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The 1% Have Gotten CHUMP CHANGE Compared to the .1% … Who In Turn Have Gotten PEANUTS Compared to the .01%
Everyone knows that all of the economic growth has gone to the 1%:
Wrong!
The 1% have gotten chump change compared to the .1% … who, in turn, have gotten peanuts compared to the .01%
(Graphs courtesy of World Top Incomes Database, using data compiled by economists Facundo Alvaredo, Tony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.)
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Look at Barc results recently, profits down, sacking more employees, yet bonuses went up.
They know where their priorities are and they are not linked to performance either!
Three things-
1. Does your data take into account transfer payments? The plot starts in 1913. But in 1913, we didn't have AFDC, Obamacare subsidies, Medicaid, subsidized lunches at school, the earned income tax credit, and on and on and on. The Obamacare credit alone represents an enormous increase in the effective income of the poor. Unsubsidized health insurance costs a typical family of four well over $10K per year. Now it's free for the poor. Given this, what do you think the percent increase in the income of America's poor will be in 2013, versus that of the top 1%?
2. Why don't you take a look at percentage changes as well as absolute dollar changes?
3. As mentioned elsewhere, the "1%" includes people like the Microsoft secretary selling a lifetime's worth of options; the plumber or dentist selling his business; people who won the lottery (!), and so on. It is intellectually lazy to group together everybody who for a year is in the top 1% of earners. The only thing you resent these people for is their success. Envy might be a powerful driver, but it isn't exactly morally desirable.
Once again, I congratulate George for an excellent post.
The whole idea behind the 1% rhetoric is to divert attention away from the root cause of the problem - Fed policy and Administration and Congressional action. All of this is not happening by accident. While we do have Banksters and Green Energy who have actively lobbied to be given the money, most of the very wealthy have not had to do anything other than fog up a mirror to increase there wealth. What is alarming is what is happening to the bottom 50%. The top end of this group are seeing their purchasing power eroded by price inflation, while seeing very liitle in the way of pay increases - people are living paycheck to paycheck. At the bottom end, we are seeing a record number of people on food stamps, welfare and unemployment insurance. The 100,000+ who come into the workforce each month but are unable to find work add to to the number of poor. For every Mark Zukerbeg, we are creating at least 1 million more (unemployed) poor.
George,
This is your best work. It is simple and concise without an abundance of links linking to blogs.
Well done sir.
Great Point GW.
Wouldn't it be cool if all the pissed off patriots UNITED... sort of like Occupy, by this time we don't let the infiltraitors take the tv time with, 'we're just mad, but we really don't have a message' bullshit.
This time we unite... from your own living room. It's so simple, if you could just help me start the #VoteNoConfidence meme rolling, I, and perhaps billions of others, would be ever so grateful.
Wouldn't this look nice on your blog sidebar...
http://ftwnews.net/votenoconfidence.png
What would happen if every pissed off blogger added something similar to their site, and tweeted it?
Waiting for the next election to fix anything is full retard. We know the elections are fixed with Diebold central tabulators... The only solution is to kick them all out, then hold fresh elections with publicly hand counted paper ballots.
Whaddya say GW? Is it time to actually try to make things better... or should we just keep on documenting the crimes... sorta like a cheerleader for the bastards, "Ha Ha, look at all the loot we stole!"
I say it's time to shed the cointelpro minders and go for the gold. Better now when the cops and police also hate Obama...
http://ftwnews.net/blog/for-the-win-with-twitter-votenoconfidence
The 7 Walmart heirs (by THEMSELVES) are worth more than the bottom 40% of the whole US population.
We are WAY beyond Robber Baron inequality - and at least the Robber Barons CREATED wealth and jobs for many. Sadly these 7 are too typical of today - INHERITED WEALTH coming not from creating or building anything but from selling crap made elsewhere with the lowest possible labor and overhead costs.
they don't call it a Pyramid for nuthin'
People make more money than me, I am just so angry. It should be more fair. How, I cannot say, but I will blame the Federal Reserve and "greedy bankers". I will rant and rave about nothing, despite the wonderfully rich and magnificent life all around me, which I ignore because life must be fair according to my bloated sense of entitlement. I am a ZHer.
you're clearly smarter than us
I'm from a blue colar family - first to go to college. Have worked hard all my life but - more importantly - we simply got lucky. Workign for one person who treated his employees fairly and shared his profits with them. Have gotten a look 'over teh fence' at the truly wealthy and it's a bit ugly.
At a party once where a high earning attorney (worht millions), in discussing home renovations and such said "I know how to deal with contractors - I pay them a third up front, a third half way through and NEVER pay them the last third..... I can outlast them in court every time"........f*cking arrogant ass.... the guy that works hard doing REAL and hard workgets screwed by someone manipoulating the legal system to his advantage. The others around him APPLPAUDED his sense of arrogant entitlement.
Was at another 'event' hosted by Steve Forbes (another example of inherited wealth feeling entitled... nice enough guy but Malcom made the business, Steve simply inherited it). A group of fairly well off types - not really wealthy (figure a few million in assets earnings on the mid 6 figures) were going on about NEEDING George W. Bush to get elected President - because any Democrat would raise their taxes... this from a bunch whose kids ALL went to private schools (they were VERY anti-public school - perhaps because they didn;t really want to pay for them), who had second homes and took VERY nice vacations, all complaining about all the 'poor' people.......
I worked on Wall Street in Operations for a while (some time back). Saw EVP's screw $25,000 a year clerks out of $2,500 bonuses becauet they were not going to reduce THEIR multi-million dollar bonus. Now $2,500 is a LOT of money to someone making $25,000 - 35,000 a year. Meanwhile these execs were pulling in millions and millions. One of those people - arrogant beyond belief - was tasked with ONE THING: develop a new broker computer system. But since he feared competition he'd fired anyone smarter than he was (pretty much anyone who was comptetent). So....... time passes and no realprogress. Some cobbled together 'smoke and mirrors' effects but nothing of substance. The Board starts catching on and in effect demotes him to a regional head and tells him to 'pilot' the new system (which doesn't exist). Somehow he manages to jump ship and ends up the CEO elsewhere - utterly destroying that company. A place peopel had loved to work for became heart attack inducing while going public made the top execs rich.
At the same company I stumbled on a number of kickback schemes were goods were paid for (at ridiculously inflated prices) and signed for but not all delivered. The difference got kicked backand spplit all the way up to the EVP level. Instead of paying for all copies of softweare they used, piracy was rampant - with company photocopiers used to produce additional copies of software manuals (this occurred on a HUGE level). Maybe 1/3 of the copies of Lotus 123 were legit.
That Wall Street firm was considered on of the WORST run. It was bailed out by an infusion of foreign funds once and eventually sold for an obscene amount to a Swiss bank. The Chairman walked away with a fortune (as did top execs). In contrast this firm had the most complaints filed by customers against its brokers and a workforce that rated teh place as something close to Hades.
Ran into a mid level exec at JPMorgan Chase at a school event last weekend. Employees there are LIVID that Jamie got $20 million while they - at best - got cost of living raises. This guy found it utterly absurd that Bkyther could be considered for ANY type of position working for a regulatory agency.
I know someone who inherited his father's stock in the company business. Privately - and closely - held, it was worth a few million at the time. working for the company, he got the stock while his sister got the equivalent value in cash or other assets. Within 2 years the value of the company soared as the principal owner sold off part of the company (in preparation for estate taxes) - the deal brought in a few BILLION. SO this guy is now worth a few HUNDRED MILLION. HE didn't offer his sister any more - after all HE had inherited the company stock. BTW - the ONLY job this guy held before working for his father was as a truck driver. Following an all too typical pattern he is now on his third wife (though I doubt this one will let him get away), has the way too big mansion with a 20 car garage - with a generator that burned out after 2 days during Sandy (Karma?). He has an office - set up JUST for him) in Connecticut so he can pay lower income taxes (the company offices are over the line in NY). Nevermind that it costs the company more to pay for those offices than the increase in his taxes, the COMPANY pays those costs. And while he spends a good part of HIS schedule on the golf course and traveling 'for work' - he comlpains vociferously when the company offices closes because of a major blizzard.
The Koch Brothers - inherited wealth. Enough said.
Those that INHERIT vast wealth have no idea of the work needed to create it and will do ANYTHING to hold onto what they have and expand it. A true rentier class who view the rest of the world as serfs far below them.
No.
You're not.
Most ZHers know the root of the problem IS the FED RESERVE and counterfeit money creation.
They don't pretend it isn't, unlike yourself, thus avoiding the full retard mode you find yourself in.
But some people are happy with fraud as long as they're on the receiving end or can ignore the obvious.
Which are you?
no, you ain't no Hedger.
but janus has some thoughts on what you may be. are you curious? i would be more than happy to explain you to you; but i suspect it may cost you some time in recovery (you may want to factor that into your near-term planning if you're interested in meeting mean janus).
i've really come to loathe all these funny facts, figures and charts...i hate them for their hilarity; i despise them for the side-splitting reality they belie. i'm sick of laughing at this shit; i'm everyday increasingly inclined to grit my teeth and growl.
but of all the madness flurrying about and layering our consciousness with this filthy detritus, there is one element, or, should i say, 'conditioned impulse', permeating the swill that walls our minds and stunts our wills; and that is our assumptive bias to the system itself...there is no restoration of a republic by and through a system whose every component has been designed and fitted to a singular purpose and obvious objective: the total destruction of our long deceased republic. it's over, boys...and it's been so for quite a while now.
in the last decade or so we've been 911'nd; we've been sandy hooked; we've been boston bombed; we've been WMD'd into iraq and af-pak; we've been bush-wacked and obminated; we've been katrina'd & fukushima'd; chem-sprayed & GMO'd; data-mined, phone-tapped & location tracked; ACA'd and IRS'd; TSA'd & forced to watched our toddlers patted down at football games -- and we go on voting for moar!
short of full-scale and horrific revolution, there is but one process that's right in our face, enshrined in the constitution itself, yet hardly ever discussed...a new constitutional convention. the states separately start ballot initiatives to disband the federal government and redraft various articles of association. and with congressional approval ratings at an all time low, with faith ebbing back against centralized command and mawkish contempt for the organs of state and authority itself emerging from all people at every level of society, i can't but see this as a viable solution to our problem.
if you fail to recognize the fact that your government is hostile to your interests, then you haven't been paying attention. our government's ONLY interest is to align yours to its; and whensoever any of your interests deviate from those of central command, you are compelled to in every way oblige your master. it's a zero-sum game; and we are losing big-time...and we continue voting for the sustained presence of this succubus every two years. now that's comedy of the highest order.
we muddle our frustrations and hopes and fears into the gooey mish-mash of political tropes so-to retread the wheels of thinly worn ideas...oh, sure, a third party -- that's the ticket. or, it's just bi-partisanship. hogwash. it is quite simply us verses them. unless the american people realize that their government is inimical to everything it pretends to espouse, there will be a chaos and suffering spread across this land...something so profound and terrific that nothing in all the annals of history can compare to it.
think, for just one moment, what will become of a world wherein no one produces their own food. the old axiom is true: every society is but seven meals from anarchy.
we are being pillaged and programmed to love it; and our absolute destruction draweth nigh.
fortunately, it will all be fixed in the next election.
janus
(((DING))) "give that man a Kewpie doll"
I couldn't agree more. A council of Governors to oversee the common defense of the borders and international relations pretty much takes care of the unique Federal responsibilities. Everything else is mostly redundant. The States can compete for populations and negotiate interstate relationships as they see fit. Let the convention convene...
;-D
Hey! Which one of you chicken shits gave me a -1 without a reply???
;-D
Like rounding your GPA to 5 sig figs.
(Yes I have seen resumes on my desk with 5 sig figs on their GPA, next generation is chock full of ballsacks)
Disgrace comes to mind
This has been obvious...think about it..this is how it works...I mean obviously this is how it works...System Theory 101 or maybe .101
These distributions are very consistent with the fractal nature of wealth distribution as Taleb discusses in The Black Swan.
This was always the case. You are not paying attention, if you are surprised. The real question is whether the Congress is engaged in Chrony politics with the top income group. They are.
are you suggesting politicians can be bought?
why does the chart says: "REAL 2012 US DOLLARS"
is there any other kind?.... are there unreal dollars?
adjusted for inflation. Today's dollar is worth about 2 cents of the 1913 dollar
re: "are there unreal dollars?"
Yes, they're called Federal Reserve Notes.
edit: in contrast a real "dollar" is...
Well done George. Finally, someone on ZH gets this right.
I agree. This needs to be pointed out more.
I have argued this point many times in the comments section here on ZH, usually on articles that use "the 1%" = 250K a year. When I was making that I was not having money redistributed to me by .gov, I was being taxed at the highest rate.
The idea behind this 1% talk is getting at the people who are benefiting from all this money the fed/.gov is redistributing to the financial sector, not the mom & pop that's doing well, or even the Bill Gates or Waltons, who are arguably providing a benefit to the economy.
Be it "the 1%" or the .0001%, that's where the problem lies.
I agree. It's not about a number, but what the number represents.
A one percenter Mom and Pop small business owner who employs people within the community , is FAR MORE beneficial and meaningful to society than a one percenter sitting in an office trying to figure out how to rape the citizentry for financial gain and a bonus come year end.
Problem is, the latter one percenters have bosses who have CONgress in their back and front pockets whereas the former one percenters are their own boss, and have no say in how CONgress acts.
"A one percenter Mom and Pop small business owner who employs people within the community"
Oxymoron?
I agree -- I am a healthy 1% er and I have been losing ground for five years.....Hang the top .001 %ers and feed them to the bitcoiners.
I'm part of the lumpenproletariat, nice to meet you.
Sorry things aren't going so well for you. My bicycle (my main transportation) was stolen a while back, so I know it feels shitty when you lose ground.
the fed...1913
New occupy Wall Street sign: "We are the 99.99%"
occupy fucktards. occupiers may fit to bring a message that our system is screwed. however, they are too stupid to provide leadership of any sort. no way.
you will not like to see what happens when alex tsipras takes over greece with syriza which is a coalition of occupiers. i'm sorry, technically speaking they are a coalition of communist parties.
as a jew, this might be counterintuitive, but i favor golden dawn. personally, I feel the existence of Israel makes me more comfortable with fascists in charge of greece than communists,. so if they kill a few jews so what, the rest of the community can hop a boat relatively easily and not be slaughtered like pigs by simply moving to israel. they'd be poor immigrants to a new land ( israel ) but so what. poor is better than dead.
realistically there are not many jews left in greece or europe at large for that matter. It is the arabs, the north africans and the turks living in Europe who will truly fear the next wave of 'fascism' should it sweep europe. Ironically enough , the liberal globalists are their own breed of new fascism that hopes to use a paneuropean army to hold Europe together by the seems through central command in brussels. If France and Germany cannot agree to raise an army together to supress outer Europe for the sake of the whole, I don't think Europe can hold together. This isn't the civil war in the U.S. with two sides. you have over a dozen languages cultures and many different subethnicities all scattered throughout Europe. there is a good chance the EU breaks apart as debt induced poverty tears through the PIGS and works its way through to France. the outer peoples of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and the Baltics---how do you think that will all go down? a lot like Ukraine. Chaos and peasant revolt with local Eurocentric leaders resigning in favor of Euro skeptic leaders.
the center cannot hold, so something must change.
then again. does it really matter whether nazis or communists takeover? potatoe potatoe, statist shtatist, hitler stalin. same diference?
the question is maybe this:
how do you stop more tryanny from moving in as the natural replacement 'solution' to lesser tyranny which defines our current predicament of living under a hyperleveraged financialzed corporatized world where governments tax working people into poverty to support centrally planned 'liberal' economies?
I aregue you cannot stop this natural cycle, you only hope to manage or avoid being victimized by the ensuing inevitable tyranny resulting from the inevitable melt down or melt 'up' of the current system.
If the occupiers appoint a leadership then they will have to sooner or later face up to the fact that their leadership has become bought-off, corrupted, and become the same sort of rich louts they are protesting. Better leaderless than lead by the corrupt.
they are too stupid to provide leadership of any sort
Well they DID get people's attention and did not sell out like the Tea Party (remember that they were anti-BANK and anti-Wall Street in the beginning). Given the way they were watched and infiltrated any REAL 'leaders' would have been taken out (literally or figuratively - there were plans to deal with the 'leaders' of OWS - except there were not any 'leaders' in the sense gov was looking for), so perhaps it was best there was NOT any 'central leadership'. But those involved are still around. I expect the next iteration will not be as civil. That's part of the problem with repression of just causes. The repression drives some away but also serves to 'distill' groups down to the truly committed. As repression worsens, the will to 'fight back' and the frustration grows.
Will that sign be appended with "...and we still don't have a purpose?"
Infiltrated. And the fact that it was akin to herding cats.
Keep moving that decimal point to the left. You're getting closer to the real puppet masters.