Now it's all about perception control. It can work, there is enough dumb swimming around to bite just about anything that looks tasty and has the right color.

 

[Matt1970]

Never mind what you have, look what the other guy has.

 

[alcoholbob]

Of course its unsustainable. All of the growth in income come from those who are connected to the monetary facet of the government. 7 of the 10 richest counties in the country surround Washington, D.C., whereas 15 years ago not a single one was on the top 10 list.

This is only possible if the dollar is the reserve currency. Government doing this--printing money to redistribute to itself and its cronies--would simply crash the dollar if this wasn't a currency backed by foreign central banks devaluing their own currencies to prevent the dollar from falling against their currencies.

 

[Attic]

Of course its unsustainable. All of the growth in income come from those who are connected to the monetary facet of the government. 7 of the 10 richest counties in the country surround Washington, D.C., whereas 15 years ago not a single one was on the top 10 list.

This is only possible if the dollar is the reserve currency. Government doing this--printing money to redistribute to itself and its cronies--would simply crash the dollar if this wasn't a currency backed by foreign central banks devaluing their own currencies to prevent the dollar from falling against their currencies.

If done right, this sounds sustainable to me. Obviously not forever, but for a pretty damn long time.

There's clearly incentive to keep the scheme going by those who have a fair amount of influence and control over the scheme.

 

[sunzt]

Never mind what you have, look what the other guy has.

*waves magic hand*
Everything is great, be grateful you have a job. Unsustainable wealth gaps are what you need. Trickle down works.

 

[theeedude]

I use "when trickle down starts working" instead of "when pigs fly" nowadays. Seems to get the point across better.

 

[Mai72]

I wish more Americans would travel overseas to see that we aren't the greatest anymore. The quality of life that I have in Thailand is better than the life I lead in America. We still foolishly believe that we're the best, and our quality of life surpasses every other country. America is great! That's if you have the money. If you don't have the funds then you're in for a rude awakening.

 

[Zorkorist]

Dude,

You are the one living in a third-world country. I believe they call you ex-patriots.... as in get the fuck out.

-John

 

[shira]

Never mind what you have, look what the other guy has.

In other words, you think that an economy is just fine that structurally causes an ever-increasing disparity in wealth between a shrinking few and a growing many. You think that the "end game" of such an economy - where 99.9% of the population is impoverished and .1% is wealthy - is wonderful. And you blame the 99.9% because - if they all worked really hard - they could all be part of the 0.1%. It's their fault.

 

[Mai72]

Dude,

You are the one living in a third-world country. I believe they call you ex-patriots.... as in get the fuck out.

-John

Thailand is far from a third world country. It's a developing country. The reason people are retiring in places like Thailand is because it's gotten too expensive to stay in America. The cost of living is insanely cheap in Asia, plus the quality of life is very good.

I'm not knocking America. We are still the best, but our star is slowly fading.

The problem with your assumption that I live in a third world country is the problem most Americans have. Their mindset is still in the past. If you traveled in Asia you would see that the quality of life has greatly increased over the last 20 years.

 

[positivedoppler]

Dude,

You are the one living in a third-world country. I believe they call you ex-patriots.... as in get the fuck out.

-John

You are what's wrong with this country. Bury your head in the sand and tell anyone who disagree with you that we have problems to GTFO. This country wasn't found by people living in denial like you. This country was founded by a bunch of folks who were tired of the Brit Royalty stealing their money and did something about it to improve their situation instead of running away.

An intelligent response would have been, Mai, care to elaborate why Thailand is better off then we are? If this proves to be true then we should collectively as a country figure out how we can start re improving the lives of Americans.

 

[dmcowen674]

I wish more Americans would travel overseas to see that we aren't the greatest anymore. The quality of life that I have in Thailand is better than the life I lead in America. We still foolishly believe that we're the best, and our quality of life surpasses every other country. America is great! That's if you have the money. If you don't have the funds then you're in for a rude awakening.

The downfall of America is well documented in P&N

 

[Zorkorist]

In other words, you think that an economy is just fine that structurally causes an ever-increasing disparity in wealth between a shrinking few and a growing many. You think that the "end game" of such an economy - where 99.9% of the population is impoverished and .1% is wealthy - is wonderful. And you blame the 99.9% because - if they all worked really hard - they could all be part of the 0.1%. It's their fault.

You ignore that it is not free markers, competition and freedom, that is strangling America today, but rather Government and free-loaders.

How you can cry foul, at successful people, and cheer Government for stripping them of their rights, is beyond me.

And never mind that Government is putting you so far in debt, that the Rich People you so hate, make up like 1% of today's Government debt.

And that's YOUR debt.

No matter how many rich people you kill.

-John

 

[Zorkorist]

You are what's wrong with this country. Bury your head in the sand and tell anyone who disagree with you that we have problems to GTFO. This country wasn't found by people living in denial like you. This country was founded by a bunch of folks who were tired of the Brit Royalty stealing their money and did something about it to improve their situation instead of running away.

An intelligent response would have been, Mai, care to elaborate why Thailand is better off then we are? If this proves to be true then we should collectively as a country figure out how we can start re improving the lives of Americans.

Thank you for a pleasant response to an ugly situation.

Newbie.

-John

 

[positivedoppler]

You ignore that it is not free markers, competition and freedom, that is strangling America today, but rather Government and free-loaders.

How you can cry foul, at successful people, and cheer Government for stripping them of their rights, is beyond me.

And never mind that Government is putting you so far in debt, that the Rich People you so hate, make up like 1% of today's Government debt.

And that's YOUR debt.

No matter how many rich people you kill.

-John

The government that is putting everyone is debt is printing more money


Really the freeloaders? The freeloaders bottom 40% takes up less than .2% of the nation's wealth.



The wonder of misdirection. As of 2007, the bottom 40% has .2 percent of this countries wealth. Clearly the poor has too big of a piece of the pie and they need to start paying their fair share.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States

The real problem is accumulation of everything at the upper .1% as they are getting increasingly more powerful and wealthy at the expense of the bottom 70 percent. Take care of the upper 30% so they redirect their anger at the bottom 40% because they only want free government handouts right? The upper 30 percent has high hope to make it to the upper 1% so they are eager to side with the upper .1% and assign blame to the bottom 40%. The upper 50+ percent also with a realistic goal of joining the upper 30 to 10% also so they don't mind joining the poor bashing.

While those who don't work and leech the system is a minority of the bottom 40%, we might as well put the entire 40% in the same bucket and throwout that those who are poor deserves it.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The widening gap between America's wealthiest and its middle and lower classes is "unsustainable", but is unlikely to improve any time soon, according to a Harvard Business School study released on Monday.

I always love the word "unsustainable". Suggesting the situation will reverse itself naturally. But there's almost never a time frame given. Are we talking five years? Ten? Twenty? Fifty?

 

[Zorkorist]

The government that is putting everyone is debt is printing more money


Really the freeloaders? The freeloaders bottom 40% takes up less than .2% of the nation's wealth.



The wonder of misdirection. As of 2007, the bottom 40% has .2 percent of this countries wealth. Clearly the poor has too big of a piece of the pie and they need to start paying their fair share.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States

The real problem is accumulation of everything at the upper .1% as they are getting increasingly more powerful and wealthy at the expense of the bottom 70 percent. Take care of the upper 30% so they redirect their anger at the bottom 40% because they only want free government handouts right? The upper 30 percent has high hope to make it to the upper 1% so they are eager to side with the upper .1% and assign blame to the bottom 40%. The upper 50+ percent also with a realistic goal of joining the upper 30 to 10% also so they don't mind joining the poor bashing.

While those who don't work and leech the system is a minority of the bottom 40%, we might as well put the entire 40% in the same bucket and throwout that those who are poor deserves it.

You throw around a lot of numbers, forgive me if I ignore them.

Government is currently some 17 Trillion Dollars in debt. That means each of us owe roughly $50,000.

Maybe you should worry about YOUR $50,0000.

-John

 

[positivedoppler]

I learned back in High School that the key to a healthy society is the upper middle class. It is when the upper middle class become disgruntle that a revolution soon follows. I believe the above philosophy to be mostly true.

We are currently under a system that gingerly caters to the upper middle class and keeps us happy enough and hopeful enough. The upper 30%. While their standard of living is nowhere near the explosion at the upper 1% and epic wealth explosions of the upper .1%, the upper 30% is generally happier because their slice of the pie has gotten a little bigger too and those in the upper 30% live with the dream that one day they will join the upper 1% and above. In the mean time, instead of having the upper 30% look at the astronomical accumulation of wealth at the upper .1% level as the reason to why their wealth is not going up as high as they like, lets re-direct their anger at the lower 40% of society who owns a whopping 40% of the wealth.

CEOs are handsomely rewarded for carrying jobs overseas, but lets not worry about that and focus on the old dude collecting social security.

 

[Mai72]

You ignore that it is not free markers, competition and freedom, that is strangling America today, but rather Government and free-loaders.

How you can cry foul, at successful people, and cheer Government for stripping them of their rights, is beyond me.

And never mind that Government is putting you so far in debt, that the Rich People you so hate, make up like 1% of today's Government debt.

And that's YOUR debt.

No matter how many rich people you kill.

-John

I agree with your statement. Local government is a big issue in New Jersey. I'm from the garden state. We pay the highest property taxes in America. Why? Because we have a bloated government. Police officers are retiring at 55 and collecting state pensions that they are going to probably collect for the next 30 years. The system is broke. It's busted and is in a dire need of fixing. We all need to sacrifice, but when Chris Christie proposes pension reform, the police union wants to chop off his head. The party is over! We need to take drastic steps, or else future generations are going to pay dearly.

The welfare recipients is another big issue. I know a lot of people who game the system. They work under the table while collecting their monthly checks. I'm talking about able bodied grown men who are capable of work. I have no problem helping out people if they desperately need it. If you've been collecting welfare for 20 years then the state needs to investigate. They rarely do and that's a shame.

The reason most people attack the 1% is because they are the most hated. I guess jealousy is an issue. I wonder how many people smile to themselves when they hear or read in the news when a billionaire dies from a car or plane crash. Most people don't like other people when they are successful.

The middle class is slowly vanishing. That's a fact. The cause off this isn't just one thing, but a combination of things that has been brewing since the mid-70s. We need to create good paying jobs. Most people want to work, and they want to have a nice lifestyle. Is that too much to ask?

 

[Mai72]

You are what's wrong with this country. Bury your head in the sand and tell anyone who disagree with you that we have problems to GTFO. This country wasn't found by people living in denial like you. This country was founded by a bunch of folks who were tired of the Brit Royalty stealing their money and did something about it to improve their situation instead of running away.

An intelligent response would have been, Mai, care to elaborate why Thailand is better off then we are? If this proves to be true then we should collectively as a country figure out how we can start re improving the lives of Americans.

The only way we're going to improve our lives is to kick out both Democrats and Republicans. Both parties are beyond corrupt and I don't think we will never see change until they are both vanquished.

 

[positivedoppler]

You throw around a lot of numbers, forgive me if I ignore them.

Government is currently some 17 Trillion Dollars in debt. That means each of us owe roughly $50,000.

Maybe you should worry about YOUR $50,0000.

-John

Another silly misdirection, you are somehow under the very naive impression that the debt is somehow meant to be paid off. Hey it sound like a scary big number but trust me it'll get bigger. The first time I saw Ross Perot point out our billion dollar debt I thought the sky was going to fall. We are a debt base economy. It is mathematically impossible to ever pay off the national debt since the day we got off the gold standard. We sustain the debt by printing more money, and the problem the OP pointed out is that while new greens get printed, it floats to the upper .1% of the swimming pool.