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Visualizing The Unfudged Truth About American Income, And Some Trivia On The Uber-Wealthy
When it comes to manipulating income and wealth data, the government and the BLS are second to none (well, maybe only second to China but we digress): after all there is nothing that gets Americans to spend more than thinking Joe Blow down the street may outspend them. And at 70% of GDP, Americans have to consume. And what better way to do that, than to fill the airwaves with propaganda that spending is going up, up, up (even if said surge is nowhere to be seen). So far so good. Yet one place where nominal and real income data can absolutely not be fudged is the Social Security Average Wage Index based on withholding data reported by employers, particularly the median wage, whose nominal change can then be extrapolated in real terms using CPI to create a chained series. And here is where things get messy: as John Lohman demonstrates in the chart below, real income based on median wages, dropped (in real terms) by 1.2% - the biggest year over year slide in over 20 years of data, which is surely news to Joe Blow, whose impetus to spend, spend, spend would be substantially less, if the awareness was there that everyone is making and thus spending less, which in turn would lead to even more accelerated deleveraging, which would ultimately lead to a faster return to the mean for the overall economy: a mean which is sustainable without constant monetary and fiscal intervention. And yes, there will be lots of pain in the transition from the current Frankenstein state to a true equilibrium state - something that Ron Paul has been pounding the table on for years, and is the reason why unfortunately he is unelectable - Americans can not stand to hear the truth. For this and more factual trivia, see the chart below.
And as a tangential twist, here is nominal data on America's uber-wealthy, those making over $50 million, and those in the crosshairs of every daily bout of class warfare. The chart below breaks down both the number of total wage earners in the bucket per year, but also the actual compensation per earner. What may come as a big surprise is that while the number of uber-rich workers has roughly followed the gyrations of the market, the average reported compensation, at "just" $79.6 million, has dropped back to 1997 levels! Many questions arise: are the wealthiest just withholding far less; have they discovered new and improved ways to cook the books and minimize their total reported income; or, maybe they are just making less?
h/t John Lohman
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"Americans can not stand to hear the truth."
"This One Could Take Them All Down."
Chris Hedges: "What happens is in all of these movements ... the foot soldiers of the elite -- the blue uniformed police, the mechanisms of control -- finally don't want to impede the movement and at that point the power elite is left defenseless ... the only thing I can say having been in the middle of similar movements is that this one is real, and this one could take them all down ... I can guarantee you that huge segments of those blue uniformed police sympathize with everything that you're doing." -- Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges brings his 20 years of experience as a war correspondent, having covered movements and revolutions throughout the the world, to the discussion.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29452.htm
Here is the full interview video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj8UlxhfJLw
Wow, thanks for that link. I don't think I've ever heard words even remotely close to that from Hedges before.
If I was a 1%'er, I would be thinking about executing my bug-out plan right about now.
Haven't they already planned for this five years ago?
You bet your ass they did.
According to trickle dickonomics, record bonuses straight from treasury was the exit strategy.
Obvoiusly, what is needed is more bonuses for the rich!
Sorry to jump in here, as always, this "debate" is clouded by the fact that we're talking about wager earners making 80+ million- who the fuck is that? Professional atheletes?
The wealthy don't earn wages, they collect capital. Now go back to sleep.
That's a very good point. I'd be much more interested in seeing a list of who holds all the wealth, globally. Let's say the top 5,000.
Oh yes, they did. I didn't say anything about about planning, I said execute. You know, like a trip to Paraguay.
One of the most effective yet unheralded tactics of the 1960's anti war movement...
THE TEACH IN !!!
Chris Hedges on Chomsky, Dostoevsky and democracy at Occupy Wall Street -- 10/9/11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QXIeVvskq4&feature=related
Sixties anti war movement, effective, yet it still took till May 1975 before the last American was out of there in disgrace and humiliation. We will never know if we might have taken longer to get out had there not been an anti-war movement, or if indeed the anti-war movement actually prolonged the war by creating endless debate that forced TPTB to keep on while the nation came to a consensus. I am thinking there were two other ways the Vietnam war might have ended sooner. One would have been that we sent massive millions of troops in and just flat out won, war over early, but that was ruled out by the protests. Two, we would have realized in 1966 or 7 that we were not going to win and announced some face saving withdrawal. But because of protests and riots the pro war side just kept it going and going and gave birth to the Neocons.
I am not saying that protest is bad, I am only saying that it is not enough to be a disorganized bunch of angry people. It is not enough to scream rape because the bankers raped you, there has to be a goal. And one of the down sides to disorganized protest is that it is free floating anger just waiting for a charismatic leader, or fuehrer to take it by the ears and turn it into something NONE of us wants.
Just like our current foreign wars, the VietNam War was set up as a massive wealth tranfer vehicle for them, so that the war had to be dragged on for years without an end while massive amounts of debts were incurred for the taxpayers. My understanding is the war could be far longer if there weren't any protests.
There are countless explanations of ameriKlan's defeat in Vietnam.
My favorite is...
Throughout the course of the Vietnam Genocide, fragging was reportedly common. There are documented cases of at least 230 American officers killed by their own troops, and as many as 1,400 other officers' deaths could not be explained.
Between 1970 and 1971 alone, there were 363 cases of "assault with explosive devices" against ameriKlan officers in Vietnam.
Fragging in the military was not a secret in the lower enlisted-rank soldiers. Sometimes a warning would be given to the target by placing a grenade pin on his bed. Fragging would take place if his actions continued as before.
Soldiers serving under Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr. (another official ameriKlan patsy)secretly considered fragging him.
Just maybe the Neo-Nazi West Point, OCS and ROTC SS officers were not on the right side of history.
Any U.S. soldier that attacks his commanding officer should be hung.
...According to military law, yes. However, we understood the money game or sensed it. We knew that any hill we took today, would be back in Charlie's hands tommorow and we'd have to retake it, so why take the hill in the first place? Fragging helped the butter bars understand what their role was.
hanged
I think you're on to something here. If there were no blogs, I would have not been able to egg on the bubbles till their massive explosions with my blogging skills and incessant blogging over the past ten years. The big boys egos are easy to manipulate. Just tell they they can't have something or they shouldn't do certain things, and they do the exact opposite. While I wouldn't have minded they do the right thing with their financial management of the economy, I do so want to see the beast completely and totally starved to death.
The Social Security Trust Fund needs to be removed completely from the general fund.
$4.5 trillion of the national debt is owed to trust funds like the Social Security trust fund. Employees and Employers have have contributed $2.5 trillion and loaned it to the federal government's general fund.
Right now Social Security has $2.5 trillion in the "bank" — the most it's ever had. It has been adjusted to keep in balance many times. The last time in 1983, it was almost completely out of money. There's no reason it cannot be adjusted again. I here that money will last another 38 years. The Social Security Trust Fund ExplainedAs of December 2008, approximately $2.4 Trillion of the $4.3 Trillion in “Intragovernmental Holdings” listed above is held in the Old-Age and Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Fund.
This $2.4 Trillion is the “non-negotiable/non-marketable I.O.U.s” that you speak of. I believe you are incorrect to assert that there is $7.58 Trillion of these special issue Treasuries. Here’s why.
As you say, the Social Security system is pay-as-you-go. Both the employee and the employer pay 6.2% of gross compensation up to a limit of $102,000, making the total Social Security tax 12.4%. By the early 1980?s the Social Security system needed reform and increased funding.
In 1983, Alan Greenspan chaired The National Commission on Social Security Reform which resulted in the 1983 Amendments to the Social Security programs. The 1983 Amendments excluded the Social Security Trust Fund from the unified budget.
As a result of the tax increases instituted by the 1983 Amendments, over the last 25 years the Social Security system has collected more taxes than it has paid out. Excess Social Security receipts are “invested” in special securities issued by the federal government. These securities are held in the (OASDI) Trust Fund. The Social Security receipts that are exchanged for these special Treasuries have been spent by Congress on general budget items over the last 25 years.
The Federal Government stole all this money from the people and spent it! Now people have to pay more taxes to pay back the SS trust fund. Did I get that right?
http://newsburglar.com/2009/04/07/social-security-trust-fund-balance/
That's what I have been screaming about all year that all the sheep just can't seem to get; we don't owe all this debt to China, we owe it to ourselves. Now we are letting a bunch of complicit useful idiots claim that it is 'an entitlement'.
+4.3 Trillion
Nice. Saved for future arguments with Neocons.
The way I look at it, Everything else we chose to spend Moeny on like wars, we did not pay for as we went, instead we went into debt.
SOc sec on the other hand could see the big problem when the baby boo,ers retired, so it taxed MORE than. It needed at the time, and taxed exactly those who would benefit, and build up a nest egg whe boomers were working, so when the population bump of boomers retired, there would be money for them. but meanwhile the rest of Fed govt used the Soc sec savings to fund their deficit spening..the Soc sec trust fund lending made it possible for us to give tax cut to rich, because the tax cut to rich put us in deficit, but whe Soc sec lending, govt was still afloat.
In 2009, Soc sec starting drawing down it's trust fund, just as we knew would happen when boomers were retiring. At this point, Soc sec no longer lending to govt, but in fact taking money it lent back, so govt has to sell debt to someone else in the form of Treasuries, so it can pat back Soc sec and keep spending more than it is taking in. This is part why fed debt is now ballooning, becuase Soc Sec money lent to govt was not considered "hard debt" but when Fed govt now has to get hard debt because Soc sec is not lending to it anymore, the fed budget looks as bad as it should have all along.
We paid for Soc sec, but everything else was on credit card,
They try to make Soc sec look bad and unsustainable because it is taking out more than whole fed tax income, but Soc sec is solvent, it is the rest of fed buyer that has been so whacked.
Look at a chart of federal tax revenues over last fifty years, while FIcA taxes have increased greatly, corporate tax revenue has gone down greatly, almost in mirror image....so burden od Soc sec costs has been placed on poor to middle class worker while burden of rest of fed budget has been lifted form rich and corporations, instead of taxing people for what we asked our govt to do, we borrowed money form Soc sec....so it was a hesit from working people.
Now when Soc sec is asking for it's money back, fed govt says it does not want to pay, does not want to tax rich or big corps, instead it wants to reduce what it has to pay to Soc sec beneficiaries. They make Soc sec sound like it is insolvent simply be UAE more money is going out tha. Coming in, but is grandma insolvent because at 75 she is drawing down her reitirmeent savings?
If grandma had saved money for retirement, and then lent it to her grandson, who,lived beyond his means, and then when she retired, she asked for grandson refi his house and pay off the loan to her, so she could live off her savings, would you say grandma was parasite looking for bloated entitlements or would you be critical of grandson? Would you say grandma was insovent or the grandson? Should you chide hard working grandma, or grandson that can't live within his means, always spending more than he makes?
The way I look at it, Everything else we chose to spend Moeny on like wars, we did not pay for as we went, instead we went into debt.
SOc sec on the other hand could see the big problem when the baby boo,ers retired, so it taxed MORE than. It needed at the time, and taxed exactly those who would benefit, and build up a nest egg whe boomers were working, so when the population bump of boomers retired, there would be money for them. but meanwhile the rest of Fed govt used the Soc sec savings to fund their deficit spening..the Soc sec trust fund lending made it possible for us to give tax cut to rich, because the tax cut to rich put us in deficit, but whe Soc sec lending, govt was still afloat.
In 2009, Soc sec starting drawing down it's trust fund, just as we knew would happen when boomers were retiring. At this point, Soc sec no longer lending to govt, but in fact taking money it lent back, so govt has to sell debt to someone else in the form of Treasuries, so it can pat back Soc sec and keep spending more than it is taking in. This is part why fed debt is now ballooning, becuase Soc Sec money lent to govt was not considered "hard debt" but when Fed govt now has to get hard debt because Soc sec is not lending to it anymore, the fed budget looks as bad as it should have all along.
We paid for Soc sec, but everything else was on credit card,
They try to make Soc sec look bad and unsustainable because it is taking out more than whole fed tax income, but Soc sec is solvent, it is the rest of fed buyer that has been so whacked.
Look at a chart of federal tax revenues over last fifty years, while FIcA taxes have increased greatly, corporate tax revenue has gone down greatly, almost in mirror image....so burden od Soc sec costs has been placed on poor to middle class worker while burden of rest of fed budget has been lifted form rich and corporations, instead of taxing people for what we asked our govt to do, we borrowed money form Soc sec....so it was a hesit from working people.
Now when Soc sec is asking for it's money back, fed govt says it does not want to pay, does not want to tax rich or big corps, instead it wants to reduce what it has to pay to Soc sec beneficiaries. They make Soc sec sound like it is insolvent simply be UAE more money is going out tha. Coming in, but is grandma insolvent because at 75 she is drawing down her reitirmeent savings?
If grandma had saved money for retirement, and then lent it to her grandson, who,lived beyond his means, and then when she retired, she asked for grandson refi his house and pay off the loan to her, so she could live off her savings, would you say grandma was parasite looking for bloated entitlements or would you be critical of grandson? Would you say grandma was insovent or the grandson? Should you chide hard working grandma, or grandson that can't live within his means, always spending more than he makes?
Bullshit. There are plenty of Americans who are aware of the stench rising from D.C. and from their local TBTF banks.
And I would not count on the Men in Blue to do anything but break your fucking skull if you are stupid enough to turn your back on them. You are not paying their pension, you are the enemy.
So just what do you think will happen when they realize that the guvi/banksterfucks aren't going to pay their pensions either?
You think that hasn't crossed their minds?
Pensions and perks to the enforcers will be the last thing to go.
The Roman Emperors understood this - don't piss off the praetorian guard.
I think it already has but for now the paychecks are still coming. I think TPTB might sense this, note the posters who put up the links on Reid now selling the Public Jobs plan to keep LEO's on the payrolls. I find this somewhat amusing as it appears that politicians seem to use the tactic of laying off LEO, and FF, along with teachers instead of less crucial services or personnel, in an effort to justify tax/budget increases, because it 'scares' people into thinking that without them there will be chaos. Now you have a faction of the same party touting keeping those same public employees because it would appear that without them, TPTB are more vulnerable. Just more pawns in the game?
OFF TOPIC, but one of the most important posts you'll read:
I've been mentioning for some time that if The Bernank gets prices up (i.e. inflation) enough to offset a drop in consumption, he can claim that GDP is growing.
In this case, only NOMINAL (not REAL) GDP would be growing (in other words, people would be consuming less, but paying more for what they consumed, and round and round - death spiral of living standards).
Well, both Goldman Sachs and - wait for it - Paul 'Let Aliens Invade Earth' Krugman are now endorsing this NOMINAL GDP TARGETING BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE.
These people are pure psychopaths.
*Caveat Emptor: Reading either of these articles may put you into a rage, assuming you're of sane mind.
There is now a full court press by Goldman, JP Morgan, Krugman and their ilk, to speak of Nominal GDP Targeting, rather than intentional currency debasement, in a sick, sociopathic attempt to hide their true aspirations and goals through sleight of hand semantics. These people are absolute, filthy criminals.
And when inflation really kicks in the following year will set a record for most new millionaires in the country's history.
So, we'll have that going for us...
Goldman, Jamie Dimon, The Bernank & Geithner have already co-developed the new currency to be rolled out shortly:
http://homepage.mac.com/dtrull/pix/idiotcash.jpg
The Bernank: Giving Americans a 30% to 35% increase in their cost of living in 7 short years, while helping to implement the many policies that see real wages fall, unemployment/underemployment skyrocket, trillions of taxdollars being used to socialize the worst habits of Wall Street crack whores, and helping almost all 'assets' owned by the majority get monkeyhammered.
#winningthefuture
"Paul 'Let Aliens Invade Earth' Krugman are now endorsing this NOMINAL GDP TARGETING BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE.
These people are pure psychopaths."
Brought back from the "too weird to discard" category...
Obama's own cold-blooded explanation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9vukuiLBaE&feature=channel_video_title
;)
A central bank must be deceptive while acting honest in order to manage monetary policy.
This is perfect, because people were beginning to understand monetary debasement.
Even The Economist magazine states Nominal GDP Targeting, rather than keeping a maximum tolerable limit on inflation (if even by heavily manipulated BLS data), is a terrible idea:
Economics focus: Changing target | The EconomistA few excerpts from the article:
@Truth: You might be interested in this :
For the entire period from December 2007 to June 2011, real median annual household income has declined by 9.8 percent. A decline of this magnitude represents a significant reduction in the American standard of living.
http://www.sentierresearch.com/pressreleases/SentierResearch_PressReleas...
GDP targeting is easy because deficit spending adds directly to GDP. If they wanted a 10% increase in GDP, they would simply have to increase the defict (green energy infrastructure anyone?) by 10% of GDP.
gOVERMENT SECOND TO NONE...bITHCZ
Fucking Manipulators.
Nevermind.
Richard Russell wrote in his Dow Theory Letters the other day,
"Strange, although crowds are gathering to protest the difference in income, this does not seem to register on XLY. Wealthy people are still spending and buying whatever they want. The chart below shows the erratic moves of consumer discretionary.
The latest move is a break below the 200-day moving average. That takes XLY below the preceding top. Here in La Jolla, the latest fancy restaurant (valet is $8) is bustling. For the most part, nobody is bringing home brown bags for dinner. Dinner at Eddie V's can easily run to $80. There's a recession on and people are rioting, but who cares except those who can't pay their bills. "
Reference the article - yes we're making less
Yes we are making less, myself included.
How was Lima? Gmail me at my name...
As long as congress bails out the USPS again, I will be livin large.
we are moving forward to a new future, not a revived past.
It may rhyme, though.
Revealed - the capitalist network that runs the world
http://hammystradingcorner.blogspot.com/2011/10/revealed-capitalist-network-that-runs.html
That was a very interesting article AGold! Thanks for posting the link.
I wonder if they could extrapolate that down to individual shareholders/families? That would be very telling as well...
Yep. Absolutely great study. Kind of lays out what what we've known all along: that a very few own/control the vast majority of the global/transnational assets. The top 25 "players:"
1 BARCLAYS PLC
2 CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES INC, THE
3 FMR CORP
4 AXA
5 STATE STREET CORPORATION
6 JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
7 LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC
8 VANGUARD GROUP, INC., THE
9 UBS AG
10 MERRILL LYNCH & CO., INC.
11 WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT CO. L.L.P.
12 DEUTSCHE BANK AG
13 FRANKLIN RESOURCES, INC.
14 CREDIT SUISSE GROUP
15 WALTON ENTERPRISES LLC
16 BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORP.
17 NATIXIS
18 GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC., THE
19 T. ROWE PRICE GROUP, INC.
20 LEGG MASON, INC.
21 MORGAN STANLEY
22 MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
23 NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION
24 SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE
25 BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
No surprises here.
Hmmm..
www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/10/Uber%20Wealthy.jpg
Does this imply that there are at least five Tyler Durdens? Could someone whip up a chart of their growth over the months?
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRaPshI8c1_mxYyFDUD6U38oUnTVCSOK...
Now I know where the term " Fudge Packer" , comes from.
I wonder how much of the drop in SS wages has to do with the underground economy? I dont think all those ebay sellers are declaring all their income. I always pay cash to my housekeeper and nanny.
Are people becoming cynical about government and looking for ways to avoid declaring wage income? I hope it is the beginning of a large going galt movement.
I'd like a list of those 80 or so making over $50 mil, please....
Let's get some funding for Small Business . Common Sense. The banks are flush and scared. Like a kid going to college . Top Calling Troll. I'm sure you didn't open the can of worms. You have some good ideas.
"Americans can not stand to hear the truth."
Not exactly... Most Americans wouldn't recognize the truth if it were shoved up their ass and lit on fire. You can't loathe something you can't recognize.
"Americans can not stand to hear the truth."
Change that to 'humans' and you have another factual statement. People hardened by adversity or those with little left to lose are comfortable with ugly truths because they've seen ugliness. For the rest of us, unless the danger is staring us in the face it's easier to pretend it can somehow be dealt with later. Tack on the nearly universal subsidization of failure as we near the breaking points, and ignorance starts to look like masochism. It seems both the ignorance and the masochistic reaction are amplified in proportion to the comforts currently being enjoyed by the population.
+THIS
Humans have become soft tickling the keys of their IPads, notebooks and computers. We are having a systemic collapse - there will be precious little available in the supply chain, including food. How many people that you know are prepared for what is coming? Remember Weimar Germany when people were burning money to stay warm?
For some reason we don't seem to learn from our economic miscues and keep making the same mistakes over and over again expecting better results - total insanity. At some point we will have to bite the bullet and correct the inbalances that free trade and easy money have created, nothing is free.
Well My Friends. Cover your trades going into the weekend! Your European Disfunctional Screwacrats are sure to make the markets move at least 2% based on the VIX, Sunday!
For the confused proles misguided to your future vision on this planet. There's a orgasmic climax developing in this world.. its defined as, you're either with us or onto us.
Knowing when a base is eroding quicker than Primary Dealers can throw up safety nets, fear resides amongst a small group planning for global control.
i think people have finally stopped listening with their ears and are looking around them with their eyes.......and they see the real truth
I find older folks are less open to the reality we face.
Either they have done "all right thanks jack".
Or you can't teach an old dog new tricks, I havent worked out which.
either way they are getting totally shafted by the system...sad.
Maybe after a lifetime within the matrix escape is impossible..
Those old trash are the only thing keeping this dead weight of a system on our backs. 10 or so more years and the world won't look the same--just gotta wait out the old geezers' tickers.. I don't care if it's a better world, or not. For me, anything'll beat some mind-numbing suburban life.
You think these old trash want change? What they want is their entitlements that they've "earned" by selling themselves into a system that can't pay out. All that's left for them is to die.
And I hope each and every one of them realizes there's millions of younger people just waiting for them to croak and get the fuck out of the way. Some life you old fucks lived, huh? Was it worth it?
And you people have problems with Occupy Wall Street?
I find it amusing that tea partiers and OWSers loathe each other, or at least find it embarrasing to accept the truth that they have much in common, not the least of which is the fact they're both being screwed by the same system/institutions/people. This is how strong the dogma of left vs right is. It literally prevents people from recognizing themselves.
We tea partiers do not want more government and more taxes as the solution.
These are real differences.
But sorry, to fix the problem, you need a gov that's at least temporarily "big" at least in some aspects. The system is so fucked up for so long, the Big Gov has succeeded in creating the necessity and value of its own existence. Before you can have a small gov, you need to first get to the point where the self-propelling engine of Big Gov is shut down and thrown away.
Yeah, because that's worked so well the last 5+ decades. "Give us a bigger Government so we can bring you a smaller Government". Both of your posts are idiotic. Define 'you people"? You're 'amused' that people 'loathe' each other? Who's says they 'loathe' each other? You? And you've decided I'm so embedded in the left/right paradigm that I'm ignorant of my own self? Wow, you're amazing. Get you're own talk show, really. It could be like Ricky Lake or maybe that Silvia Browne psychic person...yeah.
One group the "Tea Party" would like to see less government spending and lower taxes for everyone Taxed Enough Already (TEA). OWS seem to want targeted taxes to spread the "wealth" around. Tax the "rich" and give entitlements to the "poor" weather it be student grants, food stamps, housing assistance, union benefits, etc..... That is the difference that I see, and that is a big difference. Tea Partiers focus on less government spending, OWS focus on the banksters and corporation's looting.
How come no one actually recognizes that we're a republic? I think if you first recognize this, you realize that we should actually have nearly zero government.
That's what the founders gave us and intended. We're now so f'n far left that we have an (bought) electorate that's better than 50% of the population and feels entitled to everything from healthcare to I-pods. First things first, move far, far right of center to where a republic should be...not Rosie O'donnell Left.
+1776
Now you're talking!
Yep - Government never gets smaller without first squeezing all of the life out of everyone they regulate. It's the law of the parasite.
Government needs to be smaller and their salaries should reflect what the private section would pay for equivalent skills including pensions.
It's too late now anyway - it's killed the host it was supposedly created to serve.
"I find it amusing that tea partiers and OWSers loathe each other, or at least find it embarrasing to accept the truth that they have much in common, not the least of which is the fact they're both being screwed by the same system/institutions/people."
The Tea Party was born of the bailouts.
We were screaming about them when no one, anywhere, would listen. Where was OWS then?
We learned to walk as "shovel ready" debt bombs were crammed down everyones throat. Where was OWS then?
We had to grow up fast as "health insurance" enriching the few was passed over our objections by outright bribing senators & congressmen. Where was OWS then?
We finally came of age when Dodd Frankenstein was passed. Where was OWS then?
I have nothing in common with them but rage. Rage that some among us were too drunk on their own power to listen, to learn, to understand, to help stop it from getting worse.
Where were they then and where are they now?
His ID is wrong. Should be 'The IQ is 42'.
nmen, we may just have more in common than I thought.
good site (underfunded) but good that sums up what we're being fed. www.savingtherepublic.com
Unfortunately for you, the tea party was swamped with right-wing evangelicals who love war and big government, and who make quite the spectacle as they simultaneously: hoot for "smaller government", cling tightly to their government welfare checks, and are easily duped into supporting the next idiotic, neocon war.
The tea party is now made up of a majority of people who are part of the problem.
Agree. That is the big media push to make OWS liberals. Tea party is coopted by the right wing PTB and OWS is cutting into profits. The job of the left wing PTB needs to and is, positioning take over OWS. All the arguing between TEA and OWS is coming off as planned and having its desired effect, the classic divide and conquer. (All the way back to the 1892 banker manifesto)
For OWS to be successful they need to stay out of politics and focus on the non prosecuted corruption that BOTH parties as tools of the 1% participate and changing the system that allows the corruption. As nice as it sounds to say more/less benefits for these and more/less taxes for those, you are being pulled into the same game that destroyed the TEA party.
Case in point, if they truly want to be change agents, shouldn't they be looking to see how they are alike? By ridding the country of corruption and then having fair elections where they can sort out their differences by voting in free and fair elections rather than bitching in the media about how different they are..
P O N Z I
Ok - I get it. We should feel bad for the average Joe that's making less $ if they are lucky enough to have a job. And all for being pissed at the bankers, lawyers, lobbyists and BAD CEOS that are making $50mm a year. But why is this site becoming so anti-capitalist? Personally I'm one of those here ASPIRING to be ultra wealthy. Thanks to smart and aggressive trading in this range bound market, I'm going to have income of several million $, all using my own capital. Why am I a bad person? Why should my wealth be stolen at gun point to support ANYONE? Im theoretically on vacation and am working 10+ hours a day to make $$. Show me some one on welfare doing the same.
Hey gold bugs. This is a glimpse of the future. If your predictions of $10,000 gold come true, the masses aren;t going to let you become the new wolrd masters. They will confiscate, or they will use a different material as the basis of their new money. Simple as that. After all - they won't even let me keep my fiat paper gains.
Fucking Judas. Species traitor. Subhuman duche bag. Reading a lot and buying/selling is not 'work'. I get a sense you do not know the value of a hard days work, in the honest sense. Rejoin the human race sometime. Then you won't feel so,isolated and frightened in public places....
I am interested in hearing what you consider to be morally appropriate work, "in the honest sense".
Be what criteria do you make these determinations?
How do you define "hard" work?
What is the value of a "hard days work"?
Should "harder" work bring higher compensation?
And how does a trader betray the human race?
What is your view on market-based ecnomies?
Key issue, these chart follow wages WAGES, that is income earned as an employee to a corporation. Most rich and even middle class small businesspeople make money as divedends, capital gains etc...evenCEOs that are employees make most money on stocks, not wages. Even an IT guy working as an independent contractor will likely have a S corp and be showing most of his income as dividends, not wages.
Soc sec is a tax on wages, not all forms of income, just wages
The key issue the thumpers have not been used to clear them out is that OWS has essentially started a winter campaign. I think TPTB are thinking of letting the weather take care of them as their first counterattack. A little OWS planning and help and lets see what happens in the spring.
The collapse will take care of it before spring sees it's first sunny day.