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What Causes The Growing Wealth Gap In America?
Submitted by Omid Malekan via OmidMalekan.com,
A major issue in America today is the growing gap between the rich and the poor, and the popular narrative is that the disparity is caused by capitalism run wild and only the firm hand of government can fix the problem. But what if this narrative has it backwards? What if the growing wealth disparity in America is actually caused by the government?
Take Warren Buffet, a man often at the center of this debate, as not only is he a billionaire, but also a vocal advocate for higher income taxes on the rich. Mr. Buffet’s focus on taxes on income is curious, as he didn’t become a billionaire by earning a high income, but rather from owning assets, like shares in Berkshire Hathaway. Many are aware of his acumen in making investments that have a “margin of safety” – or minimal downside – but few are aware of the greatest source of such safety for Mr. Buffet in recent years, the US Government.
During the 2008 crisis Buffet’s investment portfolio was full of wobbly financial companies like GE and Wells Fargo. In the span of 2 months Berkshire stock – and Mr. Buffets net worth – lost half their value. In response, Buffet invested more in collapsing financial companies like Goldman Sachs, then went public demanding a bailout. The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve responded with program after program to keep troubled financial entities alive, some of them invented specifically for Buffet holdings like GE. Just two years later, thanks to the impact of the bailouts and the Fed’s programs, Berkshire stock rebounded sharply. Mr. Buffet’s investment in Goldman Sachs, which he himself admitted was a bet on the bailouts, made billions and continues to earn him a profit years later.
Mr. Buffet wasn’t the only person that benefited from the bailouts, but wealthy citizens like him, who tend to hold the majority of assets in America, benefited disproportionately. The untold narrative of how Warren Buffet and others like him “get richer” is how they managed to not get poorer, even when their bad investment choices dictated such.
During the same 2 year span when Buffet’s net worth rose sharply, some 12 million Americans went on food stamps. Countless middle and lower class Americans lost their jobs and their homes. Small businesses were wiped out. These Americans didn’t get a bailout. Those that benefited the least from the boom years suffered the most during the bust. When people tell me that the bailouts saved the economy, I like to ask them, for whom?
On March 5th of this year, the Dow Jones Industrials Average recorded an all time high after an impressive rally from the 2009 lows. It’s widely agreed that the policies of the Federal Reserve are a big reason why. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke often points to rising stocks as a measure of success for his programs. Perhaps he likes to boast about stock market gains because he can’t boast about major jobs creation or economic growth. In the 4th quarter of 2012 our GDP only grew by 0.1%, and the economy can barely create enough jobs to keep up with population growth. The latest report by the Labor Department showed only a paltry gain of 88,000 jobs in the month of March. Personal Income has been falling for years, and we are amid the worse period for wage growth in over a decade. The stock market has done well, but two thirds of all stocks are owned by the wealthiest Americans. Only the rich have benefited from the Fed’s largess.
The Fed has also lowered interest rates, and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg was able to get a mortgage at a rate of 1%. Most Americans would consider themselves lucky if they could get any mortgage, let alone at such paltry rates. Small business lending remains anemic and credit card rates remain high. Mr. Buffet on the other hand just announced a major acquisition financed mostly by cheap debt. Such leveraged buyout deals are lucrative when rates are this low, but ironically by law only millionaires are allowed to invest in the Private Equity Funds that utilize them.
The disproportionate gain by the wealthy from Federal Reserve actions as via the stock and bond markets is captured in a recently published Pew Research Center report on the first 2 years of the recovery. Their analysis reveals that from 2009 to 2011 the mean net worth of the top 7% rose by 28%, while the mean net worth of the lower 93% actually fell. The sharp rebound for the wealthy had nothing to do with their investment acumen, their risk-taking foresight or their hard work, as it was entirely driven by Government and Federal Reserve action.
There is one aspect of Fed action that impacts everyone, even the poor. The Fed’s easy money policies have driven up commodity prices. Despite gasoline demand being near a decade low, and supplies so plentiful that America now exports gasoline, the national price at the pump recorded another record this winter, and Americans are spending a higher percentage of their pre-tax income on gasoline than ever before. High gasoline prices hurt the poor and middle class disproportionately.
The next time you ponder the governments role in the growing wealth-gap, ask yourself this simple question: Since the start of the crisis our government has borrowed over $6 trillion and printed several trillion more. Into whose pockets did that money go?
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Duh.
Exactly. Duh.
You've got a massive concentration of wealth at the top of the pyramid, and those with wealth are earning compound interest at a higher rate of interest than everyone else. (And most people don't have any wealth compounding at all.)
Exponential functions with differing exponents will move away from each other at an increasing rate.
Of course the wealth gap is increasing. How could it not, unless those with the most wealth were earning at a lower rate of compound interest than those with less wealth? (Which will never happen).
It's a big club, yada yada yada...
Re, duh & yada. Well, yes, but it is practically Tyler's duty to inform the public, new readers at ZH perhaps, that it is .gov that is more responsible for the increasing inequality than anything else...
Fiat + debt = inequality.
A more interesting question though is: Historically speaking, what causes wealth gaps to collapse?
...War comes to mind...
buffet and the 1% got hammered in 07/08. never knew what hit them. many of us knew it was going to happen (schiff, rogers, celente...) and were ready and positioned. but the 1% got the mulligan and perpetuated the scam. what pisses me off is not that they won or we lost, but that the bottom of the gene pool remained on top. such an arrangement won't turn out well for everyone.
True, that. They took a beating. But I'm not sure the overall gap collapsed so much as everyone took a beating. Then again... I'd certainly settle for an all-out market collapse over an all-out war.
You are a wise man. We have many benefit checks in this society as well...trust me when I tell you many of these people earned check...some "just by having a baby" which when last I checked still wasn't a crime. Probably sounds odd coming from a guy like me but I'm a big believer in the culture of Life. People need protecting too...
...
Peter Schiff was wrong.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/01/peter-schiff-was-wrong.html
Interesting article, except that Schiff's hyperinflation prediction is preceded by a loss of reserve currency status of the USD. And no one predicted all of those foreign currency liquidity swaps the Fed made in 2009.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NYBTkE1yQ
He's been right once in his life (08/09). Besides that he sells silver to innocent victims. If it is as valuable as he says it is, he wouldn't be selling it. Down vote away, but, as always, I'm right.
You are not right. You are left.
Schiff - ready yes, positioned no. He bet against the dollar. Lost big. Saw the wave, had no clue how it was going to break, got hammered.
Some people are amazingly resistant to life's patient attempts to teach humility.
Amen. I read this site for a few years before finally getting an account, and I still don't understand everything. Not even close! So while this article was kind of a rehash for me, not everything is, and I appreciate that the Tyler's have stuff for new readers and those of us who are still learning.
"What causes the growing wealth gap in America?"
Education, Continued Education, Hard Work and Intelligence.
What we should be asking is:
"What causes the growing intelligence gap in America?"
And no, it's not our fucking school systems.
Whaaa? Sooo, Jamie D is *smarter* than me, and therefore *deserves* alla the suckling @ the gov teet? Ya lost me...
Be the ones who make up the rules as the game is being played.
This "blame the government" stuff is complete bullshit. Under this theory, the U.S. government is portrayed as independent entity that, merely because it is the "government," always screws thing up.
This theory ignores the unpleasant truth that the U.S. Government is a bought and paid for arm of Wall Street. Our elected officials need to go on bended knee to the wealthiest among us and beg for the huge amounts of money needed to win elections. Is it any mystery that in return our elected officials do whatever is needed to increase the wealth and power of those who fund their elections?
When I see a puppet show, I don’t blame the puppets for what they do. I don’t say “those puppets are incompetent and can’t act to save their lives.” If the show is bad, I blame the puppet masters who pull the puppets’ strings.
Same thing with our government. Certainly our government has both the power and the ability to close the wealth gap, same as it implemented the policies that opened it years ago. But the government will not attempt this task because it is not in the interests of those who fund elections. These people control what our government does and does not do, same as a puppet master controls his puppets. The "government" isn't incompetent. Instead, it’s corrupt.
The trend line of government control for over 200 years has been up while during the same time the people have been basically turned into slaves.
If government isn't the problem then the fact that government exists is the problem.
Two hundered years ago many countries, such as Russia, France, Japan, and China, were ruled by divine right monarchies. I would say that the trend line of government control has actually been going down. If you don't believe me, go ask a Russian serf from 200 years ago.
You were referring to the US government, so was I.
I'll refer to the U.S. government too then. Two hundred years ago a large part of the U.S. population were actual slaves. There was also an ongoing genocide against the native population. Somehow, I think things have improved for these people concerning basis freedoms.
Compared to the fact that virtually all Americans are slaves to the government now.
Slavery, historically, was actually an improvement over killing captured males, and, as for the present, I detest political slavery as much as I detest chattel slavery. People are far less likely to resist the former compared to the latter.
As for the Indians, they probably would have been 'hunted to extinction' had they not stopped resisting.
I do not have a soft spot in my heart or head for a creation of mankind that killed hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century, and is being lead in its killing ways in the 21st century by the US.
I have no allegiance to machines of mass murder, no matter how they are glorified or what flag the dupes salute them under.
And yet Timmy you contradict yourself. Do not blame the government and yet the government is corrupt (100% agree) and the gov created this problem. You cannot have it both ways.
I do hold the government responsible as they are indeed corrupt and control the laws and the courts that back the laws. I do not give one iota what a rich person has. I do give a crap about having access the other 99% will never have to government. When discussing Buffett the other night with some friends I ruffled their feathers as I told them Buffett is nothing more then a pundit for the Obama administration. He has never written the government a check and does indeed get government handouts for his railroad and bailout for the banks he invested it and received preferred shares at what 6%. He owes the IRS 2 billion and is still fighting it in court.
You want to make money get connected to the government and the gravy train subsidies will continue to enrich you.
We oftentimes blame all the bankers and the financial sector for all of our woes. Our corrupt government is the root of the problem. So yes I blame the government.
Not mine!
The amazing thing is that Buffet actually believes in his own smartness and that he is truly a great investor. When anyone with brain can see that he gamed the system along. What other skeletons his closet?
"The greatest liars are those who can lie to themselves." Schopenhauer.
You know what? I'm willing to give Buffet at least a little credit. The guy is fucking ancient, back when he started his business career the Free Enterprise system hadn't been put in its grave yet (although it was certainly on its way). So his smarts and hard work actually paid off in the beginning. Of course, over the last 30 years, he has been seamlessly absorbed into the Oligarchy, and the table is so crooked now that all he has to do is stand there and catch the wealth as it spills off the edge into his lap. I'm sure he still thinks he's a genius though, why wouldn't he?
He never claimed to be a genius. He knows how to add, subtract, multiply and divide and look out for #1. That plus he is a stone cold miser since childhood.
He sure acts like one. And look at the smug look on his face as the sheeple worship him everywhere he goes. Einstein didn't have that kind of worship from the sheeple. Sheeple can only see money sign, bling, bling and nothing else. If the government didn't bail them out, where would he be now? 80% less, or much less. Did he see the 2008 crash and hedge accordingly? So much for the smug look.
trickle down bitchez!
drink it !
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPcyTyilmYY (4:13)
Alanis Morissette - You Learn - Jagged Little Pill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f7EJTXkJBY (4:00)
1% Recieves Money From Printing Press, They Gamble Said Money in a Circle Jerk, if they win they keep the money if they lose, YOU lose your house and THEY get a bailout.
Thats about as simple a translation of the current system as you can get ;)
Your welcome for the "cliff notes" to Bunbanke Economics.
Tune in next time as we discover how to turn one mortgage note for 100,000 into 20 ~ 30 mortgage Notes worth 20 to 30 Million through the magic called "derivatives"
also , "how to profit from people getting old and kicking the bucket" a No Hard Work, Risk Free Way to Make a KILLING!.
This sounds a lot easier than "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Those at the top benefit disproportionately from all the government money thrown into the economy. When government prints money, those who already have plenty get access first and make MORE money at the expense of those that don't have much. Even when excess money creation leads to high inflation levels, the wealthy benefit from first in line access to funds - they can 'invest' in ways that keep pace with or outpace inflation while those at the bottom suffer the very real consequences of rising prices (often caused by those at the top who are investing in commodities with that money - driving prices up even further for the rest.
Of course we'll iognore the opbvious - the very wealthy manage to get politicians to write laws and reguilations that directly benefit the richest..... The Walton heirs saved a few billion in inheritasnce taxes - but one example.
The Koch Brothers have gotten awway with (literally) murder in the failure to enforce safety regulations at the many plants they own.
A few bones are thrown to the poor - windowdressing to buy votes that spur screams of 'socialism' but the very rich are the real hogs at the government trough.
That's the key point I've tried to drive home with my friends and family. Whoever gets newly created money first wins big because they aren't affected by the inflationary aftermath. I've found most people understand that quite easily once it's pointed out to them, and they kind of put 2 and 2 together after that.
A lot of people initially don't buy into the fact that the super rich can be leeches, too, but it becomes obvious once they understand the "avoiding inflation" argument.
Our entire system is one giant cesspool of CRIMINAL CORRUPTION. From the executive, judicial, legislative and everything derived from them, federal, state and local. There is nothing that has not been completely and utterly CORRUPTED.
There is not even ONE man or woman in ANY part of government (federal, state, local) that is truly HONEST or has CLEAN HANDS. EVERY single one of them have made some sort of deal with the DEVIL. The longer they are there the dirtier their hands get & instead of having a conscience & getting OUT, the POWER corrupts them more & soon there is NOTHING that will stop them from doing anything and everything they can to stay in and becoming more powerful.
Just like in Sodom & Gomorrah. Not even ONE honest person could be found to prevent GOD from destroying it. So how much hope does America have? Well lets just say, America should be very scared.
But then you must look at the people as well. Sadly most of the people are absolutely CRIMINALLY CORRUPT as well. They lie, cheat steal and kill just like the government, which is why it is so easy for them to turn a blind eye and make excuses for everything the government does.
How to tell a CRIMINAL CORRUPT person. When they try and justify ANY wrong doing for ANY reason.
Some of the justifications they use:
1. Well nobody is perfect
2. He/she is the lesser of 2 evils
3. They could have done or been worse
4. They are doing the best they can
5. They inherited the problem
6. They are not all bad
7. They have never hurt me. As though it is okay to hurt others just not you personally.
8. Yes they lie, cheat and steal but at least they do not kill. Like you would know, especially seeing that they are LIARS. The fact you would have to go to the most heinous crime to try and make them look better should say enough.
9. They are only doing their job. As if claiming it is their job makes their wrongs okay.
The Global Criminal Oligarch Cabal Bankster Intelligence Crime Syndicate
you call it a system... i say it is human nature....
When Clinton lied to the Grand Jury, he gave Americans the green light to lie, cheat and steal. Even decent Americans started to cheat and lie after Clinton did this. The key is not to get caught.
Feminists! Bill Clinton also gave millions of southern men a green light to cheat on their wives.
Thanks for the Fascism 101. You barely scratched the surface.
If the Fed had done nothing and allowed deflation and natural price discovery, our economy would be in much better shape.
Ironically, this would have helped the poor and hurt the wealthy... I guess that's why they didn't do that.
40 million selling apples on the street corners. I fail to see how we would be in better shape.
It sucks what Bernanke has to do, but the alternative would be much worse. Perhaps you should look at Europe as an example....
What we have instead is only a few people in control selling apples to 40 million starving people.
To be more precise, we got 40 million buying their apples with food stamps.
From the few people in control.
"40 million selling apples on the street corners"
Bullshit. It would been a generational change in attitudes towards self reliance, survival and in the a complete turn around of the narcissistic mindset that has enveloped our nation. So bad gamblers get their ass mud stomped and go broke, debt cleared and out the other side cleaner, stronger and healthier.
Europe as an example!! more bullshit, where are the bank haircuts? It is redistribution of wealth from the middle to the top via austerity and that is NOT austerity at all when only a certain class has to eat it.
Exactly, the Fed policy with cronyism robs from the poor and gives to the rich. President Obama must laugh every night at all the poor people who elected him.
WB calls for more taxes for the rich ONLY to make himself look good... he knows full well that it will NEVER EVER HAPPEN as long as the politicians are bribed... and let us give lobby money its true name... BRIBED to keep the status quo for the rich
He lives on his dividends of which he has never called for higher taxes for dividends. He calls for higher taxes on regular income which would exclude him and makes him the pos we all have come to hate.
Berkshire Hathaway doesn't pay dividends. All those people who invested with Buffet in the sixties have never received a single dime in dividends or any other payout. If they want to see any return on their investment they have to sell their stock.
Buffet pays himself a $150,000 salary plus a generous expense account (including private airplane). All the rest is capital gains in Berkshire. And he is never going to pay any capital gains tax on that because he is never going to sell it. Even when he dies there will be no inheritance tax because he donated everything to a charitable foundation.
Nobody pays less tax on more income than Buffet unless it is a Rockefeller. He openly brags that his secretary is taxed at a higher rate than he is.
Them's the rules.
communism
sheepism
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
ignoramusism
nonproductixrobustus economaximus <bubbleicious>
Oh sure. Capitalism was a minor factor. It was collectivisim that screwed everything up. snicker.
If I insulted anyone's religion --good.
Biological systems with many "cheaters" or selfish actors, break down and go extinct. All is not lost though. Intelligent life will rise again on Earth in another million years or so.
Ben, stop stimulating me, it hurts too much.
Article should've been this: See spot print......see spot invest in the Dow.....see spot buy Porsches.....see spot watch world collapse..see spot run!!!!!
Your version is much more sophisticated than the actual article.
Q. What Causes The Growing Wealth Gap In America?
A. Lying,Thieving & Thuggery... by the "Usual Suspects".
would someone email this article to marketwatch and whomever wrote that terrible article blaming it on "capitalism"?
: "Into whose pockets did that money go?"
Into the pockets of the Talmudic Power Company (TPC).
I understand the issue and the sentiment, but am curious about the "fix." Who decides what the "correct" income distribution is and how will they determine the "correct" income distribution?
I am all for less government involvement in these matters.
Inflation causes it.
Zero is alway zero, but under inflation $1 (1913) becomes $.07 (2013) in purchasing power. Thus, $1 becomes $14.30, and the "rich"/poor gap "grows" by a factor of 1430%.
The horror!
Yes Federal Reserve policies favor the rich, and the Federal Reserve is a private company. Free trade laws are enacted by the government, but they are enacted for the benefit of private enterprise. Tax cuts, whether for businesses or private individuals, overwhelmingly help the wealthy. Tax loopholes overwhelmingly help the wealthy. It's not fucking rocket science.
What did Obama say in 2009?
hmmm?
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of, you know, fat-cat bankers on Wall Street"
He didn't lie...
He let them help themselves.
Destroying America from within. Transfeering all of America's Wealth to the Banks and the 1%. Leaving everyone else to pay for the Feds largess.
With Trillions in new Debt it will be the Middle Class that pays Taxes to not only repay the Debt and interest that was created to transfeer America's weath to the Bankers and the 1%. They will be left holding the Bag. So to speak.
Of course Wall Street is happy about Bernanke printing more, more, more. They will be the ones that walk away with all of America's assets, leaving the people only with unpayable Debt.
Hmmm. Always good to hear from ya WFS. "good thing those equities are rallying" then. Those are called "companies" and they pay taxes." LOTS of taxes (jobs, benefits, wages, peace of mind if your lucky). Losing the totality of the securities industry (save Morgan Stanley and Golldman now) means trillion dollar deficits. If that equity space had stayed "at or near zero" like it did during the Depression you would have seen some...ahem..."wild times." can't say I can explain why the equity space recovered the way it has but let's just say "you have to have a strong stomach for risk" when doing that line of work. Gold is still...really the only...non risk asset. normally that's deposited at the bank "for safe keeping" as they say. Hopefully that's still true too...
------------------------------
Tyler Durden asked:
What Causes The Growing Wealth Gap In America?That is an easy question, but remarkably few Americans know the answer. In recent years, American corporations and other employers have had essentially unrestricted access to cheap, immigrant labor. This phenomenon is especially pronounced in the IT field, where most employers flatly refuse to hire American-born IT professionals, even ones with years of experience.
If you hate the growing gap between rich and poor in America, then make it clear to your political representatives that they must force employers to fire the immigrants (both legal and illegal) and replace ALL of the immigrants with the American-born. That is the ONLY way that the gap between rich and poor can be narrowed. There ain't no other way.
-- Paul D. Bain
PaulBain@PObox.com
-------------------------------------
I don't think illegal aliens are entirely to blame. It is the massive amount of debt that people have taken on. Even if you make a million dollars a year, but you spend 1.2 million annually; you're not a millionaire: you're bankrupt.
When manufacturing is shifted abroad, who do you blame for un-employing?
"If you hate the growing gap between rich and poor in America, then make it clear to your political representatives that they must force employers to fire the immigrants (both legal and illegal) and replace ALL of the immigrants with the American-born. That is the ONLY way that the gap between rich and poor can be narrowed. There ain't no other way."
Yea, you forgot the part that this immigration policy is a GOVERNMENT POLICY in the first fucking place. It is by design, Americans demand cheap shit because their wages cannot keep up with inflation and what is so fucking stable (a fed reserve mandate) about 3% over 20 years. Now do the math and tell me what drives the car. You are being robbed by your own government and now you want the same government to throw you an anchor while you are drowning. Stop looking for government solutions because every one of their solutions beget another fucking law. See a pattern here?
Paul,
While I agree in a broad sense, I think the idea would run into significant headwinds.
I am sure many businesses in the high-tech fields would grumble because of the lack of domestic talent. The best talent in software and many engineering fields is now coming from abroad.
Sure, American universities are churning out graduates in these fields, but a simple survey of management in these areas would reveal SERIOUS displeasure with their capabilities. Pissy, whiny, high salary demands right out of school, no concept of working one's way up, weak creativity and problem solving skills, etc.
Labor-related and unskilled job sectors perhaps, but in those fields and industries requiring serious intellectual capacity in order to maintain competitiveness and profitability, in a global market, not a chance.
Visit the campus of Microsoft, Google, Apple, the fab plants out West or any of the top universities. You would be shocked at the number of foreign nationals.
At least in these fields, it is not because the workers are available at a lower cost. It is the talent.
Thus the constant push for more H1B visas.
Sad, but true.
Wrong. Since the days of the colonies, America's population has always had a large contingent of new immigrants entering the workforce, and this dynamic actually contributed to the growth of the economy for many generations. Only in the last couple generations has that virtuous cycle been broken, and it was broken by government intervention in the marketplace that has decimated domestic industrial production, inflated debt, stalled innovation and job growth and eroded the middle class.
There is no question that immigration policy is badly broken in this country, but blaming immigrants for the problem is like blaming the French Resistance for World War II.
The immigration issue of the day is one more distraction welcomed by the powerful who hope to continue to delay the moment at which a majority of Americans realize they have been defrauded of their wealth and their liberty.
In the kingdom of the blind, there is no hope for the one-eyed men if we cannot grasp the truth firmly, and act accordingly.
Isn't it great we can all identify the problem and yet nothing changes. No one will even picket the Fed. No one. Let alone call Obama the pussy he is for keeping Bernanke in this position.
"Picket the Fed". You might as well stand in line to make reservations to be placed into a FEMA camp.
Nothing will change until people are willing to stand up for liberty and say no to the man. Everyone needs to stop bitching about Bernanke then if they aren't willing to do the simple act of protest. The Fed Reserve is where the Wall St. protestors should have protested.
+1000! The Federal Reserve has been the single biggest instrument of government-mandated wealth redistribution (aka "theft") this country has ever seen.
the haves and have nots.
we'll see what the currencie explossions will bring us and who will be the haves than.
This article is one of the best arguments for believing that the wealthy 1% should be paying more in taxes...a LOT more!
Don’t fall into this trap: The division of Americans by class and income is a socialist program whereby the filthy rich are the target for taxing and media abuse. No!.
The truth is, averaging the 1% takes in the real socialist target, namely America’s small businessmen, farmers and entrepreneurial professionals. A business that employs 20 people and generates an income of $370,000 is hardly to be compared with the Blankfeins who even on paper are making billions – and produce nothing except to take away from others.
To lump the true middle class that does three-quarters of the world’s work and keeps the machine going and the working man in a job with the Blankfeins and Dimons is to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs – the American middle class. America’s wealth comes from the middle-class: her traders, small businessmen, professionals, highly-skilled craftsmen, innovators. Destroy America’s true middle-class—the small businessmen--that employs 65% and upward of American workers, and you will destroy America.
And to destroy America’s middle class is to annihilate all property, obliterate all law, and end by dissolving all of American society.
The latest numbers from the IRS -- based on 2010 tax returns – says Kiplinger, “show what it takes to be among the top 1% of income earners: adjusted gross income of $369,691 or more. The 1.4 million Americans with this elite status reported 16.9% of all the country's taxable income.
“That's right. One percent of taxpayers reported almost 19% of all taxable income. But that same tiny group also kicked in 37% of all the taxes paid. How much do you need to make to be in the top 50% of earners? Just $34,338.”
Don’t throw out America’s small businessman by lumping him in with the parasitic financiers who control the world’s monetary system. Communists, like the super rich families, "are not the enemies of MONOPOLY CAPITALISM: they are the foes of FREE ENTERPRISE,” as David Hill so accurately put it.
IOW, the Communists are not the enemies of all capitalists; they get along well with the Buffetts and the Blankfeins and the superrich; they both use double talk to defeat their competition -- free enterprise -- i.e., the middle class.
http://www.kiplinger.com/article/taxes/T054-C000-S001-where-do-you-rank-as-a-taxpayer.html
OK maybe I put the decimal point in the wrong place. Try .1% or .01%.
You have to remember the multimillionaires and billionaires don't have much in the way of earned (taxable)income. It's almost all capital gains and a lot of their capital is in tax havens overseas hidden from the tax man. Even then, they have written the tax laws to give themselves special favorable treatment. And most of this wealth isn't even earned, it's inherited.
Let's not let the oligarchs hid behind the skirts of the small business men and farmers. As for the Communists they're too busy running Capitalist systems in China and Viet Nam etc. to be bothered with our middle class.
The biggest threat to our middle class is the oligarchs.
This is real class warfare, always has been.
Exactly,very well put. As you say, this is real class warfare. And in that the U.S. Fed has basic control over the world's money, and in that the connections of the Federal Reserve System lead mainly to the Rothschilds who are reputed to control at least half of the wealth of the world, and to a few other international banking families, we now know the enemy that wields this extensive power.
As for the Fed, interesting isn't it how that power works, exemplified by the fact that a former Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Paul A. Volcker under Carter and Reagan, went to work for the Rothschilds as chairman of the European investment banking firm, J. Rothschild, Wolfensohn and Co. in March '92?
I can't argue with you there. We need to end the FED. NOW!
It could probably have been said more succinctly, but for the life of me, I don’t know what it would be.
"hid behind the skirts of the small business men and farmers"
That reminds me of when, a few years back, the Republicans passed the first major gutting of the "death" tax. WHen they took the bill from capitol hill to the White House, they drove it on a farm tractor, even though like 1 out of 1000 beneficiaries of the new law was actually a farmer.
Why all those tremendous increases in gun and ammo purchases? A fear guns may be taken away by the grabbers? Or, in a significant new survey, these truths come forth: millions of Americans believe they may need the weapons to protect their rights against a government takeover.
IOW…revolution!
Leave it to salon.com to tell the truth from the survey: 44% of Republicans believe armed revolution may be necessary.
POLL: 3 IN 10 VOTERS SAY "ARMED REVOLUTION MIGHT BE NECESSARY"
29 percent say they believe they'll have to act "in order to protect our liberties" in the next few yearsA new survey of voters by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that 29 percent agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties” – including 18 percent of Democrats, 27 percent of Independents and 44 percent of Republicans.
From the survey:
Only 38 percent of Americans who believe a revolution might be necessary support additional gun control legislation, compared with 62 percent of those who don’t think an armed revolt will be needed. “The differences in views of gun legislation are really a function of differences in what people believe guns are for,” said Cassino. “If you truly believe an armed revolution is possible in the near future, you need weapons and you’re going to be wary about government efforts to take them away.”
The poll also found that 25 percent of those surveyed “think that facts about the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary last year are being hidden.” 11 percent are unsure.
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/poll_3_in_10_voters_say_armed_revolution_might_be_necessary/
Come on, the ole saying " it takes money to make money" comes to mind. Even if you know of the opportunities you are shut out. Once your in that club they keep it as exclusive as possible.
It's not that capitalism has run wild. It's that a few have conspired with government to ensure that capitalism doesn't work - so as to protect and increase their (i.e., big banks' and buffett's, to name a few,) ill gotten gains.
I've wondered lately how much better off we'd be if Ben had just lived up to his "Helicopter Ben" nickname. Can you imagine the demand increase if instead of QE we got drops of money to the consumer? Even an income tax holiday for everything under 75,000 a household could have done wonders for agregate demand. People wouuld also pay off bad debts giving them more confidence to spend gowing forward. After the economy stabilized you could have a slow and steady rise in rates without worrying about it bursting a freshly blown FED bubble.
In reality Ben Shalom ain't much of a Keynesian is he???
Of course we'd be far better off ....well, the bottom 99% of us anyway.... Remember who Ben really works for. Hint: it ain't you or me.
@"What Causes The Growing Wealth Gap In America?"
.
the structure on credit and debt money, nothing moar.
Its amazing how these articles appear on ZH to say the very opposite to what has been related here again and again in factual narrative :
Its the Reaganomics mantra that has created this wealth gap. Its the deliberate collusion of supply side deregulation over 30 years that has created this dynamics and the bubbleonomics culture created in NWO hubris : we have no challengers out there. We can rip the world of its resources and make it OUR factory with slave labour.
Its meaningless to try and seperate the ruling big business order from their crony partners in government. RR and MT were the political leaders who FRONTED this oligarchy construct. It all began with their joint collaboration.
But we know who benefitted from this most : the financial breed and their tax havened big business corporate clients.
But that was the plan all along and the welfare state was the sacrificial lamb. We are right on track.
<golf clap> truthiness 2.0
80's S&L loans = testing ground for Reagan/Thatchernomics
90's Enron = make adjustment to Oligopoly agenda with Anderson Accounting help
00's NASDAQ = take agenda to an index that if it blows up doesn't crash the system
08 MBS = suck as much blood from host before it dies. Parasite 101
15 = ring fence private enclaves with security contractors
It’s getting mighty hard to beat down the welfare state when it’s up to our ears. If only your hero, Roosevelt, were here again, only for a few days, to turn off the spigot of free enterprise, and give the welfare state a chance to save us all. (sarc/off)
Falak, pick up a few pointers on what’s happening with the crush of Big Government, greater in its stranglehold than FDR could have only imagined.
You’ve got your man, Falak, Barack Obama. Extol his virtues, forget Reagan; your man’s in the driver’s seat. I looked around; I looked everywhere, high and low. Reagan ain’t here. It’s Roosevelt, Jr.
Unfortunately, we have him too.
It was not Ronald Reagan who targeted the common man for servitude; rather, it is the world’s international banking families and their Oval Office puppet who have aligned themselves against the common man, who fleece him regularly, who in their inside documents call him “cattle.”
It is not Ronald Reagan who is determining the fate of the European continent; who is electing his successors from his entourage.
Was it Ronald Reagan who cranked up international banking to destroy man’s freedom? Was it Ronald Reagan’s family that created and runs the Federal Reserve; that is responsible for the creation and ownership of U.S. Federal Reserve notes; whose family has total control over the supply of U.S. paper money that gives it leverage over the world’s finances?
Is it Ronald Reagan’s progeny that is determined to destroy both the Christian and the Moslem faith in God?
How foolish to blame Reagan for what the Frankfort and New York City and London bankers do, for the indoctrination and preparations that the Federal Reserve and the Keynesian Fabian Socialists have set up to ensure America’s entry into an international socialist New World Order.
Reagan, whatever his faults, had no such power. It is Obama who carries the oligarchs' flag.
Do you seriously find it so difficult to believe that evil is organized? And that your man is on its team?
as soon as Raygun Ronnie tripped the switch the oligarch complex was off and running and hasn't skipped a beat in 30 years testing new was to capture wealth and resources through both regulatory and criminal means. The extent is NOTICEABLY different pre 80's to post 80's so YES Raygun was in the fix for sure. The error you make is in distinctions of political class, when they are all in fact the same. The Obumnonaughts are Reagunauts grandkids, it's a family business.
The differences from the 80s are staggering.
Small businesses grew and prospered under Reagan. My parents were able to improve their bottom line after suffering under Carter. And, now, I am getting literally wiped out, as well as my parents, under the Obama and liberal Republican programs.
And, frankly, Ronald Reagan was an American patriot in the days when patriot was a source of pride among the populace and derision among the media. He was not a war president; he was a free enterprise president.
Reagan loved this country; the Obamas’ hatred of America is so strong that no one can miss it.
It’s important in our hour of crisis not to make the mistake of linking them all together.
it was ALL a shell game done on CREDIT, he borrowed his way to false prosperity and had to swing the TAX axe when he went over the cliff. Raygun's prosperity was FAKE and has been for the last 30+ years. A credit sham perfected by trial and error thru the 90's and 00's.
The man was NO patriot, he was a stooge for the Oligarch's taught to him by his close friend Thatcher who came to visit with a message from the "Queen" Oligarch. Help me squash the unions in the UK and I will teach you the ways of the force RonnieOne.
fucking shit show ever since.
dude stay away from the red pill, historical gravity will burn you up on re-entry
“The bald fact is that the US government is going to have to borrow--or print--half of the money it intends to spend in Obama’s first budget. This fact has fallen through the cracks as New York Times headlines proclaim "A Bold Plan Sweeps Away Reagan Ideas." It certainly does sweep away Reagan ideas. No Reagan budget ever presumed that the federal government could borrow half of its annual expenditures. Indeed, Obama’s budget deficit for 2010 alone exceeds the totality of "Reagan Deficits" for Reagan’s two terms of office.” – Paul Craig Roberts (2009)
All revisionist history aside, Reagan’s first term was a tax cutting term. The result was an avalanche of investment and increase in business activity. This is not necessarily a Democrat/Republican issue, but if the revisionists want to call Reagan a tax raiser, then someone should answer with the obvious axiom that the Democrats are the taxers.
Charles Krauthammer called President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration speech an "amazing" and "important" one — for the themes of progressivism and what Krauthammer called an "ode to big government."
"I thought it was an amazing speech, and historically very important,” Krauthammer said on Fox News in the aftermath of the speech. "This was really Obama unbound. And I think what's most interesting is that Obama basically is declaring the end of Reaganism."
In his famous 1981 inaugural speech, Ronald Reagan said that government "is the problem" — not the solution. Krauthammer said that Obama's, on contrast, was a "rebuke" to Reagan.
"This speech today was an ode to big government. It was a hymn to big government," he said.
Obama's speech focused on liberal themes, with climate change, entitlements, and gay rights among them, with little mention of the economy or the federal deficit.
"Obama had zero interest in that, and this was a declaration that his interest is to restore us to the liberal ascendency," according to Krauthammer. And, as it so happens, so it is..
http://www.businessinsider.com/krauthammer-obama-inaugural-speech-text-liberal-big-government-reagan-2013-1#ixzz2IeeP8YL5
All revisionist history aside, Reagan’s first term was a tax cutting term.
how 'bout we don't revise history and talk second term......?? Raygun Ron was NOTHING BUT........<green light ,GO!> Oligarchs get ready, set,
STRIP THE WORLD of its wealth. He held the starter pistol for all the "carl lewis's" and gave birth to a bunch of financial macguires posing as supplement takers. No revision required.
Civics 101:
Spending bills originate in the House of Representitives
Years of Reagan (R) controlling the House: 0
Fail.
Excellent points.
i would like to point out, however, that this article, along with many that I read, often do not come right out and say that what happened in 2008 including Buffet's bailouts were all PLANNED---the destruction and reaction to the destruction were all well planned and executed by a band of criminals that includes the central bankers, the progressives, and criminals like Warren Buffet. The seeds of this criminality of course were laid in 1913 and the creation of the criminal banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve. But, America had some "governors" in place up until the 1990's that provided some restraint----these were all removed during the 1990's by the likes of Clinton and Clinton appointees from Goldman Sachs including Larry Somers and Robert Rubin along with evil SOB’s like Warren Buffet. These criminal thugs knew EXACTLY what they were doing, and they are very, very patient. They deregulated the banks so that they could setup the bubbles and then implode the economy just as Obama was ready to come to power to turn this nation into a Kleptocracy communist/Marxist state. They know that most people have limited memories and the attention span of a knat, and thus, the blame is not laid where it belongs----people just seem to think that things went south in 2008 and that Obama was their savior when the fact is all of this was well planned and executed. That is the sad part for me----that thug criminals like Buffet get away with their crimes and the destruction of capitalism and most people don’t even lay the blame where it belongs.
Another point that is rarely addressed is the "effect" pumping the stock market has on mainstream business in Amerika. Nobody seems to realize that by the criminal central banks pumping up public companies via the indexes, one result is that fewer and fewer small businesses can compete. How do you compete with companies that have access to free money? This is a deep topic all by itself, but the reality is the distortions and destruction caused by the criminal central banks and their thug lieutenants like Warren Buffet are far and wide and could be the subject of numerous long books. From education to the destruction of the social fabric of the nation, the moral hazards caused by allowing central banks to pick winners and losers via money printing are far and wide.
The sad end story is unless something is done VERY SOON about central banking (VERY UNLIKELY), full on totalitarianism is the only end result. The reality is people can complain and identify problems, but unless something is done (very unlikely) it is all noise anyway.
Who cares anyway? FVK the money. Face it folks it is all over but the dying. Fukushima is STILL spewing radiation across the world, the Pacific ocean is D E A D, chemtrails have fvked up the atmosphere and weather to the point we cant get tomatoes to ripen or gardens to grow, record snow and cold across most the world especially the south/midwest, they unleashed the wolves into the woods to kill off all the ungulates which they have, etc to infinity. These mutherfvkerz are satanists that worship death and destruction even to the point of delivering up their children to be skinned and eaten alive. Sandy Hook is an example of this den of satanists. The battle is not about flesh and blood.. Believe that.. IT IS ABOUT EVIL in high places. And I mean way higher than what we see on planet earth. In a nutshell, yes we are totally fvked and this shit is just getting warmed up. Real destruction is just a shot away, and if you listen carefully you can hear the hoof beats.
IT IS ABOUT EVIL in high places. And I mean way higher than what we see on planet earth.
Oh noes...
The Satanists have drafted the Aliens.
We got trouble now.
Perfect F'n example of what causes a growing wealth gap. This guy spent $2,600 of his life savings trying to win an X-box Kinect @ a carnival game...
"Henry Gribbohm loses life savings on New Hampshire carnival game"
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/04/henry-gribbohm-loses-life-savings-on-new-hampshire-carnival-game-88165.html
So who is to blame? The cheaters who created the game or the player?
Maybe the answer is: both.
diversion 101; yu win
The NEA cohorts who made Mr. Gribbohm so gullible & tardedoutlike, including his legsl guardians and the squid behind the NEA.
I am reading all of these comments and kinda scratching my head.
How is it that most NON-Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. manage to hit the ground running? Comparatively few are out of work and on the dole.
Most are completely self sufficient within months and move into a positive cash flow just as fast.
Many go on to start their own businesses and do very well for themselves and family.
Could PART of the problem be the societal mindset?
I believe so.
The statistics are absolute bullshit, social engineering foma to support hidden agendas. Socialists lie all the time because they have to. They have nothing to stand on. The only thing they can claim as their own accomplishment - and which they always try to blame other for - is having slaughtered more people than anyone else in history. Mostly their own, after they promised to take care of them, in exchange for all their property. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they write bad checks by the tens of thousands. Socialism rewards victims. FU Warren
Russia was a fascist totalitarian state,nothing to do with communism,True socialism has never existed, nor communism.
USSR was what TPTB made it. You are just confused by the manipulation of the language. Socialism IS communism IS fascism IS statism, and statism IS hierarchical despotic tyranny. True communal interest exists only at the family level, and social interests exist (weakly) only at the extended family level. beyond that its jungle law, which you have been mesmerized by your enemies into denying; at your own peril. The nearest you will come to your utopian ideal is what you are free to create for yourself; to the best of your ability. Thats capitalism. Everything else is subjugation to external force.
Lately the socialists have been abusing the word 'democracy'; this is still a republic.
OF ANY VIDEO that has ever captured the essence of America today it's the clip below. Brief, but it really gets to the strategy of bernanke, and it covers his more studied mentors throughout recent history, and their advanced theories. I can honestly say I understand Dr. Bernanke and will urge others to give him a chance to work the plan after watching this. Big ups Big B! Some of us here believe in you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aEL0EQtyGA
I have commented several times about how Buffet's cozy relationship with Govt., similar to Jeff Immelt, has largely contributed to his success, but was given negative feedback.
And let's not forget the back scratching between Buffet and Govt. over the B of A deal. Uber rich people get rich because they are given all the breaks, rules are rewritten and overridden for them. No one person in America becomes a billionaire without help from Uncle Sam. If they were to conduct business under the same rules as other folks, they would never achieve their lofty status. The game has been rigged for a very, very long time.
This article appears to be correct in so many ways. It even omits a bunch of other government causes of the increased disparities in wealth and income. Think about it. Even the progressivity of our tax code would -- quite counter-intuitively -- appear to concentrate wealth and incomes at the top.
Almost all people who have a job either work for a government or people who are either upper middle class or wealthy. All government costs are ultimately picked up by the taxpayers who are also largely comprised of the upper middle class and the wealthy (by taxes paid). If the government raises tax rates for these wealthier people, the wealthier people pass on most if not all of these higher costs to their customers, clients, and their EMPLOYEES in the form of reduced potential for increased compensation if not outright layoffs (as well as to the people who were never hired but who would have been hired without the higher costs of doing business). The same thing happens when the costs of litigation, taxation, or compliance with regulation increase for any other reasons. It’s hard to believe any increased “benefits” paid to the less wealthy by governments can make up this disparity.
Why do so many people apparently hate and want to punish poor and lower middle class people so much by making it so hard to find a job! I guess they merely have no idea what the effects of the policies they support are.
Never forget, having an extremely progressive system of tax rates on income is one of the 10 main steps advocated in the Communist Manifesto for advancing Marxism / Communism. Was their ever a place with a greater disparity of power between the elites and the common people than USSR?
The Fair Tax would fix a good bit of this I expect.
/sarc ::
I really don't understand where this wealth gap comes from......
Dated April 30th 2013
"Sen. Diane Feinstein’s husband Richard Blum won a construction contract for California’s high-speed rail project....bid $985,142,530 to build the wildly anticipated first section of high speed rail track that will tie the megopolis of Madera to the global finance center of Fresno."
makes sense no?
As the Kenny Rodgers song goes - "On a warm summer's eve on a bullet train bound for nowhere....."
Wealth Gap? Libertarians don't really give a shit about that, do they? I mean, if a libertarian regime came on the scene and GDP exploded and inequality increased some more, it would be great, right?
It seems that virtually everyone cares once the violent responses begin. As long as the disparity stays low enough to prevent this from happening too much, you might be correct.
If so, these charts should matter:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1890_2012USp_13s1li01...
http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/revenue_chart_1890_2012USp_13s1li011l...
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1890_2012USp_13s1li01...
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1970_2012USp_13s1li11...
And, what's happening with that revenue chart?
Houstin, we have a problem!
Is that Atlas I see? Shrugging?
'Sorry, Texans . . . "Houston."
The key point that you are missing is that the wealth of the people at the bottom is zero. The wealth of the people at the top is increasing due to price inflation of their assets that is the direct consequence of the Fed printing money.
Tyler. Don't you think that corporate america is just another form of dictatorship that we have to deal with every day. They actually write the laws that will benefit them the most and just pay for them to be implemented. Congress doesn't even write the laws anymore. Isn't the basis of wealth disparity.
And, it would seem that the more the government spending increases as a portion of the economy, the more corrupt it will become. Won't that increase the disparities even more?
Whoops, I meant to post the chart links to this post and not the one I replied to. 'Sorry.
Like the internet sales tax. Really sneaky. The key benefactors will be Amazon and Walmart who will process the little guys out of state internet business.
The mom and pop stores will not benefit. The main reason people shop online is competitive prices and convenience. It is a lot easier having things delivered to your door than having to go to the mall.
And this article explains how Barack Obama lied to get reelected. He is in bed with each and every person who benefitted and has done nothing for the working people except lie to them. When this Ponzi scheme collapses, he will tell the public that Capitalism is a failure, we need a new kind of government and he will move to a dictatorship!
Watch Santelli lose it!!!
http://nation.foxnews.com/economy/2013/05/01/santelli-explodes-obamas-so...
Hilarious - starts around 5:00
The key "bait and switch" is to conflate wealth and income.
What percentage of the population actually have a net worth?
The African American community voted for Obama with the expectation of not necessarily becoming rich, but at least being much better off. This has not occurred - most are a lot worse off - a huge number or are on food stamps and/or do not have a job that pays them an income. Also, prices of most necessities have skyrocketed. despite phony CPI statistics.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, of all people, hits the nail on the the head with a study she did comparing household income and expenditures in 1970 with 2008 (I think).
You can find her lecture on YouTube - well worth watching, and surprisingly, devoid of any political bias.
If you think wealth and income are so different, try creating wealth without any income. It's largely a difference of timing.
Almost all of us can change our spending habits enough to save some “wealth.”
If there's anything left to store it as besides . . .
My point is that most middle class (poor) people live paycheck to paycheck, and have no net-worth to speak off. If it is a two income household, they are very vulnerable to the loss of one income, Also, the bulk of their expenditures are non-discretionary. And, realistically, what is the incentive to save? If you stick the money in the bank, you are not going to receive any interest. As prices rise, the money in the bank account loses purchasing power.
The incentive is lack of stress and enjoyment and extension of life. Get a cushion. Enjoy!
Besides, if all your money is losing value due to inflation, does it matter whether it is your salary or savings?
You can still get ahead if you are careful where you buy your real estate - Manhattan or Washington DC are good examples. Or you could buy gold or some other basket of commodities.
Warren is the son of a U.S. congressman.
He comes from a century of knowing "regulatory capture."
Plus, he is a Fabian Capitalist: He knows how to be patient and strike when everyone else is running in fear.
The increase in the amount of available money has come not from savings and investment but from money printing.. So those closer to the spigot have grabbed much more for themselves.
When you have a big government only other big entities can survive. Big government will cause small entitites to fail because they cannot afford to waste resources on lawyers and lobbyist....................
This isn't news. All this shit couldn't have gone down without the government being complicit in the crimes. The Mafia or whatever you call it is now running our Federal government, case closed, we're screwed, get used to it.
The answer to the Titled Question is non other than The Federal Reserve Bank duh!
Spot on.
I'm in the process of reading "Guns, Germs, and Steel." It's a very interesting attempt at an explanation why there is/was such disparity of technology between civilizations throughout 1500ish to present. There's an interesting case study on the Polynesian peoples. The same culture, language, and people colonized islands over the course of ~2000 years. Many of the islands still kept in contact with each other. The most striking differences was how each island existed politically after a time. For islands where most of the subsistence was "hunter-gatherer" the body politik was very egalitarian. For the vertically integrated societies where surplus lead to further occupational specialization there was a greater amounts of hierarchy. Closer to totalitarian regimes emerged. In the most extreme cases where the need to redirect labor/resources appeared the islands would not only have a near-monarchy establishment but also a firmly rooted caste system with non-intermingling social classes.
That's a very roundabout of pointing out that whenever there was excess on any scale a government integrated itself to skim that excess. As organization and excess production increased the complexity and total control of the government increased. It's interesting to think that we currently live at the most efficient output per worker as ever experienced on the planet. What does that say about our government and developing sociology?
Tyler, a big reason that there is a growing gap between incomes is because over the last 25 years we , the United States have been importing poverty ! Yes, each month 125,000 legal immigrants enter our country . Most of them with low and medium skills. $7% of hispanic immigrants are on some form of welfare (taxpayer assistance) ! Nee I say more ? Not only do these legal immigrants depress wages for Americans of similair skills, but they benefit from taxpayer assistance ! Now, what about the 20 million illegal aliens in our country ? We educate their children aand provide for their healthcare and also food stamps . Now , I read a post which you must have approved which stated that these illegal aliens wiil support the housing market ! Fantastic, three hispanic families buying a single family home like in my middelclass northwest side Chicago neighborhood ! Result, noise population, car pollution (no places left oin the street to park my car ) , etc.... Quality of life down the shitter ! Would you care to respond to my points ?
Trickles for the Tribbles.