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Visual Summary Of The World's High Net Worth Individuals
With a record 44 million Americans collecting foodstamps, the topic of a systemic and systematic class divides (especially now that Mort Zuckerman picked up on some of the very troubling developments to Marxists everywhere, first caught by Zero Hedge) will only get increasingly pronounced, and of all troubling trends in global finance, is likely the one to be the catalyst (as it always has in world history) for less than peaceful class upheavals. We have written extensively on the topic in the past (here and here), although for those new to this theme, below is a chart from the Guardian which effectively summarizes the snapshot distribution of the world's wealthiest at the end of 2010. As the bottom chart shows, the aftereffects of the financial crisis may be here to stay for 99% of the population... but not for the world's wealthiest 1%.
Source: Guardian
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The last time the wealth was distributed as it is today was in the late 1920s
just before the great depression. Here we go again.
The 1920's was more like the 1990's. Even the shoe shiners were investing in stocks and making money. This is getting to be more like a modern slave plantation.
The data would be more meaningful if it was displayed in both nominal numbers and as a percentage of the country/region's population. These kinds of distributions can certainly be a catalyst for change.
To get to the equality so many want, should be shown only on a global basis (why should the US be so unequal with the rest of the world?).
Looking forward to those in favor of economic equality voluntarily divesting themselves (i.e., give away their wealth) down to the world average levels. The poorest in the US will need to divest as well to reach world averages.
Unless poverty is discussed on an absolute basis (vs relative), it is seems the only rational argument is that all must have equal economic outcomes. Arguing about the precise "correct" degree of inequality makes little sense - who decides? and who is the genius central planner that ensures the inequality targets are met?
sorry to spam, but zh people, get in this chatroom and convince lulzsec to use their considerable internet firepower to break into goldman sachs/ jpm.
http://irc.lc/anonops/antisec/anonyops@@@
thank me later.
Nope that shipped has sailed into the sunset.
To get to the equality so many want....
like who?
are you claiming that YOU want to be equal to a Mexican peon?
or, are you saying that the peon wants to be like you?
The wealth gap / income gap is constantly in the news (and on this site) for the last couple of years. Most seem to believe this inequality is wrong.
I thought we defeated the idea that equal economic outcomes is a good idea some time in the last century -- it appears I was wrong. It seems to be very popular.
Isn't that one of the elements that breeds class envy which is one of the elements used to defeat the sheeple. When was the last time that you saw a movie star getting ripped for making a lot of money? Wouldn't that be MSM suicide?
Maybe you need a propaganda tune-up (we all do). Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0OrT-8gXMs
And voila'.... class envy is the seeming source to many riots and such things. I ver much recall the long conversation with my father about his history in Detroit circa 1967 when MLK fired up a hellava lotta people which sunsequently burned 1/2 the city to the ground.
then hollywood went and started 'exporting' the middle class lifestyle around the worlkd without the middle class earnings to go with it. voila' WWIII.
The dichotomy of an aristocratic Aristotle reasoning paired with a barbarian disdainful thought of poor Mexicans is so pathetic.
Open your fridge, chances are your fresh produce inside there was picked up by a Mexican bracero. Go work for a day at that American farm, do the same bracero job, and you will certainly find out why they want your American dream.
Might have something to do with winning two consecutive world wars, and installing an inequitable global monetary system as the spoils.
The system they replaced was inequitable itself, but that is simply a function of using debt as money (which is the root of our problems since 1694) which results in an Artificial Scarcity.
And, it might have something to do with the guys who set it up to begin with, the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution and apple pie.
Dunno about the apple pie, but I agree that the others no doubt were influential... but note that the inequality seems to have accelerated in favor of the US concurrent with a diminishment in the influence of the constitution inside the US.
Apparently, you don't know what is in the constitution.
Start with the billionaires and work your way down slowly over time e.g. 20 year time frame. A capital tax and corresponding national dividend would be a step in the right direction as well as a Tobin tax on financial transactions including algo HFT (yes even not executed ones)
Have flat income taxes. Make sure everyone pays outlaw trusts and other vehicles that dodge tax.
Don't print more money that the supply of real values in the economy.
Remove forever the concept of too big to fail. If you make bad bets you fail. When the game changes you fail e.g. fall of FSU.
Work to bring up standards of living in Africa/India/China/US/Eur. Unknown to many is that most US citizens have zero real savings just piles of debt. Stop performing economic hit men activities against global value producing citizens. (aka workers)
So unequal outcomes should be eliminated....? MSM and many here seem to agree.
Thought we defeated that idea last century. Oh well. Someone tell the Soviets they actually won.
Good luck.
ZH is filled with loads of marxist/Dems who in 2008 went for Hope & Change. It is all over their faces still like......
You obviously don't hang out here much....
I think hes closer to the mark than you realize. Plenty of marxists showing up here lately.
No.... a few liberal democrats/socialists. Real Marxists? Nary a one. Most Americans, which are the majority of posters here, wouldn't know a Marxist if they pissed in their cornflakes... There are people acquainted with Marx's analysis of Capitalism (spot on BTW), that does not make them Marxist.
Almost, what has recently increased, is the amount of vocal people, who are not *purely* anarcho-capitalist free market proponents.... and who take the benefits and flaws of other strategies into account too. That does not automatically make them socialists, marxists, fascists, collectivists, or whatever.... it just means that those people do not consider anarcho-capitalism the one thing that can fix everything, and who think more complementary, than contrary.
As for me: I consider the "what" secondary, and the "how" primary. I think that most approaches and models have useful ways in how they can be used, yet currently, all of them are just used for shit, including capitalism.
P.S.: Another aspect is that a lot of people apparently define models, by describing results. I.e., they say "if this and that is the case, then that free market capitalism" and "if this and that is the case, then that's communism", "if this and that is the case, then that's fascism", and so on..... While this in some way does make sense, by judgeing things for what they achieve, it can easily lead to an age old and still widely popular sophistic tactic: Equaling the "method" with what it is used for (purpose). This allows a very lazy argumentation tactic: I define a model, by a certain outcome, and then imply, that certain methods result in this outcome. Then, whenever my model does not result in the desired outcome, i just do a lame ass excuse of the form "Well, it didn't achieve X, so its not true InsertModelNameHere".... this way, i never have to address issues with my model, because it is considered perfect by definition.
Fair enough.... we are all but quibbling. As I have said many times, it is far more instructive when examining the political economy to identify how a system can fail and not how it can succeed. From my own viewpoint, this is the single biggest shortcoming of the "anarcho-capitalist free market proponents"...
Call me a Social Empiro-Pragmatist, we have enough data and history to know what does not work. Rational analysis combined with the principle that the needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few should be the foundation. Ideology and philosophy be damned.
Partially agree. The problem is that such a mindset can easily lead to a contradictory split between individuals and collective - as if the collective has nothing to do with its individuals. I.e., when constantly putting "the collective" over the individual, you may end up with the collective mostly consisting of individuals with a shitty live, and paradoxically possibly even a few leeching from the majority.
This is, what kills pure collectivism, and pure fascism, specifically: Corruption from inside. When everyone looks "for the group", and no one (or only a few) looks for the individuals, then in the end everyone may end up with crap. (Individualism does the opposite mistake).
A balanced approach would be: Consider that most individuals, are operating from a common platform, called the collective. I.e., you have those roads and stuff around you, you have easy access to water, food, shelter, etc etc. If such a collective platform works efficient, then individuals on average are better of, because solving such common stuff on a common level, is more efficient and consistent. And yet, there are also many things which are specific to me, or just a few.... and those things i and others should deal with individually.
So, what i'm hinting at is: Address common things on a common level. Address individual things individually. Start addressing common stuff individually, or individual stuff commonly, and you already for purely logical reasons must end up with shit.
I didn't realize that we were moving from the sound-bite phase on to deeper things!
Pure collectivism fails at any level beyond hunter-gatherer, this is well known.
I implicitly assume that the individual and their freedoms are at the forefront. However, the grey area is where the exercise of freedom impinges upon the freedom of others.....And as much as I would like, this is not the time to go into that (time to create something in the kitchen!)
So on a collective level we must operate objectively, while at the individual level we can be subjective... and the root failing of our collective (monetary) system is lack of objectivity, for which we need an objective reference point.
Because the individuals inside the collective continue to assess subjectively.
I'd go more simple: The root failing of our monetary system, is that it is capable of influencing everything, is managed by a few, and not understood at all by the majority. Something as powerful as money should be understandable by everyone, and everyone be able to influence it.
This does not necessary need to mean that it is totally decentralized. I.e., one could have PM coins for direct trade, and centrally managed PM trusts for digital transfers.... however, just as with the current PM situation, the public should have an easy way to check actual allocation for the trusts, and should by constitutional law be able to interfere if it is mismanaged.
The purpose of our monetary system is the equitable exchange of value, is it not?
Thus the fact that it is capable of influencing everything does not strike me as the problem, but rather that the current system is inequitable, thus its resulting influence is distorting.
Totally agree. This: A Freegold Standard, does exactly that, as far as I can tell.
By having a single objective proxy for value (unencumbered physical gold) freely available at a floating rate, the collective (ie. all users of the monetary system) have equity. Individually we still subjectively assess value based upon our own criteria, but when engaging with one another we have an objective benchmark. All surplus value can flow into gold and disadvantage no one, because gold has no other utility, and can remain there, unthreatened, until such time as its owner wishes to redeploy it back into the economy.
+ $55,000
You knew it was coming...
"Rational analysis combined with the principle that the needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few should be the foundation."
Sounds great in Never Never Land but it would be setting yourself up for painful and spectacular failure here in the real world. Government should worry about each individual's rights equally. That's relatively achievable. Rational analysis is as common as pixie dust and weighing the "needs" of many and few is ripe for corruption. Come on, Flak. Edited due to two golden monkeys and some crown.
I was not expecting to write a treatise on this when I first posted....
Rational analysis exists, just because some people don't like the answers doesn't mean it hasn't been done or it is not applicable... e.g. look at studies of the role of banks in society. Any rational analysis would point to a banking system modelled on Canada, i.e. a regulated public utility. The bankers don't get to gamble with savings of the depositers. Investment banking is a different matter....
Rational analysis would have identified the unsustainability of oil as a primary transportation fuel... FWIW, the analysis was first done in 1956. While on the topic, google Hirsch Report
I see lots of people who cannot accept that THEIR standard of living should be part of the equation but at the same time preach everyones standard of living should and will decline. I see lots of people jealous of wealth regardless how it was acquired. For every true free market capitalist here there is another govn goon who ultimately survives due to state benefits , handouts and contracts. And therein lies THE problem.
In a word , i see alot of hypocrisy. Which is the word i would use to sum up the neo-socialists view on the world. Hypocritical.
I think you see what you want to see...you are guilty of projecting your ideology.
I see a lot of people from all political stripes pissed off at how a few a have hijacked to system to the detriment of all...
Possible.
Im just ticked at articles lately on ZH that seem contradictory in nature. This is one of them and the fact more posters arent prepared to pick up on the obvious slant in the article is troubling.
My belief , born about through experience , is that society is by and large lazy and will ultimately roll over for the caring hand of the State when the alternative seems like too much hard work and trouble. Im not a fan of anyone that derives their livlihood from the taxpayer , whether that is someone who works at TBTF bank or some invisible govn drone.
And let me pick up on your last point : the system was hijackesd but NOT to the detriment of all. Those on the govn teet and who want to stay on the govn teet have done better than they could ever have imagined. It has only been to the detriment of those that wish to make an honest wage and stay out of the claws of growing govn and regulation. Huge distinction to make there.
In my books, 99% equals all...
Why should all ZH articles espouse the same viewpoint? One of the strengths of this website is the diversity of articles. Always beware of group-think, even in those cases where you might agree.
The strength of the US Constitution was that it was the result of Rational men who had differing viewpoints.
I am also against chickenshit regulation, that is what occurs when you have politicians making them and not techocrats.
+1
Freddie
Let's dispense with Too Big To Fail and let capitalism thrive. America's crony capitalism has stunted this country.
We are now an inverted pyramid ready to topple over.
Adam Smith didn't imagine a debt based Central Bank system that was a blood-sucking parasite attached to productive enterprises and people.
Many buyers and sellers is the basis of competitive capitalism not controlled markets and telephone calls to your lobbyist.
Leaked 1955 Bilderberg Docs Outline Plan For Single European Currency
http://www.prisonplanet.com/leaked-1955-bilderberg-docs-outline-plan-for...
Yes, my friends, that's the sad truth.
We've all been fooled, including me here in Germany.
It took you way to long to figure that one out. Of course it was planned long ago. Go back two spaces.
The Bilderbergers don't "leak" anything they don't want leaked. The Elites seek totalitarian control, what is there to be fooled about?
The only fool is the one that yells, "conspiracy theory" , while going back to slave away in the salt mines of the world economy. Blissful in their feelings of "security".
We all have the power to confound the Elites. It is found in community and the determined actions that divorce ourselves from the economy of socialism. The Elites require your complicity, your taxes and the profits from their manipulations in the financial markets.
We all have the choice of how to live, invest and produce wealth. Who will get it and how. They would have you believe you have no choices. They would have you succumb to the propaganda of hopelessness.
You can be a center for education and a fortress against the attacks of your government and system of "law". The Elites need players on the field. All we have to do is skip the game and play in our fields of production. Never share what you don't have to. Starve the evil that permeates and operates all governments.
David Rockefeller junked you.
I wish!
.308 to the Top 1% and all the Lobby Whores that Work for them!
Here here! But I would qualify the statement by saying the 99% of the top 1% which achieved their fortunes through Mammon.
Well said Sean.
Now if you look at the chart, see which country has the highest growth in HNI.
India. Up 20%.
And from in here, in the belly of the beast, let me assure that is the largest heist of global money after China. CHina and India are th etwo most capitally in-efficient countries.
But we're screaming up the rich-folk ladder. And there is the tell.
It's one giant kleptocracy now. Or always was, not it's out on the surface.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/whither-india/
PS: Ever notice that generous people never get rich?
Jesus, they even fooled you there in Germany? they must be good.
This is Jean Monet's thesis right from day one BEFORE the war ended. He was a visionary who said "the only way out of this current recurrent nation bashing mess is a United States of Europe". He said it to FDR in DC back in 1943. He didn't invent it : Victor Hugo said the same thing one hundred years earlier!
So European unity has been there for donkey's years! No the NEW twist is REGANomICS and NWO which brings into the elitist net the ORIENT. Now that is beyond "Atlantic to Urals!" And GWB/NWO-WS oligarchs have done it! So its history and we can't run away from it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ExoaDv6uTM
HD Damian Marley - Road To Zion ft. Nas
In this world of calamity
Dirty looks and grudges and jealousy
And police weh abuse dem authority
Media clowns weh nuh know 'bout variety
Boom!
- - - - -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxejaKtf-Zs
Damian Marley - Educated Fools
Well educated fools they have ruined di world
And start make it hard for both di boys and di girls
Dem steal all di Africans diamonds and pearls
And start bank it up inna federal reserves
And then Rasta fuck it up and insight riot
Warn dem fi cool and we did warn dem fi quiet
Now dem hear the kick drum di snare and di hi hat
Load up dem belly with? some copper shot diet..
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ***** Educated Fools *****
The last time the wealth was distributed as it is today was in the late 1920s
just before the great depression. Here we go again.
Back then the dollar was still backed by gold.
Some dollars were, as in the first ones redeemed.
The Gold Standard was a scam allowing the surreptitious expropriation of value, trading on the reputation of gold. It was mildly better than today's system, but it was not equitable and anyone who claims it was does not understand it.
(Perhaps you already know this, but your statement doesn't make it clear.)
As the Pubs say, don't tax them or we take your jobs and benefits away.
Go to a different pub or drink at home.
The food stamp program is filled with fraud and people who don't deserve to be on the program. There was a radio ad that explained how you could own a home and hold a job while collecting foodstamps. The food stamp numbers are simply not a reliable method of economic health. Some states don't even have asset tests so you could be a millionaire and be on food stamps!
There does not seem to be an "asset test" for Corporate welfare either.
Scowl all you want about the army of imaginary welfare queens and the exploited illegal surplus labor that big business wants in Amerika getting a hundred bucks for groceries each month, then start kicking people out of your 21st century bread line and they'll be peering into your homes windows late at night - hungry.
You better hope there is an NFL season this Fall, otherwise those cold huddled masses will start sharpening their knives.
Don't threaten me. I'm merely point on the facts. The food stamps program is loaded with fraud. I made no comments regarding other welfare programs.
Oh noes, you's feel threatened. A federal program loaded with fraud, what a surprise.
Go back to your post. Identify what "facts" you "point on." My count is zero.
I guess the fact that someone can have a job and own a home while collecting foodstamps doesn't disturb anyone. Enjoy sending in your tax return.
Food stamps were designed to be a welfare program for corporate agriculture. Too many like you seem to forget that (if you ever knew). They needed more consumers and who better to pay for those consumers than the working proles?
Speaking of welfare for rich flag-waving farmers, how's your corn subsidies working for you and your neighbors?
All government "programs" are loaded with fraud and abuse.
There is nothing "imaginary" about welfare queens; they exist and have been thriving (at least here in California) despite the fact that we allegedly 'reformed' welfare with the 1998 CalWorks program.
All we did was open up whole new frontiers of welfare fraud like Section 8 vouchers and prevailing-wage day care for welfare recipients (up to $800/month per kid (tax free) paid to 'relatives' to watch the kids while mom works on her GED or looks for a job).
Just like the banksters and corporate robber barons; welfare recipients are laughing at us while they sit watching "American Idle."
Just one example:
Los Angeles Grand Jury finds about 50% welfare recipients participating in the child care program are committing fraud:
http://grandjury.co.la.ca.us/gjury05-06/LACGJFR_05-06.pdf
This is costing the city over half a billion dollars a year.
While I agree with your comments, using a grand jury for support ignores the methods a grand jury uses in its' "fact finding". All grand juries see one set of facts- the ones offered by the prosecution. There are no alternative information bases available.
This allows for a further investigation of a "possible" problem. Often, grand jury findings are found to be wanting in an actual investigation.
I cited only one example.
I have quite a bit of personal experience with welfare fraud in California (having prosecuted it for nearly five years).
Just one case I took to jury trial:
Alleged single mother on welfare/MediCal/Food Stamps/CalWorks Child Care, completed an annual renewal at the local DHS office (welfare recipients are required to meet with their case workers at least once a year where they put their life on paper). The day after renewing her application for all the above programs, she flew to Hawaii for a 2-week vacation with the "absent" father (whom she claimed she hadn't seen for 5 years; and who was working full-time making over $60,000/year) along with two of her kids.
Her mother; who was being paid ~$2,500/month to babysit the kids while the single mother was allegedly 'job searching', also billed for watching all four kids even though two of them were in Hawaii.
In total; she ripped off the tax-payers for $68,000 over a three year period.
She fled to Mexico in the middle of her trial.
Just one of the many hundreds of welfare fraud cases I prosecuted in a relatively small county in California.
While the actual amounts of money stolen in corporate welfare/fraud are much larger; the sheer number of people committing welfare fraud is staggering. There is a whole underclass of Americans that happily exists on public assistance due to the free time and lack of responsibility they enjoy. Some live better than others, but the percent of Americans reliant on government programs will make it impossible to truly reform them by peaceful, political means.
Unfortunately, I think the end reult will be some combination of violence, anarchy and revolution.
It's sad really...
Usually, it just pisses me off. My wife is a CFO for a very good non-profit in Irvine. They provide housing for families in distress. They also operate a food bank.
When you see people pull up in cars better than yours or listen to complaints of why isn't there more or how they have to hurry to the next thanksgiving giveaway, it is easy to forget about all the genuine cases of people who are transiting a very tough patch.
This is why, imho, all charity should be private and local. Unfortunately, these people justify their theft with the examples from government and corporate graft, while failing to see how the government buys their loyalty through these programs.
This leaves all the productive people wondering why they have to shoulder the increasingly heavy load. They are given the welfare cheat to pillorize, never seeing the real criminals in leadership. Worse, it will be the welfare queen that people will have to fight against, whom will defend their government and its' largess against all comers.
Of course, if we didn't have a government, we could spend our time creating a society free from the theft of government, the free riders of welfare and the totalitarianism of socialism.
Thank you for relaying your experiences which, for the most part, mirror mine, despite living in a different country.
You are focused on the periphery of the problem. End fiat money, and end the banking (usuritory) system, and you will see balance in wealth.
I would like to see Jamie and Lloyd hold two low paying jobs while raising a kid without the help of servant butlers. I would also like to see Alex Jones as a poor and pregnant teenage girl. Maybe next life.
Yeah, I just love standing in the grocery line paying for my stuff with money I earned while watching someone using their SNAP card while talking on their iPhone! Bunch of freeloaders who are suprlus population!
suprlus population!
What the fuck? Really? While I can agree that it is frustrating, this comment should be beneath you. If not, don't complain about your masters taking what they can get from you and yours. A comment like this only means you are cut from the same cloth.
While it is demeaning to refer to any humans as 'surplus population,' he makes a point:
Many of the people on welfare would not exist but for the existence of public assistance programs.
We have masive amounts of poverty because we subsidize it.
The war on poverty is over... poverty won.
+1
I see people in the grocery store who are not on food stamps trying to make tough choices including older folks. You see scum on food stamps including illegals with filled shopping carts. Sometimes 2 carts. It really sucks.
"It really sucks", especially when you find yourself playing a game that you don't know the rules of.
They ("scum on food stamps including illegals with filled shopping carts") don't make the rules. They just seem to be better able to play the hands that are delt them. If you're going to play and you don't have the power to change the rules, you should learn what they are if you don't want to be a (bigger) loser.
do you ID those folk you refer to as illegals? like, card 'em while they queue with you? or maybe you're just assuming "illegal" to make your "scum" quota to keep your anger fed. . .
Touche... well said
People fill niches, the rich and the poor. Give any living creature an environ and they will find ways to exploit it (I mean this in a more evolutionary way than economin one). It is more accurate to say that there are as many poor as there are because we (the body politic) have given them niches in which to prosper (again, environmentally, not economically). You can encourage poverty or discourage it but you can never eliminate it.
Two stray thoughts at the end here - are welfare payments the wage a government and the governed pay the low economic classes to not riot or revolt and if we got rid of the programs where would we put all the people to work? Likely, one of the reasons the wars are still on over seas is that they haven't envisioned employment for the soldiers yet, and keeping them there keeps them from forming gangs or militias (in the Iraqi sense, not the Michigan sense) here.
Sorry Confused:
I have to agree with the previous poster. I JUST came back from Food4Less doing the shopping (While Mrs. Swordfish is at work) and was in line behind a Latina family with two carts and and a horde of kids under 5.
Mamacita emptied most of the two carts with a total of $114.81 and paid for it all with her Nevada SNAP card - while much of it was standard Latina foods plus meat and veggies , quite a bit was soda pop and junk food for the kids.
The up comes Papacito to pay for the Corona, the Bud, and the Jose Cuervo. Elbowing his way through the line, he pulls out a roll of Benjamins from his front pocket and pays for the rest.
Bottom line: Whole family illegals, Papi works for cash off the books, first thing Mami did after crossing the border was go the Welfare office with the ninos and get signed up for ADC and SNAP, all handled quickly and efficiently with the help of welfare workers of the same ethnicity ready to "help" another paisana game the system.
Oh - and passing them in the parking lot, they were loading into a newer and larger SUV than I drive - how about that!
We need to tackle the problem at two ends - liquidate TPTB brutally and permanently, and then take a like approach against the Auslander Untermenschen with which we the taxpaying and (thus far) law-abiding are burdened.
Zyklon-B, anyone?
laughing_swordfish
Right problem, wrong solution.
you're in luck, I've no doubt your gov't. is working an equivalent into the system, though who will be the recipients might surprise you.
again I'm asking - you ID'd the people you mentioned, you ascertained that they were in fact a married couple, and not, hmmm, say, brother and sister, uncle and niece, neighbours that offered one another a lift to the market, extended family members helping out, etc. etc.
nah, just get out yer AK and blow them all to hell, I'm sure you'll get the attention you deserve.
Sorry for not sugar coating it for you, Confused. The world is going to become a cruel place and you better get use to some very candid talk from a lot of people.
Fortune 500 companies are hiring illegal immigrants? So what does a Mestizo from Oaxaca do at Google, Exxon, or Pfizer?
Half of the people are welfare are getting it fraudulently. They are earning money in cash and not reporting it to pay taxes and also getting government benefits. Just because the bankers got welfare does not mean I should support getting raped by welfare frauds.
You would have some citation for your "half of the people..." ? I didn't think so.
Don't expect too many folks to see the bigger picture you are presenting. They've been told by their masters that those welfare queens want stuff, so they only look in the direction of those queens instead of watching their wallet as their owners pick their pocket.
Face it, the herd is too entrenched in peasant mentality too see anything else.
"You better hope there is an NFL season this Fall,..."
...right you are....with 250 million guns in Amerika, those in power better hope the owners are parked in front of the TV this fall...Amerikans are an amazingly foregiving lot, no one at Enron was shot, Bernie made it to jail in one piece, and no attempt made on Ben....the self restraint is simply amazing, but how long will it last and once the precedent is set, those in D.C. and NYC better stock up on Kevlar suits.
Yeah I'm sure lots of millionaires can't wait to fool the government and collect those food stamps so they can laugh all the way to the Walmart grocery section.
Pshaw...everyone knows that's where all the best networking gets done.
Any millionaire who is no longer receiving income is eligible for welfare in most states. The Dept of Ag pressured most states to drop asset testing for welfare recipients. That's not the main problem though. Most people on welfare are mearning money in cash or make no attempt to find work. Each baby they pop out means a bigger house and more money.
Zionist financial services robber barons don't need to pop out another baby to get their billions from the taxpayers. Is that fair? Pop out a baby, get a few thousand, live in the ghetto. Buy a congressman, get a few billion, live on Fifth Ave. and the Hamptons on the weekends.
I do not doubt the fraud, but I know a gal in Wisconsin who works 7 hours a week, has no assets, and hasnt been able to get food stamps.
true - MANY low income folks are surprised their meger wealth is above the cutoff.. you basically have to have a bunch of kids and not be on medicare or medicaid or SS and nothing in the bank.. most of the freeloaders just put themselves into it from the start
I do not think your statements have any merit. Millionaires on foodstamps? Please.
http://www.connectmidmichigan.com/news/story.aspx?id=619315
not everybody can skip the asset check.. and I believe the rules can vary from state to state.. if he was a disabled person then that is one way an asset check is tossed..
but if you think scores of rich people are on food stamps you need to leave your bunker once and a while
1 / 44M == ?
Anyone who hasn't won the lottery you can point to? (that'll give you a sample set of 2!)
Actual fraud rates: 3.53% overpaid in 2009
You'd prefer starving people and farmers stuck with rotting produce?
I'd actually preffer every man woman and child in america getting a food stipend, regardless of income or assets.
It may seem like communism, and potentially a gateway drug to true communism. But it is bullshit that truly poor, yet proud people suffer without aid, while (And I saw this in real life a couple of months ago) late 20s man using an electronic food stamp card in a gas station for chips and soda, and then gets in a 40k truck and drives away.
How do you know he owned the truck?
Perhaps he is a gofer, delivering a package for the massa.
EVERYONE should apply for food stamps and drain this system into terminal anemia.
Suck the beast dry so we can have our SHIFT in priorities.
Any strategy that places weight on the shoulders of the dying beast is to be considered.
I have not applied for food stamps and could not get them anyway,but if I could I would.
Individual actions to disempower the phony economy and it's creators is noble because when multiplied by 100,000,000.
Do not participate with the system! it takes two to tango.
Dissent and non co-operation multiplied by tens of millions amounts to victory for the army of citizens who can stop the madness with a philosophy instead of a gun,
despite the sheep, the numbers are on our side, go Ghandi on their theiving parasitic asses.
you dont need to do all that nonsense.. and if you did, another corrupt group will take over the next go around since you are not creating an alternative. Join a timebank and spread the word
I wonder why the Oil Companies don't have to have an asset check when there are discussions for ending their tax benefits and subsidies? Funny, no one is willing to make the oil companies give up their benefits- even in periods of record profits of multiple billions of dollars.
The money paid to corporate welfare queens dwarfs the spending on welfare. The fraud is just as prevalent.
Your attempts to create animosity amongst the common citizens reeks of Elitist warfare.
Yep.... if there must be fraud (and *any* system will have fraud and corruption, short of just letting people starve on the streets) I would rather 5 million little people screwing the system for $1000 each than 100 screwing it for $50 million each...
Edit: I should add that if you play the Social Darwinian game, you may want to compute the cost of keeping the rioters in check....
Thanks for all your comments Flakmeister. I've been thinking along similar lines for a while now... Not to say that I'm correct, but something tells me that 50 million starving people would put an end to this "economy" in about 3 days.
people can have a place to live, a job of some kind, and still be dirt poor. the object is to help people buy groceries, not sell everything they own and live on the street so they can buy groceries.
more and more people have less and less. maybe 8% of the people qualify and another 1-2% are "frauds" who are close. i don't know the stats.
do you have any idea how many people are already "working" on/in this "system" to minimize the fraud and what it costs just to review/approve/disapprove the applications?
people get food, but the money for the food goes into the retail food industry and all it represents. even the fraud money.
NOT OFFSHORE!
not all the money.. i set up a kiosk in the mall where i give 60 cents to the SNAP dollar on milk cartons filled with whiskey and egg cartons full of smokes.. and my company is HQ in Hades and pay ZERO taxes
snoball sez UR part of an elite econom force: Actual fraud rates: 3.53% overpaid in 2009.
are there any other benefits to operating from Hades? i may have a future, there.
it depends.. no one cares if you lie steal rape and post it all on Hellbook but Walmart left for the states since women had too many rights down here...
is that the case where the woman wanted to return the used tampons b/c she had purchased them while she had pms, and won?
dershowitz, wasn't it?
oh, i remember, now.
nancy grace.
Bingo.
FACT: The SNAP program is part of the US Dept. of Agriculture.
Who does that tell you it's meant to support? Maybe the food industry, where the money ends up?
The Agriculture Department is in the business of price controls and supply line guarantees. Now that the EPA and is joining the clusterfuck, food prices will continue to rise.
The regulation needs to be dismantled, but it is extremely complicated, and the EPA needs to be the first to exit (ethanol, farm dust, stupid left coast fish that deserve to be extinct, et. al).
The timeless and ever repeating cycle of error-
The problem is that historically governments worldwide tend to screw up the disentanglementprocess so the pattern generally goes like 1) subsidies to small farmers are cut but price controls are not cut, and the big fat cats are kept on the dole 2) small farmers withdraw production and food prices rise 3) corporate farmers profit off the rising prices, and try to eliminate small competitors 4) gun toting tractor driving farmers start to disrupt food supplies to metropolitan areas 5) prices go really high and the urban poor start protesting or rioting 6) politicians promise bold decisive action, which generally amount to new subsidies to all famers (so the little guy gets back to being able to produce at a small marginal profit, and the corporate farmers much larger baseline profit is expanded 7) supply comes back and fall to no lower than the original price plus the new subsidy, but it seems cheeper because of the significantly higher interim price.
add the fact that most food stamp credit is used in supermarkets selling corporate GMO, irradiated (un-labeled as such) food products that will weaken the bodies of most consuming it, thus driving them to the corporate medical pill pushers, also paid for with gov.t issued plastic cards - viola! we have a perfect system circle jerk. . .
How are they different from the corporate welfare queens? The military contractors, the bankers, the farmers of huge size, the GE's and GM's. How do you lose track of 6 billion in cash from the NY FED to Iraq?
Your complaints about a few irregulars in a program that seeks to keep people from starving will fall on deaf ears- as they should.
Perhaps if you were to focus your anger on the perpetrators of our debt enslavement you would retain some credibility.
Why do you complain about corporate welfare and not welfare queens? They're both the same. Soemone who chooses to have 5 children with 5 different babydaddies should be shamed and pointed out.
Perhaps if you pointed all all the bad apples, you would have more credibility.
both of your welfare groups support profits for the corporate kings - nothing is for the people, whoever the hell they are.
Set up a shit food stand and overcharge. It doesn't matter how expensive you make your food prices since the SNAPPERS don't care cuz its free to them so you can make high margin on low volume and any of 'the people' that are hungry enough to pay your high prices, you will gladly take most of their paycheck and still ask if they want to donate a dollar to 15 different causes that all go into your backpocket anyway
Because welfare queens are the exception, whereas corporate welfare is the rule. Further, I was not giving them a pass, just pointing out the obvious absense of the "real" welfare queens.
If you were capable of making distinctions, you'd have some credibility.
Well said...
Welfare queens are the exception. Might want to get out a little. I think the two groups are essentially the same. The difference is the balance between the level of income they are willing to accept and the amount of work they are willing to do. Big contractors will jump through all the hoops and lick all the asses to get the big bucks. Welfare queens are happy to get the scraps and sit around.
Imaginary trope troll uses imaginary tropes.
Sean7K,
It's all part of the same game.
They want dependent people because the money from food stamps goes into the corporate machines; the Pepsico's, ADM, Dairy cooperatives, cheesemakers, etc. It increases corporate profits at the same time people with work who buy their own food pay taxes to support the system.
The "pride" of the American worker is being milked to goose corporate profits in a feedback loop from the Federal government, to those on food stamps, to the corporations.
Besides that, without the bread of bread and circuses politicians wouldn't get elected and our long awaited riots to lynch the malfeasant might actually get started.
Yep, and I wish more people understood it. However, if you're waiting for revolution- you might end up disappointed. In all collapses, the people wander around desperate for the handout. Some make it, some don't.
Those "people" that paid their taxes and contributed? They continue to find a way through, but never question the government that created the problem. Egypt is just the latest example- a relatively peaceful revolution,transitioning to military rule, will be a battle fought for nothing. The western governments will continue to control Egypt.
I read an interesting point in a book last night: people question the non-existence of anarchial systems and proclaim they must be "unworkable", but in 1500, when every state was a monarchy- where were the democracies? Were they an impossibility?
Democracies had existed before. And they sucked then too. Aren't ungoverned areas examples of anarchies? Don't they pretty much always suck? Although, maybe not as much as democracies.
My local pizza place has an ad that they gladly accept food stamps.
"Two large pepperoni's and a two liter soda pop please :-) "
There is a Papa Murphy's close to my local credit union I keep some cash in- they modified their signs some time last year with bright red and yellow lettering proclaiming "EBT Accepted!".
What does a pizza cost to manufacture, $1 or $2? The rest is compensation for service not food, or food manufacturing.
The program would be far more efficient and beneficial to consumers if the selection of venues were greatly reduced- they are FOOD subsidies, not government issued and refilled prepaid ATM cards.
It might also cut down on the gross OBESITY epidemic in the US and reduce the cost of taxpayer financed health care. Every time I come back to the US- I see fat people... walking around like normal people ... they don't even know they're dead.
It ain't $1 or $2.... maybe back in 1980....Food cost in a Ma-and-Pa pizzeria is at least 30-40%, maybe Domino's is different but I thought you were talking about pizza.
They are fat because the cheapest easiest food is also the worst for you...Do some reading on HFCS, lovely stuff. I am glad the FDA and USDA made them put labels on food so I can steer clear of the shit.
You should also thank the government for promoting a high carb low fat diet for decades which contributed to the problem. Also thank them for endorsing transfats so Dow chemicals could push their hydrogenated oil crap on the poor and unsuspecting.
Yes, the government is complicit, victims of their own ignorance. Let's settle it and say that they were willing dupes. They are some that know better now...
erm, the last time I looked, GMO food (which includes virtually all wheat, corn, soybean, potatoes, sugar beets, etc.) is not labeled in amrka, nor is the fact that supermarket vegetables are irradiated included on any labeling. . . a few names stuck in the Monsanto / FDA revolving job door:
http://citizensforjustice.org/component/content/article/92
I'm with you on the HFCS, which is ubiquitous.
Yep, that's where all the big players are....the food stamp racket. Just sign up and sit back to bask in the rewards. Livin' large! Definitely ground zero for the destruction of America.
(In case it's necessary: /sarcasm)
Corn1945,
This has been going on ever since LBJ signed it into law.
In the late 60's I was barely a teenager.
Safeway stores were prevalent all over Texas at that time.
I was in a checkout line after buying groceries for my family.
Two ethnic minorities(mid 40's),husband and wife I presumed,had a cart filled to the brim.
The items they had in the cart were things I could only dream of being able to eat/purchase.After they checked their last item and the total was given, food stamps were thrown down, and they paid zero out of pocket.
Easily $100.00+(remember late 60's), a WAD of $$ for groceries.
I checked mine, and paid, as I wheeled out they were still loading their car.
A Brand stinking new huge automobile,Caddy,or a Chrysler Imperial.
I was driving a POS,and my grocery tab was around $25.00.
I was sick to my stomach, to see the system being scammed this way.
That's the way it worked THEN, and that's the way it is now.
There is nothing new under the sun.Nothing................
PS: This example by no means is saying only minorities got/get this treatment, all ethnicities do NOW.
Back then though,you never saw caucasoids doing the same(although I am sure they were).
This is one example, that I happened to see firsthand.
Well how about I arbitrarily decide you don't 'deserve' to live. Oh wait, Nature already
did that. Eat your plutonium and Iodine dinner. Here's another idea.
I'd rather MY taxpayer $ go to feeding my fellow Americans than funding
a bunch of Trident missiles and free arms to Israel. How about them apples?
Oh, you don't give a f*ck because you only know what you want.
Serve the military industrial complex because War is beautiful.
Mushroom clouds give me a giant Hard on.
I suck up Hollywood eye art to create my future and I'm PROUD of the
Apocolypse I've created! I had no idea the shakti power within me
and I expired unaware of ANYTHING. Your life, sucker.
So you either can be a nationalist militant or a socialist liar? Is there a third choice? That's great that you don't mind your tax dollars being wasted but I do care about my tax dollars being wasted. Maybe I shouldn't have to pay for shit I don't want, just as you shouldn't have to pay for shit you don't want?
obviously helping the less fortunate is nowhere near their investment of passion
The open question remains: in which country is it more likely a poor child can be raised up through his own efforts and an enabling system to be included in the graph. It used to Ne the US. I think there are several other better contenders now. Brazil, Canada, China, Singapore, Switzerland to name a few. It will interesting to update this chart in 20 years.
BBC's Channel 4 reporting about the Bilderberg Group in 2002:
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/bbc_radio_4_bilderberg.mp3
OT: I saw a discussion on gold taxation a few threads back. Show your support for H.R. 1098: Free Competition in Currency Act, which would eliminate taxes on gold and silver.
Show your approval at popvox.com. From popvox,
Right now only 35 people have weighed in. Maybe the zerohedge community can change that. Voice support. It probably won't help because Congress is so corrupt, but it's better than nothing and this is important!
Good post. I went to the site. BTW, how can Charley Rangle still be on the House Ways and Means? Not the Chair anymore, but give me a break.
how could yasser arafat get away with stealing the lion's share of money that came into Palestine? Because his people tolerated it.
All across the world, this is what you see, toleration of wanton corruption. The people still live in squalor while leader after leader retires to the Riviera
I really, really, love how anyone that brings up income inequality is a Marxist, somebody that mentions labor unions is an uncapitalistic socialist, and people that talk about real revolution are racist/anarchist groups.
I am proud to be an American, but this nation has become twisted, hypocritical, and corrupted beyond all redemption; it is time for a do over bottom line.
Crab Cake
Eric Cartman: Goddamn hippies!
Cartman: Hippies.They're everywhere. They wanna save the earth, but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.
Cartman: I hate hippies! I mean, the way they always talk about "protectin' the earth" and then drive around in cars that get poor gas mileage and wear those stupid bracelets - I hate 'em! I wanna kick 'em in the nuts!
Cartman: Naw dude, Independent films are those black and white hippy movies. They're always about gay cowboys eating pudding.
The hippie culture sold out.
The hippie culture did the right thing and disappeared. Today's preppers are 30-40 years behind.
The hippie culture did the right thing and disappeared.
No they did not................they ran the government in the 90's.
Some are still in Congress.
Cartman sings... In the Ghetto
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=r5VDAL0NGyU
+1791
But lol?
"has become twisted, hypocritical, and corrupted beyond all redemption"?
Which of those things is this nation not?
Not twisted? Not hypocritical? Not corrupt? Do you believe that the nation is capable of necessary change under the current framework? I find the descriptions apt, but that is of course my opinion.
You misunderstand me, this nation has not become vice-ridden beyond redemtion, it has been that way since it's inception. But then, I might be a marxist freedom hater. Who am I to deny others the freedom to enslave the less fortunate by any means <sarc???> Good to know you don't subscribe to ethical egoism like the majority of the self absored tards here. I often wonder how many of these posters realize that they are part of the problem lol.
You're such a free thinker to regurgitate your lib pap that was spoon fed you in high school.
I'm sorry, what's "lib pap"? I could only handle about a year and half at the indoctrination center, so I might have missed that course. Fill me in though plz?
Obama is the poster boy for "bait and switch". Corruption abounds and is interwoven into our social fabric.
Obama gave plenty of indication of who he was. People voted for him because of his projected identity. W was a bigger liar in that he projected a middle America country boy but was the son of George NWO Bush.
What do you want them to do? Admit that their destruction of the middle class and unions didn't bring about an objectivist utopia?
They wanted tax breaks, and got them, repeatedly.
They wanted war, and got it, repeatedly.
And now they're acting surprised the cookie jar is empty. How quaint.
When in doubt, feign amnesia!
Trade Unions are not a bad thing. They promote great working conditions, fair pay for very skilled labor, and an apprenticeship environment to ensure that the craft does not deteriorate due to a loss of knowledge on how to do it right.
Public sector (teachers unions, government employees) and Service workers unions are extortionists and charlatans, driving up the price of very basic services that are not highly skilled positions and can be done by anyone who can fog a mirror.