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America, home of the brave, land of the economically disparate...
"In 1980, CEOs at S&P 500 companies made 42 times as much as their employees did on average, today they 354 times as much. In fact, there are many CEOs that make more than 1000 times what the average employees in their companies make.
65 percent of all American workers make less than $40,000 a year before taxes, and 40 percent make less than $20,000 a year, one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.
The top 7 percent of all U.S. households own 63 percent of all the wealth in the country, while according to numbers that were just released this week, 49.7 million Americans are living in poverty, a new all-time record high.
In America the wealthiest one percent have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
The 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.
1.2 million students that attend public schools in America are homeless, that number has risen by 72 percent since the start of the last recession.
Nearly half of all public students in the United States come from low income homes.
America has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.
Was I talking to you? I suggest you mind your own business.
Just for you, I am retired and very happy.
Keep believing that until your retirement funds are raided and wiped out by the 1%. Unless you have all of your funds in gold bars, food, and ammo then your funds are not safe.
This isn't necessarily true. I work for a FINRA registered firm and everyone at my company is restricted from engaging in certain types of activities in the marketplace. Most institutional investors have every email, every phone call, every investment tracked by the government and kept on file for years. I know mine are. Hell, the guys we use for economic research are legally not allowed to invest in any public company, bond, ETF or REIT because of current government regulation of people in that industry.
What isn't true? Yes the govt tracks and regulates everything. Except for maybe the multi trillion shadow banking sector.
For those who think the CEOs should not be paid that high, I highly suggest you try their life a little and see if that one his worthy it. Try this one first: fly across the globe, attend meetings and fly back. Do that every day for a year.
That doesn't sound too difficult for the pay involved.
Quote:
You can't do their job, can you?
I can fly around on jets, pretending to be important, in exchange for tremendous amounts of money. That sounds like a gig I could handle.
That doesn't sound too difficult for the pay involved.
I can fly around on jets, pretending to be important, in exchange for tremendous amounts of money. That sounds like a gig I could handle.
really? and what experience do you have running a company that would give you that impression? everyone thinks a CEOs job is easy and that they can do it as well, but when they get there suddenly the job is a lot tougher than they ever thought. its rather like watching an auto race and thinking ic an do that too.
For those who think the CEOs should not be paid that high, I highly suggest you try their life a little and see if that one his worthy it. Try this one first: fly across the globe, attend meetings and fly back. Do that every day for a year.
You can't do their job, can you?
So mind your own business and enrich your own life with your work.
YGTBFKM. I did that, as a pilot, for years and years. My first year I made $18k. Get out with that crap.
really? and what experience do you have running a company that would give you that impression? everyone thinks a CEOs job is easy and that they can do it as well, but when they get there suddenly the job is a lot tougher than they ever thought. its rather like watching an auto race and thinking ic an do that too.
Indeed. Oftentimes running a company and keeping it afloat, profitable, and growing is difficult and requires quite a lot of skill; there are exceptions of pampered CEOs that don't do much, but the idle rich who live off their (or their parents') investments aren't usually CEOs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KRAMERCAT
A plutocracy is what is actually is, but I think that America is just the 'royal baby' of Britan.
A government ruled by the wealthy is a plutocracy or an oligarchy, not a monarchy or some feudal state, since there aren't any inherited legal powers or offices. That doesn't stop government positions from being inherited in practice a la North Korea, but we're not quite there yet. Honestly, I think some of the Greek oligarchies are a more useful comparison than the British monarchy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KRAMERCAT
Really? How many of them originated from poor households? I'd be interested to know.
Only a small percentage, probably, but most of the rich and super-rich have recent ancestors who were closer to the middle class than the wealthy. Given how closed-off the upper class is to a great degree (c.f. regulatory capture, lobbying, restrictions on entrepreneurship, declining incomes for the bottom 90%), I think it's amazing that its membership is as fluid as it is.
What isn't true? Yes the govt tracks and regulates everything. Except for maybe the multi trillion shadow banking sector.
That again isn't true. Shadow markets in this country are nowhere near 'multi-trillion', and that sector is also tracked by the government. Every private investment I make is tracked.
Given my job, I cannot legally invest in a private company without reporting it. Shadow markets are tracked with a much higher degree of regulation than public markets. It is a nightmare for someone like me to invest in a shadow market.
That again isn't true. Shadow markets in this country are nowhere near 'multi-trillion', and that sector is also tracked by the government. Every private investment I make is tracked.
Given my job, I cannot legally invest in a private company without reporting it. Shadow markets are tracked with a much higher degree of regulation than public markets. It is a nightmare for someone like me to invest in a shadow market.
Well you need to go tell the Financial Stability board that, because their estimate, 60 trillion is more conservative than the recent models, which estimate about 90 trillion.
Regarding tracking, in that comment, I was being a bit tongue in cheek.
The market is broadly described and complex hence my comment. Also understand I was referencing the global market not just US.
Press Release -ShadowBanking-FinancialStabilityBoard
quote:
The “shadow banking system” can broadly be described as “credit intermediation
involving entities and activities outside the regular banking system.” According to one
measure, the global shadow banking system grew rapidly before the crisis, from an
estimated $27 trillion in 2002 to $60 trillion in 2007, and remained at around the same
level in 2010.
No one said you were not being tracked or regulated. Not sure why you keep saying that.
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