Richest 1 percent earn biggest share since '20s

[bshole]

You're right, it is hard. So until you can get a worldwide agreement on wages, working conditions, environmental impact, and everything else that Americans want, then yes we're going to be uncompetitive.

Well we used to have a mortal lock on technology until our CEOs (through their own avarice) gave that technology to China free of charge.... China got the intellectual property along with the jobs. The Chinese did not EARN the technological advantage, American CEOs GAVE it to them. The elite were rewarded for their greed and America was punished.

Bob, quit blaming poor Americans and put the blame where it belongs... the nefarious, grasping, politically connected rich! Admit it once and for all that we in actuality live in a oligarchy.... exactly as we did at the beginning of the 20th century.

 

[BoberFett]

Well, good luck with that. Socialism, here we come (and it will come...people will demand it and vote - en mass - for it. Already starting).

By the way, I really hate the words uncompetitive and inefficient. The US worker is the most productive worker in the world and always gets labeled and uncompetitive and inefficient. In reality, it all boils down to 'we cost too much' (for the investor class to swallow).

What do you mean by most productive? Are we 5% more productive? 10%? 50%? Does our efficiency mean an employee here is worth 10x as much as one in China or Mexico?

 

[BoberFett]

Well we used to have a mortal lock on technology until our CEOs (through their own avarice) gave that technology to China free of charge.... China got the intellectual property along with the jobs. The Chinese did not EARN the technological advantage, American CEOs GAVE it to them. The elite were rewarded for their greed and America was punished.

Bob, quit blaming poor Americans and put the blame where it belongs... the nefarious, grasping, politically connected rich! Admit it once and for all that we in actuality live in a oligarchy.... exactly as we did at the beginning of the 20th century.

You're an ignorant hick, go play in traffic.

 

[exdeath]

Growing up I never thought I would see a Revolution in the U.S. in my lifetime but now I believe it could happen.

It's all about the numbers.

When you have enough people desperate they will band together.

Open season on liberals with no consequences? Count me in.

I wont stop with individuals and winning the short term war. I will annihilate the liberal ideology, completely erase and reset every media center and educational institution, every supporter and breeding ground, so as to make sure it doesn't all happen over again in another 250 years.

 

[Mursilis]

By the way, I really hate the words uncompetitive and inefficient. The US worker is the most productive worker in the world and always gets labeled and uncompetitive and inefficient. In reality, it all boils down to 'we cost too much' (for the investor class to swallow).

It's not just the investor class saying the American worker costs too much. The American worker frequently says his/her fellow workers cost too much and instead opts to buy imported goods. It's not just the investor class which is guilty of sending jobs overseas.

 

[Engineer]

What do you mean by most productive? Are we 5% more productive? 10%? 50%? Does our efficiency mean an employee here is worth 10x as much as one in China or Mexico?

Don't know the answer. Are the currencies equal in your 10x as much example?

If not, there is a problem (and there is).

How about Chinese executives vs US executives? How about the US cost of living vs Chinese cost of living?

We can keep looking for reasons to cut the US worker down all we want but in reality, the more that flows to the top will cause more and more instability to the point of breaking. Those that fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. The 1920's are a good example of that....and the irony is that those at the top have undermined those at the bottom to the point that the top pulled the most in since 1928...ironic and telling indeed.

 

[Zaap]

It's not just the investor class saying the American worker costs too much. The American worker frequently says his/her fellow workers cost too much and instead opts to buy imported goods. It's not just the investor class which is guilty of sending jobs overseas.

Hell, many American workers are 100% convinced that they need to import the third world's workers so they can do jobs for pennies on the dollar. To not do so is racist. Congress is busy wringing their hands over how to make it happen- priority 1- even as we speak. Because you know, 10, 15, 20 as many as 30 million more people here, mostly poor third worlders desperate to do jobs for much less than Americans, will solve everything.

Why outsource to the third world, when you can just turn the US into the third world? But hey, it's a civil rights issue.

 

[Exterous]

I talked to people who were working in the 1970s.

In the mid to late 1970s a helper in a shipyard was making around $14 - $17 an hour.

A helper making $14 - $17 an hour today is dam good money.

~ EDIT~

Rather than using adjusted numbers the government provides, do your own math. How much were people making in the 1970s as compared to minimum wage?

In 1990 I was making 2.95X minimum wage.

By 2003 that same job had fallen to 2.57X minimum wage.

In 1976 a similar job was paying 7 - 8X minimum wage.

So - instead of using figures that cover everyone, use anechdotal evidence form a few small, isolated cases to make broad generalizations from? Riiiiight.

Sorry I'll stick to reported figures and not base my economic observations off of your pay. For all I know you are a shitty worker and don't get pay raises because of it

 

[Engineer]

It's not just the investor class saying the American worker costs too much. The American worker frequently says his/her fellow workers cost too much and instead opts to buy imported goods. It's not just the investor class which is guilty of sending jobs overseas.

I won't argue one bit that the American people did this partially to themselves but now they have no choice in many (most) of the products they buy and the execs didn't send it overseas only because they 'had to'...they wanted to to make even more money. At the same time, the Chinese and other government 'heavily promotes' (i.e. forces buying) of Chinese made good to their people. The Japanese are so damn brand loyal that they refuse to use US made and US company goods if possible, even on the assembly lines in the US (I see this first hand year in and year out).

The US free trade is one sided....and as long as it stays that way, the US people will continue to decline (or at least stagnate)...possibly for multiple decades. We're well on our way.

 

[ivwshane]

Democrats have been cultivating a generation of people who are begging for socialism.

If an elected official dare talk about cutting government benefits, the press will butcher that official on the table of public opinion.

It has gotten to the point where people expect,,, no, they demand government handouts.

Just the food stamps numbers are terrifying. Something like 22 million households are receiving government assistance just for food.

You mean things like farm subsidies? Defense spending on things the military says they don't need? Those kind of democrat hand outs

/s

I'm sure the democrat "handouts" were done for votes and not because of a need or an imbalance in the market. I mean it's not like companies like Walmart dont pay enough so their workers can still qualify for government assistence.

 

[Sonikku]

The overall tax burden over the past 30 years has shifted from the middle class to the rich. The rich are being taxed to death. If anything, theirs should go down while the middle and lower classes go up so they start paying their fair share.

 

[Texashiker]

So - instead of using figures that cover everyone, use anechdotal evidence form a few small, isolated cases to make broad generalizations from? Riiiiight.

Sorry I'll stick to reported figures and not base my economic observations off of your pay. For all I know you are a shitty worker and don't get pay raises because of it

Rather than present your own evidence you rely on a government report - like the government has never fudged reports - you attack me?

You think my examples are isolated?

Tell me something, how is Detroit doing? During the 1970s didn't Detroit have one of the highest per capita income out of the entire nation? How is GM moving out of Detroit working for that area? It is doubtful wages will return to anywhere like they were in the 1970s in the next generation.

How is the textile areas of the mid-eastern USA doing again?

 

[Paul98]

You're an ignorant hick, go play in traffic.

🙄

 

[dmcowen674]

The overall tax burden over the past 30 years has shifted from the middle class to the rich. The rich are being taxed to death. If anything, theirs should go down while the middle and lower classes go up so they start paying their fair share.

Your statement is a crock of shit and you know it.

If the rich are so "taxed to death" then why are they still here amassing more wealth than ever before.

They are free to leave and they are not leaving, they are just taking and hoarding more and more sapping this once great Country into oblivion.

 

[rudder]

Look, GM is earning more than it costs to operate now. They have done this by shutting down plants, adjusting healthcare costs, and using less people to create the same amount or more of product.

In terms of dollar value, the U.S. outputs quite a bit. Compare the number of workers that its takes for China to produce $200,000,000 worth of t-shirts versus how many people to make a $200,000,000 jet.

All is not lost though because I think Americans can produce normal priced high quality goods affordably (i.e., blue jeans). Large corporations at the behest of share holders put a lot of money into advertising and making the rules of the marketplace bend in their favor. Both political parties in Washington are complicit and are screwing over the average U.S. citizen. Just look at the recent rule changes allowing processed chicken from China anonymously into the U.S. markets.

 

[ivwshane]

The overall tax burden over the past 30 years has shifted from the middle class to the rich. The rich are being taxed to death. If anything, theirs should go down while the middle and lower classes go up so they start paying their fair share.

I like using the sarcasm tag myself /s

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Growing up I never thought I would see a Revolution in the U.S. in my lifetime but now I believe it could happen.

It's all about the numbers.

When you have enough people desperate they will band together.

Open season on liberals with no consequences? Count me in.

I wont stop with individuals and winning the short term war. I will annihilate the liberal ideology, completely erase and reset every media center and educational institution, every supporter and breeding ground, so as to make sure it doesn't all happen over again in another 250 years.

Go ahead and try.

You rich are so outnumbered you wouldn't last very long in the "short term war" as you call it.

 

[PlanetJosh]

I was fishing around in the thread trying to see if anyone here is that rich. Maybe I missed it, I'l go back and read every post maybe.

 

[Texashiker]

Look, GM is earning more than it costs to operate now. They have done this by shutting down plants, adjusting healthcare costs, and using less people to create the same amount or more of product.

Are you saying GM was not profitable before they moved out of the USA?

Lets see, GM cries they are going bankrupt while Toyota makes a nice profit. Yea, something is wrong there. Rather than focusing on a quality product GM cries to Washington for a bailout.

 

[Matt1970]

Yep, that's exactly how I picture you when I read your posts: clueless, childish, and uselessly noisy. Yes, Dave is a troll, but the story is important. Your thread crapping, in contrast, was a waste of bandwidth.

So go make your own money and stop bitching about what others have like a whining sniveling brat.

 

[Matt1970]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Growing up I never thought I would see a Revolution in the U.S. in my lifetime but now I believe it could happen.

It's all about the numbers.

When you have enough people desperate they will band together.

Go ahead and try.

You rich are so outnumbered you wouldn't last very long in the "short term war" as you call it.

LOL, band together and do what? A lot of the rich you will be attempting to take out or round up or whatever are in the government. Ever met a poor US Senator? Ever met a middle class Senator for that matter? You going to take over the government and the military?

 

[Matt1970]

Your statement is a crock of shit and you know it.

If the rich are so "taxed to death" then why are they still here amassing more wealth than ever before.

They are free to leave and they are not leaving, they are just taking and hoarding more and more sapping this once great Country into oblivion.

Actually it's not a crock of shit. The top 1% pay nearly 30% of all taxes.

 

[Engineer]

Actually it's not a crock of shit. The top 1% pay nearly 30% of all taxes.

That may be but your chart doesn't show that. It shows them paying 27.9% of their income in taxes and 21.6% of the TOTAL taxes in the US. They also earn 21% of the income (both latter numbers from the chart on the left). Your chart shows an almost 1 to 1 correlation with % of US income brought in vs % of TOTAL taxes paid.

 

[Nintendesert]

I'm curious as to how many defending this are actually 1% earners and all the rest are simply useful idiots.

 

[blankslate]

Open season on liberals with no consequences? Count me in.

I wont stop with individuals and winning the short term war. I will annihilate the liberal ideology, completely erase and reset every media center and educational institution, every supporter and breeding ground, so as to make sure it doesn't all happen over again in another 250 years.

Good luck with that...

maybe you can get Hugo Boss to design the uniforms of the militia you form to do this, get Volkswagon to donate vehicles for the cause, and get IBM to help you out with the librul database... 🙄