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Third World America?
Arianna
Huffington was interviewed on Tech Ticker on Wednesday discussing America's
shrinking middle class:
In a Wall
Street Journal op-ed today, former “Car Czar” Steve Rattner, a
multi-millionaire from decades as an investment banker, says Wall Street
is ignorant to the dangers of America’s growing wealth disparity.Rattner
rattles off some shocking stats in the piece:
- -- “Incomes
of the average American worker (after adjustment for inflation) was
lower in 2008 (let alone 2009) than it was in 1999.”- --
"30,000 Americans command a full 6% of income in this country (a higher
percentage than at even the end of the Roaring '20s)"Tech
Ticker discussed the growing income divide with Arianna Huffington,
co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post.
“We
are in danger of becoming an America with a rich and the poor,"
Huffington tells Aaron in this clip, taped at Tuesday’s CM Summit in New York City. "And at the
heart of America has always been a middle class,” the erosion of which
threatens to upset our democracy, she says.
At the heart of the problem is high unemployment. The broadest
measure of unemployment (U6) stands at 16.6% and a record 46% of
America's unemployed have been out of work 6 months or longer.
Because
of that “the American dream has been reduced to luck… and the odds
right now are against people,” notes Huffington, author
of several books, including the forthcoming "Third World America".
But we are not hopeless or helpless, she
says: “There’s a lot we can do both at the government level and at the
individual level.”
In an update on the old "think global, act
local" campaign of the greens, Huffington promotes getting involved in
local causes, be it working in a food kitchen, unemployed white collar
workers volunteering their skills, or trying to start a business.
But
income inequality isn't just an American problem, it's pretty much a
global problem. Nowhere is poverty growing more rapidly than among
elderly population, and the problem is getting worse. Consider this:
- Fewer
than half of Canadians approaching retirement age have an income
strategy in place, and two thirds haven’t considered the possibility
that they could outlive their savings, according
to a report by the BMO Retirement Institute. - In the UK,
pension savers could be facing a bleak retirement, that’s
the message from pension specialist Partnership. According to
Partnership, nine in every 10 pension savers retiring in the last five
years had less than £50,000 and eight in 10 had less than £30,000 saved
up.
As you listen to the interview below, you get a sense that
we're heading down the wrong path. When foreclosure lawyers are busier
than manufacturers, it's the sign of a sick economy. And while
fundamentals are improving, serious long-term structural issues remain.
Pension poverty is one of the issues that far too many will struggle
with. Wonder if it will be discussed at the G-20 (don't hold your
breath).
»
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I stopped reading right after "While fundamentals are improving,.."
- hell, i didn't even read it after what you said.
these articles by leo are not leo... they are cut and paste fillers to meet deadlines for pensions inc.
here ....this is what they think, he thinks... assorted others think,
some says its better . some say its worse .. put your left foot in put your right foot out, do it twice, do the footsie footsie that's what its all about.
yah
But you're missing the bigger point: living standards for all - not just for the elderly - will fall.
To put it simply, since the 1970s, and especially since the opening of China in 1978 and of the communist world in 1989, western workforces have been out-competed and OUT-PRODUCED. Those economies have become inefficient, sclerotic, and high-cost, burdened by regulation, taxation and a host of entitlement costs. Pensioners too will increasingly have to go back to what traditionally has been: a much more penurious old age...forget pensions of 50%+ of income.
Where are the wealth producers in our economy? Where are the mines, mills and factories producing basic, necessary items? And, more importantly, who can afford to purchase the output of westerners at prices sufficient to maintain today's bloated standard of living?
Western labour is the victim of of it's own expectations...and what happens when absolutely EVERYONE tries to borrow to maintain living standards: been there, done that.
Coming next to a high-standard-of-living economy near you: EVERYONE trying to SELL stuff - at the same time - to support their lifestyles...
Also round the corner: what happens to currencies of economies which are unproductive & consumer-oriented vis-a-vis currencies of the world's cheap and efficient producer economies?
Answer: they collapse, slowly or quickly. And this will show up, in a world of fiat currencies, in price inflation in items of limited quantity (gold, oil, food, metals, fuels) and continued demand. For junk, paper, and debt-dependent assets, bargains down the road - IF you want them.
"Coming next to a high-standard-of-living economy near you: EVERYONE trying to SELL stuff - at the same time - to support their lifestyles..."
deserves a repeat
Dont know why so many people harp about the disappearance of the middle class. The middle class was built in a certain way (transferring wealth from the weakest places of the world) and once this way is drying up (in terms of rate), the natural consequence is that the middle class is going to take it fully.
In the end, pensioners are going to unleash a new colonization wave. Very likely, with their pension, they wont be able to do something else than affording little if they stay in their country. If they move in a third world country, due to the differences between groups, they are going to be able to afford a villa on the coastline, have cheap health care, have servants at home etc...
Really Leo; you are actually referencing Arianna " If I were more liberally biased and indoctrinated I would clone myself, then change my clones gender and marry him and adopt Cambodian babies and enroll them in a trans-gender themed kindergarten so they could learn the values of tolerance and mixed sexual feelings" Huffington.
Well, ok.
The only positive thing in this interview is that it wasn't conducted by fucking Blodget.
Well said! Ariana Huffington is the poster child for PC bullshit. But, as you point out, at least she'd not a confirmed liar & thief.
+10
I truly value your contributions. You speak to a lot of us out here in the etherwebs, Mr. Bastard.
CB for President 2012 ?
Im not an American; so that might come as an obstacle when I run for the White House.
Don´t be so pessimistic...
Being foreign born didn´t stop Obama from becoming Prez.
Citizenship is more a suggestion than a requirement for the Presidency these days. A "nice to have", but not an absolute necessity...
Ignore that dusty old parchment...
Hasn't been a problem of late............go ahead, apply.
Once you get the invite to the Bilderberg Group, it won't matter where you were born. I can see it now - the MSM touts Cheeky Bastard for President/King of the USA. Question is: who will be on the ticket with you? I'd vote for a Bastard/Dissonance ticket.............
Born in the USA is overrated now.
you seem to be a man with a dream cheeky!
A perverted one yes, but at least you have one :)
My dream involves having my own Island with 6 Tahi 18 year old wifes that are able to obey my wishes like my dog does and a staff made up by the playboy bunnies. I'm still doing the math to figure out how much money I'll need to get there, but I think it's Doable to :)
No, no; thats not my dream; read the comment again. The writing in the quotation marks is the nickname I gave to Arianna Huffington.
FYI
50 million plus if you want to be safe; 250 million plus if you want to rock like 80s glamor rock bands every day.
*sighs
We are a Republic, not a Democracy.
Leo , you are not responding to your own readers? Are you ok, or still in shock from all the good news?
Hooray! It's all burning now!
Third World America?...
You Know What That Means for Canada Leo?
Amerikan illegals are going to start flooding over the Canadian border. You know we are illiterate and don't speak the Queen's English.
We will bring our culture, guns and bibles.
We will refuse to assimilate, learn the language sticking to our slang.
We will wave our Amerikan flags at you on Queens Day
We will refuse to recognize your holidays.
We will make a big deal out of Cuarto de Julio and hold demonstrations...
We will drive giant beatup SUVs everywhere.
We will smuggle and deal drugs since we already have the guns.
We will eat our greazzzy cultural diet of junk food and McDonalds.
We will move into your neighborhoods and drive down your property values.
We will clog up the welfare rolls and health benefits, because we are uneducated and lazy...
Look On The Bright Side
An elitist end timer douche like Harper and his pals will have much cheaper supply of maids, nannies, domestics and gardeners to choose from...
You Canadians are in for a hell of a ride with a 3rd world neighbor on the southern border.
"How's that working out for you?"
All those things you mentioned won't come as shocks as many of those already exist here.
Though we will be on the lookout for more of you fat ones.
NB: Harper is a douche. Even we don't like him.
Que broma es esa?
LA 2010 = Toronto 2030
Due to this post 405339, we regret to inform you that Leo is in a state of shock and will not be able to reply.
Judging by most of the Canadians I've met - fat, self-centered, hyper-conservative, truck-driving blobs of trans-fat who only think about "more more more" - the Americans won't even be noticed..
BumpSkool
Hugh the Polar Bear will be paying you a visit later. The Ice Roads are down for the summer. He has PLENTY of free time.
I'm Canadian and I don't find your comments particularly inaccurate or offensive. I think we are still playing catch up to you guys in the fat department though.
As an aside Leo, I appreciate your commentary even if I do not agree with some of your views. Please keep contributing, Zerohedge is better because of your good work.
I agree. The guy has balls. Much appreciated.
Too bad they're in his head, instead of that gooey grey thing most of the rest of us have.
gooey?
grey, probably different colors around the globe, don't ya think.
plus you got junked†
+1
Furloughs and no raise or COLA in four years.
Health insurance premiums go up 15% a year.
They're raising the decuctible $500 per person this July 1 and this is one of the best plans you can get in the state. I figured that the last three years I've paid at least 10% of my yearly income on insurance, co-pays, and dedcutibles and me and my two kids are healthy. Just the routine stuff that you have to do a co-pay on, pay out of pocket until you meet deductible, then pay 20% of everything after that.
City raised the assessed value of my house by 40% THIS PAST OCTOBER in a falling market!
Being nickle and dimed at every turn, every school fee, library fee, insurance payment, EVERYTHING is going up while my take home pay goes down.
The only thing cheaper is gas and natural gas, but that doesn't even start to make up for the other costs. I laugh when I hear pundits on CNBC say that lower gas prices are a "tax break". Yeah right.
I don't want a witch hunt of the rich or to starve the poor but I sure would like to be able to be responsible and be able to pay my bills and take care of my kids and for there to be a middle class again.
I've heard drug trafficing pay well. Maybe you should do a carreer change?
Why not? You get to wear a gun, you'll travel a lot, meet a lot of interesting people, ...
Just call 1-800-DOPE-ME-UP
...sleep with two ojos open.
Shite. They are just getting started.
Leo, I would like to hear your thoughts on where you see the economy of the USA in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. I can't help but think somewhere deep down you know the numbers don't work for SS or Medicare, let alone Obama's never ending wars. And I am certain you know pensions, and retirements in general, are a ticking bomb. Do you have faith that people will take a massive haircut on their entitlements in stride? Are you seeing some sort of miraculous turnaround that will have GDP grow 15% per annum for a decade or three? I want to understand where your optimism springs from. Is it merely an emotional hope, or are you seeing something I'm not?
The haircut will go down better if people responsible for fraud (from lying homeowners to the New Centuries, Countrywides (incl. any fraudulent employees and owners), etc) are prosecuted and given substantial sentences.
I find myself channeling Bill Black: Where are the mortgage fraud prosecutions?
Fundamentals are improving?? For whom? Goldman Sachs, BofA, and Al Gore? Please, give us something more than empty platitudes..... Consider, for example, how many people will be ruined by the Gulf Tragedy. Unlike a worthless Fed Reserve that creates money out of nothing, a great deal of real productive capacity is now degraded.
Personally, I have done well in the last 5 years yet I see most of my friends and acquaintances getting financially and emotionally devastated by forces they cannot comprehend, much less respond in an effective manner. Nevertheless, they still produce more than the clowns that populate the circus on the Potomac. Now there´s a good place to find lots of useless eaters. I am in favour of giving them carbon rations and then and lowering the cap until they disappear.
Get ready for class warfare! When it comes apart, the 30,000 better know how how to survive in a combat situation.
Ready for class warfare?
If 30,000 Americans (less than 0.01% of the total population) gobble zee goo a historic record of 6% of the total income generated in the USA, it can only means the war was waged a long time ago..and they already won.
They also better know how to fly their own planes, cause a lot of unemployed folks WILL be looking for'em!
Posted on other thread:
Malik is just a bomb throwing shill for the current admistration.(Progressives are Marxists,and these folks are .)
Tea Party people, the white right, are not racist's,or bigots, their a mix of the GOP, Independents, REAL Dems,Libertarians, and demograhics are largely upper middle class, and damned tired of watching the dismantling of our Republic..................as hard as they try to make them satan, we know who is stirring the SHIT.
The current Admin, is WANTING a violent altercation, so it can use it as an excuse to take over via martial law.
People involved, know this,and are not playing his game.
This crap is correct in one regard.............80 million weapons owners, and over 200 million KNOWN firearms,(likely double that),trillions of rounds of ammunition(purchased and laid in, since '94),(and BHO like Clinton, has been the best salesman for the Gun industry since Clinton) in the hands of a largely highly capable group of patriotic Americans........
Just wondering, but wasnt the Republic racist? Actually, the first racist government in human history.
So watching the dismantling of the Republic? What republic?
Most racists today have learned their lesson of duplicity. They are racist but wont tell.
you sound like an achronistic knucklehead
Did you teach yourself math so you could post around here?
Ummmm, people teaching themselves are a very tiny minority. Most people only learn what it is already known by others.
What is the meaning of the question?
Really? Who taught your history class?
+1
Here is the hate-spewing, spit-the-news Chris Matthews. It's really scary to see such a concerted effort against a righteously frustrated political movement:
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/msnbc/upcoming_chris_matthews_tea_pa...