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What Happened To The Middle Class? The Infographic
Restaurants like Olive Garden and Red Lobster are struggling, while high end dining is flourishing. At GE, demand for high-end dishwashers is racing ahead of sales growth for mass-market models. The increased wealth of highly skilled workers, the insane wealth of those with capital, and the outsourcing of lower skilled jobs have left us all asking, “what happened to the middle class?”
Source: BestMSWPrograms.com
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It was taxed and regulated to death. R.I.P. bitchez........
Aaaaaannnnndddd its gone. Just ask Mrs. Fartnickle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DT7bX-B1Mg
There must be a bonus chart somewhere here
Unfortunately the middle class is spent.
Current Job Situation: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
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All the kids became unpaid interns is what happened. Fuck!
The kids were meant to be seen, and not heard from. If you hear from to many kids, they become problem adults.
Slavery is ALIVE! ...(but you get what you pay for)
the slave owners had a more sustainable model. They fed, housed and clothed their slaves.
Bonus graph would show % that make $200k a year and still live in a 3rd world hellhole...(hint...see California)
The Fed's zero interest policy [basically on savings], Barry's Obamacare, manip[ulated house prices to all-time highs [and out of reach of many Middle Class folks], and Congress' internet sales tax and postal rate increases [as well as stagnant wages and joblessness in the private sector] sealed the Death of the Middle Class.
[did I miss anything?]
I like how ACA with 8 mil. sign ups and only in it's infancy is the cause of the destruction of the Middle Class. Actually it's the double digit cost of health care every year for the last thirty years by PRIVATE health care ripoffs. But who wants/needs facts in this forum.
It might not be the death yet, but it is certainly not going to be helping 5, 10, 20 years from now. This monstrosity the government has created is already a mess and it will not become more streamlined in the future. It will only grow and become more of a regulated mess of government bureaucracy in the future telling you what you can and cannot do in your life. Plus the skyrocketing costs of anything the government gets involved in will require you to be taxed even more. Inside the ACA healthcare system, the quality of care will degrade but if you can afford outside the system healthcare (if it is not outlawed and you know the government will attempt to do so) you will still get good quality but at an increased price.
But this thread is about Today not twenty years from now. And I like how you decide what is going to happen Before it happens. And what is the "mess" besides what the Koch Bros. dream up. Speaking of the Koch bros. they took over a million $ from ACA. Money always beats conviction. ACA, good for the Koch Bros. but not for you. Your hero's crack me up.
Anyone who works in a hospital for a living will tell you about the forthcoming nightmare that is the ACA. Just because you sign up for ObamaCare doesn't mean you're entitled to someone else's labor.
The Supreme Court has examined these issues and determined that it is a tax bill, not a health care law.
Toadhazard, what a fuckin schill you seem to be...
Read that shit.
The court ruled, now pay asshole.
You are correct Road that it is about today. But I was just trying to stick up for what Roach was probably thinking.
To get out of this mess we are in, we need increased production, which means making & moving things faster so that costs go down. Unfortunately whenever the government gets involved they never on the whole reduce/remove regulations, instead they increase regulations. This leads to less production from those trying to play by the rules and when certain areas get overly regulated you end up with the gray/black market taking over which usually causes even more mayhem (a free market trends toward the honest players doing well while the gray/black market trends toward the corrupt/criminal and/or politically connected elements prospering). Increasing production can lead to increased standard of living while increasing regulations only leads to wasted time complying with regulations that end up benefiting the non-productive regulator class as they siphon off the fruits of production. So keep increasing the regulations steadily over time and see if you do not end up killing off the middle class by sending middle class jobs overseas or with the businesses desperately trying to do more with less and less human capital (i.e. automation replaces the inherent risks of paying carbon based middle class production units).
Ask yourself, are we all going to be better off now with the IRS needing to spend more resources in order to be involved with how all of us interact with the healthcare market? I think not, but you can guarantee you are going to be expected to pay for that oversight to make sure we all comply with another "personal" regulation. Now multiply that times 100 and start going through the voluminous CFR to see the regulations businesses must try to comply with. We are crumbling under the weight of the regulation overhead and the middle class is that which suffers first because they can always readily be moved to the lower class.
What I believe is that nothing is going to survive for very much longer like they are no matter what happens. I believe health care reform should have happened in the time of Reagan. Now is too late but some will get a fair deal for a while instead of never. I am concerned about a fair deal in health Care for American citizens. Since I can not get a fair deal through the private sector I am left with Government intervention. Regulation/paperwork/IRS is a side show to a fair deal for my health coverage.
Take what the giverment gives you asshole... Now you have to pay the private sector. Miss me now?
You are a fuckin asshole. You know, that thing at the end of the turd.
Fuck you.
perhaps you should acquaint yourself with NICE and the Liverpool Care Pathway. when the time comes, it will represent the literal death of the middle class. and people like you will be responsible for cheering it on. yes, death panels are not only real, they are an essential part of the efficiency and cost savings of the system.
just the latest in a never ending list, government withholds heart medicine to save money. note that the cost savings is about $1 a day. even the worst HMO would be hard pressed over that one.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2608381/Cash-strapped-NHS-trus...
Highly skilled workers at the top? Is that what they call them these days? that's a good one. The better at kissing ass, blindly following orders, and morally bankrupt you are the higher up you go.
Talentless worms at the top, people with skills held at the bottom by pointless regulation and fees.
word.
Rise to the level of your incompetence.
I think they used to call that the Peter principle. Now it should be called the bankster/government worker principle.
Pitchforks!
2 worms do not agree.
The middle class is being rewarded for their irredeemably stupid belief in government.
Just as they should be.
offshored, global wage arb, more profit to those who do not produce
Nah, they just got tricked into going into debt to live first class.
Sorry....this is off topic but VERY, VERY INTERESTING !
Tyler(s).....need to check this out. A jet with small American markings owned in a trust to a Utah Bank for some mysterious person was found in Iran. And NOBODY wants to talk about it.
https://news.yahoo.com/hell-american-plane-owned-bank-utah-doing-iran-13...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/18/whats-the-story-behind-this-m...
https://news.yahoo.com/nobody-sure-why-american-plane-ended-iran-0651093...
Officials in Iran only would say they are aware of the plane and that the passenger is "V.I.P."
HHHHmmmmm ???
Update:
There is one slight clue though. The jet was spotted in Zurich, Switzerland on January 22, 2014, right around the time of the World Economic Forum in Davos. That probably narrows the list down to 2,633 powerful people.
The plane was also in Accra, Ghana on January 3 and in Luton, England on October 1 of last year and February 16 of this year.
Could it be her ????
Valerie Jarrett
Jarrett was born in Shiraz, Iran, to African-American parents James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman. Her father, a pathologist and geneticist, ran a hospital for children in Shiraz in 1956, as part of a program where American physicians and agricultural experts sought to help communitize developing countries' health and farming efforts. When she was five, the family moved to London for one year, later moving to Chicago in 1963
n 1991, as Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Richard Daley, she interviewed Michelle Robinson for an opening in the mayor’s office, after which she immediately offered her the job.[23] Michelle Robinson asked for time to think and also asked Jarrett to meet her fiancé, Barack Obama. The three ended up meeting for dinner. After the dinner, Michelle took the job with the mayor's office, and Valerie Jarrett reportedly took the couple under her wing and “introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own". She later took Michelle with her when she left the mayor's office to head Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development.
Utah huh? There is a Fletch joke in there somewhere, just not enough coffee yet. Maybe the Underhills are looking into those new Iranian ball bearings?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4prqDn7QS8I
"It was taxed and regulated to death. R.I.P. bitchez........"
At the behest of the very large corporations who generally don't pay tax, and who easily skirt regulation by offshoring (see every major U.S. company) or simply paying off regulators or law enforcement (see every large financial institution).
A corporation avoids paying tax. Where does this money go? Is it distributed to shareholders or paid as bonuses to staff? If so, it is then taxed. Is it held in accounts for future capital expenditure?
Most who make this argument want you to believe that the money is siphoned off to executives who somehow enjoy a tax free existence. Show me where I am wrong and I will join the fight.
Here's one example. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/20/how-to-make-3...
In a nutshell, you set up a headquarters in a low tax country, and report your income there. Small business does not have this capacity. And the money that is not paid in taxes is diverted to other offshore accounts and tax havens for the executives or put into tax sheltered trusts for the executives and/or it is used to buy back company stock and increase the wealth of the same people and/or other very large shareholders who -- if they sell their stock -- pay a much lower tax rate for capital gains. Again, not an option for small business. It's not a level playing field, by design.
Further, large corporations have the economies of scale that allow the manufacture of their goods in low labor countries, so they can engage in wage arbitrage that again is not available to the small business owner. There is no penalty for corporations to remove the tax base associated with paying workers in the countries where they sell their products. So not only do they avoid paying taxes as entities, but they also avoid paying workers who would otherwise be paying taxes on their wages.
The minimum wage debate is a good example of stealth large corporate greed. They back politicians who engage in a message of being "for the worker" by raising minimum wage. The large corporations avoid much of that increase by using employees outside the U.S. or by having economies of scale that make payment of minimum wage a small price to pay (think Wal-Mart), while they watch their small business competition get destroyed by it.
My post is not in defense of taxation, but rather a condemnation of a tax system that is overtly designed to benefit very large corporations and squeeze the middle class who have no similar means of avoiding taxes.
Thanks.
The olive gardern etc. have been replaced by Panera and Chipotle. But the middle class is done. It was a quirk in history and it's over. Now we all just sit and stare at the stock market waiting for the giant crash to reflect the death of the middle class. But maybe the stock market no longer needs them.
I don't get out as much as I should and talk with people... But, the gist of the ones I DO talk to follows the article, many (that I know) are doing just fine, but those who I have always thought "Middle Class" are indeed struggling.
When the stock market rolls over, that will finish off many pensions...
Next bitch will be the upper middle class is disappearing
They'll eat their own eventually. But one thing that the "rich" don't generally own is gold. Portfolios have extremely little of it relative to times past.
A billionaire could lose 99% of his net worth and still buy more gold than I own though.
Already happening. Cutting there has an even bigger payoff to the 0.01% than sucking up the middle class does.
The whole country is phucked
I'm a smart person, but these graphs are really hard to make sense of. Which means I suddenly got a lot stupider, or they are really badly designed.
I was thinking exactly the same thing. LOL
At least our smart-meters are working.
Shush, don't interrupt the narrative.
That first chart makes absolutely no sense to me with the others following closely behind.
I agree. Also lots of numbers with missing zeros at the end. It's a mess.
looted by upper crust maggots
The Tylers spam themselves on occasion. This message was brought to you courtesy of http://www.bestmswprograms.com/. for those desirous of a totally worthless degree in social work......
Maybe it's when we stopped, you know, making stuff.
speaking of the death of something, I stumbled onto this today. Found it very impressive. Have spent a good chunk of the day listening to his lectures. Anyone else familiar with this dude? Really cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMRrCYPxD0I
Yup. Really Cool Dude.
Thanks for bringing Mr. Watts in.
points!!
I'm hooked on his lectures. Amazing too that he had the same exact voice as I do, and by that I mean no way are our voices close to each other. His is so much cooler.
Watts is the best...been reading his stuff since the early 70s, but of course once I reached satori...(and yes, that's a joke).
cold. Try this, pick 2 numbers between 10 and 59 and put them on the table and say "if you are real god, these are our 2 numbers, move my eyes around at the right times to see our number. Then add a third number between 1 and 9 as a further challenge that can be added at either end of the first two. God can play, give him some methods that you will accept.
Yeah, he's quite good. His son compiled quite of few of his lectures onto CD which I got a few years ago.
He's got some great stories of visits with zen masters and the like, too.
Watt's that at 3:32 ?
Exactly. Massive trade deficits courtesy of fiat currency. Wall Street gets paid to export jobs.
What Happened To the Middle Class?
INDIFFERENCE.
in a word
So just what were they going to do. They had/have NO ONE to vote for that would make a difference.
You show your chains.
"They had/have NO ONE to vote FORE."
'I dont alwayz vote, but when I do I vote diebold... Stay thirsty.
Some a holes turned thier monatary system to shit. Destroyed thier proffit margines to crap. Surrounded them with the worlds most vindictive law encroachment/spy network. And basically changed the rules at any and every whim.
It was no accident. It was done with malace intentionaly. By a bunch of parracites. With good grammar.
A ton of "middle-class" work has been replaced by computers and robots. A ton more has been outsourced to China, Mexico, and maybe Narnia. All that's left is noncompetitive for one reason or another and pays shit wages. Then we also bring in H-1Bs just to make it worse, because Bill Gates and Larry Ellison insist they can't get by without - traitors, fools, and liars. Smart kids see right away they can't get rich working for a salary and so the lie becomes self-fulfilling, smart kids major in law, go into government, compete as entrepreneurs, or just live in mom's basement.
Some of this is "just progress" and is going to be tough for anyone to fix. Maybe The Bernank even "fixed" it by printing a trillion dollars a year, that in old-style economies had to be produced by hard work. The robots make up the production difference.
... and then we have the banksters seeking rent on the entire economy to a degree I suspect unprecedented in history. That doesn't help, and when it wrecks the system as in 2008 it doesn't help at all.
So shed a tear for the middle class, I don't see it returning anytime soon.
ps - I don't shed any tears for the Olive Garden, Los Angeles is almost wall to wall restaurants at every price point that are doing just fine.
and POS lawyers facilitating the destruction of middle-class jobs by the likes of GAtes, zuck and CO.
pay close attention at minute 1:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
Highly skilled workers doing well? Is the author of this article on crack? Their compensation has been decimated in relative terms through H-1B and various other scams. The people doing "well" these days are mostly those subsidized through the government, and are generally not highly skilled workers.
Very true, H-1B is to the tech industry as Mexican laborers are to the construction industry.
The large middle class was a post war anomaly. A crack began to form in the economy in 1973 with the oil embargo. It split into a gaping chasm in 2008 and the private sector middle class disappeared. We are left with the rich on one side and the poor on the other with a few in between wondering what the hell happened.
It was Nixon's closing of the gold window in '71. My dad, a working stiff, ranted thruout the 70's about the rich getting richer. My grandpa, only a 6th grade graduate, told him it was the withdrawal of the gold standard that was ruining evertyhing. That was over a $1000 an oz. ago.
That is a VERY simplistic view of things.
$100,000 makes you well off in SOME places but you're NOT 'upper middle class' in major urban areas like NYC, LA or SF at that level. In NYC burbs a 'starter' house is a half million in any place with tolerable public schools (and you'll make up the difference in private school tuition if you buy a cheaper hoiuse somewhere more 'affordable'.
For years, my brother in NC had a far better lifestyle at 1/3 of our income. His house cost what a downpayment would be here. Property taxes for him were 1/10 - 1/20 of what they are here. BUT over time his wages topped out (and actually went down when the company that owned the plant he worked in sold it - the new owners paid less for the same work). The upside potential here was far greater in the long run and other factors come into play as well. The schools his kids went to were mediocre at best - ours were far better (though not as good as they think they are or should be).
We had an offer to take a position in Kentucky - you'd have a mansion there (3x the size of what you could buy here for the same amount) but more risk - not as many employers willing to pay for you if things didn't work out.
You make better money in some locales but it's in keeping with far higher costs.
Question: What happened to the Middle Class? Hmmm, all the free Government subsidized shit comes to an end.
Answer: Lack of financial responsibility comes to mind.
Thatcher's Last Stand Against Socialism
Look at you today. You were warned back then. We cannot cry for you. Deal with your bad mistakes and poor judgment. Now, begin to the fix the problem!
She didn't get rid of it, she merely handed it over to financial interests.
Furthering the goals of those interests who f'd nations prior and post.
I disagree with you. Thatcher was a very honorable individual. The only mistake was Falkland, the decision was pushed from above.
With a little true economic knowledge and thought one will, generally speaking, come to the rapid conclusion that the criminals of government and the banks eat the middle-class.
The rich can buy protection and the poor are bought off. That leaves the middle-class to pay until they either manage to buy protection themselves or become poor.
"Is it time for the guillotines yet?"
What do you expect - we have a Marxist president. Karl Marx despised the middle class - bourgeois, kulaks. The middle class in the US was an anomaly produced by capitalism and small businesses. Obama hates small business - just too much trouble to shake down.
I am sorry to inform you that upon closer inspection one will find that Obama is a CIA, neo-con, manchurian candidate.
His number one purpose is to destroy the left/democrats, that is, the illusion for the sheeple so inclined, from within. This will pave the way for one party rule by the Republican Party and its neo-con masters.
Look at his background, especially his supposed time at Columbia. Look at his SS#. Look at his CIA connected mom, grandfather and grandmother--Obama is CIA. Look at his track record since taking office. It is no joke that they call him "Bush II"--Obama is a neo-con tool.
If you don't believe me, wait, as there will be a huge presidential scandal in his last year. It will involve his homosexuality.
Such a scandal will serve to solidify the neo-cons' evangelical Christian and rural base.
Even now the Republicans have begun to court the evangelicals and Karl Rove is becoming prominent again. As the next two years progress, look for the Republicans to dominate the propaganda media more and more. You will also see the evangelicals become more prominent and unavoidable.
Remember: Labels like "socialist," "communist," "Marxist," "fascist," etc. serve as trees that prevent the seeing of the collectivist forest.
Sidenote: The other DC US military center, after the CIA, is the Pentagon. In the past year or so, the Pentagon has seen many non-compliant officers sacked, especially from the strategic arms areas. The Pentagon has seen its "signal intel" wing, the NSA, undermined and taken over by the CIA's Obama. And the Pentagon's main mouth piece, the Washington Times, has also been taken over. In Egypt though, the Pentagon lost their "guy," but then were able to reassert themselves and take over again. So we'll see more "action" in Egypt soon.
I agree with most. I don't think he's a neo con guy though. Neocons really are not this good. If he really was, they'd have attacked Syria or Iran by now.
When at war you seek to destroy the means and will of your opposition. These people are at war with us. They seek to win by any means possible, ultimately with us on our knees at their feet.
Obama scuttled the US space program and decided to pay $80 million to the Russians for a ride to the space staion.
omg mister, you just made me realize that putin could kill any idea of america in space by refusing soyuz launches for iss missions
If that happened there would all of the sudden be no space station. Private enterprise is taking over from Government in the getting up into space industry. Something I would think the "get the government out of everything" crowd would applaud, but nooo, it's a pick and choose world for them.
No asshole. America has payed FORE gold plated space shuttlez to fairy azztronaughts back and forth many times over, now we pay again. and again.
Suck that road soda ----=-=--=-=-=(look down)\/
The middle class had kids they had to put through college, who then moved back home with them, making both lose middle class status.
funnny, living outside the US HAS OPENED MY EYS. the amount of money that does't go to the taxes turns out to be that magical 30% that makes life really fun (trips to Europe, boat trips and lots of donations to needy children and animal shelters.) Also, when you don't have to agonize over taxes you really do take back some massive amount of your brain - you don't realize it but as the year grinds on in the US you think about the tax implications of everything you do like a tumor in your brain.
on this Easter weekend I think of my dad who used to take me to an amusement park to hunt for eggs in the 1970s. The park hid money in the eggs and one year I remembering finding a $5 dollar bill in an egg. I was 5 years old. It was like i was suddenly rich! Now the amusement park is bankrupt and gone, the neighborhood it is in is a ghetto for illegal immigrants, Easter celebrations are outlawed, $5 is one coffee and my dad is dead and gone but the IRS is still squatting in the bush getting stronger.
Now the whiney sheep sa, "Baa paying taxes is legal. Baa Paying taxes is what provides our services. Paying taxes is our duty. Paying taxes is what makes America great. Baaa Cliven Bundy is a freeloader."
You want to see a freeloader? go to your local embassy in any country and see how the Ambassador and his staff live. See Obama & Co's vacations and golf trips. That's freeloading. That's being a criminal.
Paying taxes is what is killing American and the Middle Class. And here is the scary part: taxes will never stop. They will only grow like a cancer. You cannot logically expect a government employee to vote against that which pays and serves him. You cannot expect most politicians to be reasonable...they will never vote to stop their paychecks. they are now the masters.
Happy Easter. Blessed be the lord, my strength which teacheth my hands to war, my fingers to fight. My goodness and my foretress. My hightower and deliverer. My shield and he in whom I place my trust that he may subdue those people beneath me.
(no wonder Obama & Co want to outlaw the bible.)
Great post and right on.
I would add that it is the combined weight of the government thieves and the bankster thieves that are killing the American middle-class and the American people in general. Like two giant elephants sitting on our chest--Is it time for "shooting an elephant" or two?!
The choice is coming: Persecution or Revolution.
The Four Rs
Rejection: Quit paying, quit obeying, quit playing
Revolution: It is inevitable, so prepare, as they are.
Retribution: Is there really any place for these sociopaths and criminals in a restored civil and Constitutional society?!
Restoration: Restore the Constitutional republic.
HELP ME BROTHER! Where do you live and how did you do it?
Spoken by some rich parasite who has suxed at the teet of the system in the past and now flaunts his success at theft from the past. And then further insults us with the delusional Christian war sign of being blessed.
Religion is the cancer that will destroy mankind, and may your children and grandchildren pay for the destruction you have done to this planet allowing the Zionist to use you dum arz Christians to make a mockery of humanity.
The pages in the bible are thin and left in motels as back up to TP!! The most disgusting piece of HATE ever written.
And what of those thousands of churches that sit empty 90% of the time while the homeless die on the street? What of the billions of dollars in the Vatican banks laundering drug money while the hypocritical parasite called the pope washes some guys feet and laughs at the fact that he will probably die from poverty in the next year.
Christianity has allowed the Zionist, the same people who tortured and murdered Jesus, to consume the world and to now bring it into slavery. The problem is not taxes, the problem is religion, all of them. AND THEY DONT PAY TAXES!!
When a grown adults mind has becomes so dysfunctional, that he allows the hate and destruction of religion to exist solely for the purpose of him yearning for life after death, a peaceful and evolving society is doomed!
You'd have a more convincing argument if your trips were to low tax countries instead of Europe.
Just about nothing in this infographic is clearly defined in such a way that we can make any sense out of it. -1.
And then there is this guy Williamson who authors the University Economic textbooks...listen to him explain the "so called Student Loan bubble". You can quickly see within 2 min of listening to Williamson why students of economics are confused.
http://youtu.be/tBc8uNmPmc8?t=1h11m47s
The one percent. That is what happened to the middle-class.
I find it incredible that here we have a web site which constantly bemoans what crony capitalism and the one percent have done to the West (see the article just above this one for another fine example of this) and yet claims it cannot see the logic in pragmatic remedial measures to counter this very harm, such as the minimum wage and a rational taxation program that targets city excesses and concentrations of unproductive inherited wealth.
Simply citing idealized "perfect market" analysis fails to address this problem (of the intrinsic tendency to corruption of capitalism) unfortunately.
The whole secret of capitalism is this: to let freedom reign, but to tax its outcomes quite steeply, so as to counter balance the many financial and other fraudsters and parasites (that are intrinsic to the system unfortunately) - but not so steeply as to deter the small entrepreneur whom they all hide behind.
Thus the errors of crony capitalism and communistic socialism are simultaneously obviated. No other system will be found to work I fear.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/03/31/140331crbo_books_...
ZH has posted some good articles of late on the spike in food prices.
I would like to read some articles on the projected impact on the American society.
Are riots expected? Is this why all police are turning into SWAT killers?
I guess the ALGO or AI program thinks its a possibility.
I wonder what's going to trigger it?
Something will happen.
When?
You should stop hearing from him in about 18 months.
Regarding raising minimum wages, what for when the fed will promptly ratchet inflation up and make it a wash? We are subjects of a command economy, completely at the mercy of the planners of such economy. We are sad, powerless, beholden sheeple, 'hope'(ing) for 'change' notwithstanding
This is a dumb idea. It perpetuates the madness we already have of class warfare and corruption. You propose to remedy or negate the effects of corruption by taxing true productive behaviors exactly the same as criminal and near criminal cronyism. For freedom and free markets to function requires transparency and accountability. To treat all income as equal and all success the same regardless of its source or ultimate effect is just plain destructive to prosperity. It is no different than what we see with the large banks where instead of punishing criminal behavior, we "fine" or effectively tax their misdeeds, equating their actions with that of any other. Just another "sin" tax. And of course this "progressive" taxation simply puts more cash into the hands of those who perpetuate the bad behavior. THERE SHOULD BE NO INCOME TAXES, PERIOD. Tax consumption and prosecute criminals.
But the truly rich only consume a tiny fraction of their rent income ... how is a consumption tax ever going to stop the growth of wealth inequality?
Being free of tax will not magically allow me to create natural resources.
Monetary Reclamation Recovery Act
It has become obviously clear that America’s economy and finances are in a hopeless position. Our debt can never be paid and productivity increases and outsourcing has ensured that most Americans can no longer afford to be an American. Without changes we are doomed to a devastating crash which will cause unthinkable economic destruction. Rather than wait for this inevitable conclusion, we will be phasing in a new system over the next 9 months. Every other country on earth has also agreed to these same actions.
It is hereby ordered:
1) That the United States Treasury is the sole originator of any currency brought into creation by the United States of America.
2) That this Treasury currency be backed by the full faith and resources of the United States of America.
3) That sufficient levels of currency are created to fully extinguish all outstanding United States debt and to replace the current balances in any savings or money market account. All outstanding personal, corporate and state debt will be converted to the new currency on a one for one basis. A certain level of personal debt will be eliminated under this program depending on each individual’s circumstances.
4) That banking regulations be changed to eliminate fractional reserve banking.
5) That a National Bank be formed to offer low cost savings, checking and lending for the citizens of the country.
6) That the National Bank absorbs any banking entity declared to be insolvent under the new banking rules. The National Bank can also purchase, upon reset, any level of securities and loans necessary to bring the banking institutions in compliance. The National Bank will also offer refinancing of citizen’s current debt to more reasonable terms where appropriate.
7) That Government Trust Funds, such as Social Security, Medicare and pensions will have their current balances restored as part of the government debt extinguishment. These entities will then become the Primary housing lender of choice, working alongside the national bank.
8) That going forward the federal budget will be funded fully with a combination of a national sales tax, a corporate revenue tax and a wealth tax. Taxes max out at 10% of income; 5% of wealth; and 2% of corporate revenue
9) That direct issuance of currency will make up any shortfall from collected taxes. Taxes cannot be raised above the above thresholds without a national referendum. Likewise, the printing used to make up deficits would be limited to 2% of the currency in circulation annually. These increases are necessary in order to allow citizens to fund a prudent ongoing level of retirement savings.
10) That in order to protect the sanctity of Government and Government officials, political contributions from all sources is banned. Accepting any type of monetary or personal gain in exchange for favorable legislative actions is hereby considered treason punishable by complete loss of assets and life imprisonment. All current, past and future holders of high offices will be audited to ensure that the source of all assets they hold is legitimate.
11) That in order to reach full employment at a living wage, the government will be financing citizen cooperatives wherever necessary. No goods will be imported to America at a lower cost than they can be produced in America.
12) That natural resource rights can no longer be privately owned. Land owners are eligible for payments if exploration or recovery takes place on their property.
13) That there will be no free rides. Welfare, for all but the most handicapped among us, will only be a very short term solution. If you need training you will get help with training. As long as you are willing to work, you will have work at a living wage. If you able to work but choose not to, you are on your own.
14) In order to assure stability under this new system, the value of each country’s currency for international trade will be determined by a predetermined formula based on productivity, resources available, and currency in circulation; calculated quarterly. Underdeveloped countries will be allowed a greater level of expansion in order to modernize their economies. Each currency will start out on an equal basis.
This would be a good start.
Your first idea would doom us all, once treasury has the printing press it would institute hyper inflation to relieve it's debts. In Germany the inflation was also a deliberate attempt to escape he cushing war reparations. Money must be backed by gold because people simply cannot be trusted.
Similar to how the current dollar has lost 98% of it's purchasing power?
Shhh. Don't respond to the greenbackers. Now he'll go into some "the federal reserve is a privately owned bank!"
Holy shit, a progressive ...
Goldman Sachs doing God's work:
https://secure.netsolhost.com/cryptome.org/2014/04/goldman-sachs-code-th...
As a software developer, that is truly disgusting even by GS standards. I hope their intellectual property lawyers get rounded up and experience a 'Blood Eagle'.
Middle class got the middle finger (right up theirs), that's what happened.
What do you think would happen to the middle class when you send their well-paying manufacturing jobs China, their well-paying IT and engineering jobs to India, then offer unlimited borrowing to continue their high salary lifestyle when they no longer have that high salary?
Nice banker plan isn't it?
And you don't need any charts to explain it.
Too fucking bad Americans were not bright enough to realize buying goods made overseas, food grown and prepared by illegal immigrants and homes built by the same, that we would effectively be exporting our jobs. At some point we must accept responsibility for being easily manipulated dumb asses rather than just keep blaming those who see us as easy pickings.
Most have forgotten or taken for granted that an employee is also a customer.
The tax base must be suffering too.
Where is the government getting the money to service $17+ trillion in debt, and climbing every year?
Doesn't seem to be sustainable.
The rich can gloat and laugh at the vanishing middle, but the middle may get the last laugh.
I don't think a net worth of $10 million is considered rich anymore.
"I don't think a net worth of $10 million is considered rich anymore."
I'll sign up for that experiment... grant me a net worth of $10M to manage and I'll report back how "rich" I feel...
You'd blow it all in a year. I wouldn't trust you to manage my daily bowel movement.
labor is worth exactly what a business, manufacturer, entrepeneur etc will pay you for it. I had a sales call the other day with a retired plumber who did commercial and industrial pipe work. He said with benefits and pension union wages for his skills were paid 92 dollars an hour. We wonder why jobs have gone overseas? When we began giving 8 and 9 year olds cell phones because they may have an "emergency" I knew our country was lost. We worship children to the point that there are 10 trophies given out in competitions because we don't want to hurt little Johnnies feelings. Second place is first loser and get over it. The gazelle has to outrun the slowest cheetah. I spend 80 to 120 dollars a month just on tollroads to run sales calls for my business. Those tolls were supposed to stop when the bonds to build those roads were paid off 15 years ago. The government is necessary for some services and organizations but it has become a beast. There are now not only redlight cameras in Chicago area but speed trap cameras now as well. People being ticketed and fined with no police presence. I pay in property taxes now on a modest home what I paid to rent a two bedroom apartment in the late 80's. Home ownership is nothing but a source for the PTB to shear the sheep. If you don't take care of your property you get code violations. If you don't pay your property taxes your house is taken from you for back taxes. If you don't pay your mortgage your home is taken by the bank. If you do pay off your mortgage you pay property taxes until you die. Sales taxes, excise tax, gasoline tax of .45 a gallon and more in some counties, tax on cell phone bill, liquor and smoke tax, ahhhhhh, any idea who you really work for and support? Happy Easter everyone.
Personal responsibility is paramount, I agree.
However, the government is turning malevolent against personal property rights.
If you want to give your Queen your assets, you're a fool, but more power to you.
In that situation, it is your duty to protect yourself, if you truly believe in personal responsibility.
Do you walk the walk?
I made a car would never breakdown, it would drive you into the ground at very little cost, and wait for it's next victim. When that became me, I said I must fix myself first, and then ride it out with the car for free, I'm almost there, but hows about you?
You boys can keep discussing the exodus of big bucks from the middle class, outsourcing, international wage arbitrage and what-not, but what really worries me is how will the most powerful and violently oriented nation on Earth respond to its ongoing and long-term economic decline. Our nation celebrates ignorance, backwardness, arrogance, licentiousness (especially the boys on capitol hill) and will to power as if they were badges of honor, in ways that Ronald Reagan himself could never imagine. Attitude and a sense of entitlement prevail over learning, thinking, and hard work. These days, we celebrate violence and militarism in a manner unthinkable just two decades ago.
Our present problems like taxes, wages or our right to carry a gun seem less significant when one considers the strong possibility that our country will not make it one or two generations hence.
Empire building never ends well for any civilization.
Well, it only ends badly for the masses.
The 1% just transition their wealth into a new power structure.
Stop participating in the destruction.
Use your imagination.
As you suggest, the ending of this story is mostly already written. For many of us pessimists, the question is only where to be standing when the shit finally does hit the fan for real. The ownership of weapons is but one factor in survival, but it may be a very important one. Those weapons will do nothing to save what is left of our society as we currently know it, however.
"Those weapons will do nothing to save what is left of our society as we currently know it, however."
The more important question is why would we want to preserve what's left? The big push, since the 2008 economic shit storm, has been to return to the "glory" days. Why would any sane person want to do that?
The past is known and less to fear than the future, especially given we know now the excesses of our delusional past weigh even more heavily on any promise of the future.
++++++++++++
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$$$$$$$$$$ !!!!!!!!
Overuse of color for no reason, useless maps, silly symbols, worthless comparisons, and arrows pointing at things so we don't dare miss the point.
I HATE "infographics". Is the Fight Club going to be morphed into "Zero Hedge Today" ?
Bullshit !
Please notice that Egypt hit its "sweet spot" just before it hit the wall. And Bangaladesh waits until 2029, which must be when hell freezes over.
As for the Middle Class in an Imperial State, it does not exist. It is just a meme used to distract and confuse those who have been strapped to the plow.
Eliminating the middle class is a main tenent of marxism and 0bamao is a hard core, stealth marxist-so no one should be surprized.
The second chart sums it up. The countrie's wealth is accumulating around the finacial and political hubs. The wealth around Washington DC is the worst in m opinion. Because not only are they stealing from the people, they are the ones who are supposed to write the laws to protect the citizens from the other thieves - the finacial parasites. Our government is broken, badly.
In a 53-46 vote, the Senate narrowly passed a measure that will stop the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. The Statement of Purpose from the Bill reads: “To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.” The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has been championed by the Obama Administration, would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms. The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S. and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry, now get this, on all private guns and ammo.
Astonishingly, 46 out of our 100 United States Senators were willing to give away our Constitutional rights to a foreign power. Here are the 46 senators who voted to give your rights to the U.N.Baldwin (D-WI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennett (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coons (D-DE
Cowan (D-MA)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Harkin(D-IA)
Hirono (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
That's weird, they are almost all democrats. I thought there was no difference between democrats and republicans.
They are ALL SOCIALISTS, fixed it for you.
Shirley you include the gun banning architect of Obama(don't)care red team presidential candidate?
Whoa whoa, big difference.
Anyone who puts UN policy ahead of American sovereignty is a traitor.
American Sovereignty doesn't really exist since America is a corporation.
America is nothing without the consent of 300 million people.
This is one of many points that proves we live in two Political and world view, Americas. It is time to admit this to ourselves as well as publicly highlight the differences. These two Americas will never reach consensus for change through "dialogue." We either take steps to provide support to both of these political identities or the alternative will become unthinkable.
People become very dangerous when they have nothing else to lose.
Plug that variable into your fucking ALGO.
They're 99% the same, aside from guns, god & gays. Guns won't do you much good without any money, and both parties are seeing to it that you receive less of it.
Olive Garden...yes, good stuff there. Then there was Pizzeria Uno in El Toro, CA .... all gone.
There must be a grave yard somewhere exclusively for the middle class Americans.
Potter's Field
The dead middle class are a forgotten lot. If you dont live in an upscale New York neighborhood, you deserve to die in complete anonymity.
Those places are crap along with TGI fridays.. Very lets say blue collar & white trash crowd.. I would rather pay more money (say those $15 burger places in Manhattan) than eat that crap..... Besides, someone (or a household according to this ) who is making a middle class salary shouldn't be eating out regularly and they shouldn't be paying $200 + a month for Direct TV either.
But I liked their (OG's) salad dressing, spaghetti & eggplant parmigiana. Good sauce too,
Those places are crap along with TGI fridays.. Very lets say blue collar & white trash crowd.. I would rather pay more money (say those $15 burger places in Manhattan) than eat that crap..... Besides, someone (or a household according to this ) who is making a middle class salary shouldn't be eating out regularly and they shouldn't be paying $200 + a month for Direct TV either.
“what happened to the middle class?”
Obama said he wanted to fundamentally change the country.
One thing these charts don't show is that the majority of those now making over $100,000 are working for the government. Cops with overtime, mid-level administrators at the local, state and federal level and so forth easily pull in $100,000 plus golden benefits and perks. Meanwhile the average non-government worker deals with decreased wages, lost benefits, no job security and intense job competition.
You can't just lump everybody together and say "Oh, look at the middle-class now". Separate out the goverment employed leeches who get a magic ticket to the classic american middle-class lifestyle and you will start to see how dismal things are for the rest of us.
Really?? In the NYC area and the Greater Boston area, $100,000 a year (per person not this household BS) really just is enough to make ends meet. The reason is NOT because of taxes but because of all these nouveau riche Gen Y creative types are buying up property buying houses in towns like Lincoln, Newton & Wellesley MA and putting up 3000 square foot McMansions, spend $200 for a weeks worth of groceries at Whole Foods including silly things like organic milk for $7.99.... Even apartments in the worst towns or nieghborhoods of NYC are now over $2,500 a month
This drives up the costs of everything along with making such a sterile environment where people wear $300 jeans when they grocery shop at Trader Joes or 'do dinner' at some uppity yuppie joint
Paying 7.99 for milk is insanity.
In fact, people should not be drinking milk at all. The milk industry is contributing hugely to global warming.
Tax cuts don't create jobs in the US. For the first time in 40 years, the GOP cannot use that slogan. It's much easier for the middle class, via Democrats and Move On, to screw with the GOP.
Bring back manufacturing and the middle class will appear (from Europe and Asia). But America will never do that. In the 40 years from 1960 - 2000, technology brought prosperity to the middle class. Now all that is gone. There are no middle class jobs.
What happened? Indians have gone scarce. Finding new Indians is vital to sustain the 'american' middle class.
Who can play the part of the Indians in the 'american' scheme to enable and fund the 'american' middle class?
Investment bankers and private equity firms have moved capital offshore.
More profit via slave wages.
The problem is easy to see.
The solution too expensive.
It will all burn.
The graphs failed to make the subject clear. The loss of private sector jobs and the increase in the number and pay of government employees have resulted in large changes of the people in the middle class. For every government employee joining the middle class by getting a position (not a job) it is likely two private sector workers were pushed out. The parasites are making the host very weak.