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Old 11-06-2013, 06:45 PM
 
4,538 posts, read 4,796,683 times
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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.
[MOD CUT/copyright violation]

Which America Do You Live In? – 21 Hard To Believe Facts About “Wealthy America” And “Poor America”

Last edited by Ibginnie; 11-14-2013 at 07:08 PM..
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Old 11-06-2013, 10:11 PM
 
Location: University City, Philadelphia
22,634 posts, read 14,880,245 times
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In my view, not so much a monarchy ... more like a Plutocracy.
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Old 11-06-2013, 10:19 PM
 
12,638 posts, read 8,911,973 times
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Stop complaining, you voted for it.
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Old 11-06-2013, 10:28 PM
 
25,024 posts, read 27,832,712 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trace21230 View Post
Stop complaining, you voted for it.
Do you ever get tired of spouting bull****? Most Republicans today have a sink or swim mentality that would exasperate wealth inequality
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Old 11-08-2013, 10:12 AM
 
4,538 posts, read 4,796,683 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clark Park View Post
In my view, not so much a monarchy ... more like a Plutocracy.
A plutocracy is what is actually is, but I think that America is just the 'royal baby' of Britan.

"Royal baby: The fact that the monarchy is a symbol of inherited privilege is a reason to preserve it, not abolish it

America's claim to be a meritocracy – as judged by the chances of a child born in the bottom fifth of income earners rising to the top fifth – is pitiful.



Social mobility in Britain isn't much better than in America, but it is slightly better.

In the international league table measuring mobility in the developed world, Brazil is at the very bottom, America is second from bottom and Britain is third from bottom.

So there's little reason to think that republics are any more meritocratic than monarchies.

In America, there's a widespread belief that being born poor is no impediment to success, a belief often expressed by the idea that anyone can become President.

That, in turn, means that those who do rise to the top think they've got there on merit, whereas those who don't generally think their lack of success is deserved.

But it also accounts for a great deal of arrogance and misery as well.

To use a baseball analogy, most successful Americans were born on third and think they've hit a triple, while most unsuccessful ones never got a chance to bat and think that's due to their lack of ability.

In Britain, by contrast, we have no illusions about your life chances being dictated by the circumstances of your birth – and the existence of the monarchy confirms that.

The crucial difference between Britain and America isn’t that Britain has a class system and America doesn't; rather, it’s that Americans believe their country to be meritocratic whereas we don’t.

The fact that Brits acknowledge that your chances in life are profoundly affected by who your parents are means we're less inclined to judge people according to how well or badly they’re doing.

Brits are less worshipful of success than Americans and less contemptuous of failure.

Unlike America’s top dogs, the better off in British society tend to feel a bit guilty and embarrassed about their good fortune, as if they don’t quite deserve it.

And those at the bottom can tell themselves – accurately – that the reason they're not more successful is because they weren't born with silver spoons in their mouth."


Royal baby: The fact that the monarchy is a symbol of inherited privilege is a reason to preserve it, not abolish it – Telegraph Blogs
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Old 11-08-2013, 10:27 AM
 
2,538 posts, read 4,697,044 times
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No surprise. Everything is going exactly as planned. I've said this before. The large middle class was an 20th century anomaly. It is now returning back to the norm of history. The break down being the 1% controlling virtually all of the wealth, with a small middle class of skilled workers making up up about 9%(Think doctors and engineers, in the old days they were the merchant and trades class). The rest of the 90% will be peasants and paupers.
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Old 11-08-2013, 10:31 AM
 
15,047 posts, read 8,830,020 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clark Park View Post
In my view, not so much a monarchy ... more like a Plutocracy.
I'd say more like inverted totalitarianism, where corporations dominate government through their powerful lobbies and political contributions and rulings such as Citizens United. Corporations/big money interests now rule in this country, aided and abetted by politicians on both sides of the aisle. And they are making the most of it while it lasts:

"Corporations, freed from all laws, government regulations and internal constraints, are stealing as much as they can, as fast as they can, on the way down. The managers of corporations no longer care about the effects of their pillage. Many expect the systems they are looting to fall apart. They are blinded by personal greed and hubris. They believe their obscene wealth can buy them security and protection. They should have spent a little less time studying management in business school and a little more time studying human nature and human history. They are digging their own graves."

Is There a Revolution Coming? Americans Finally Realize Global Capitalism Is a Murderous Sham | Alternet

The unfettered greed of the one percent will be the undoing of this country, but that is not their concern. They are focused on squeezing the very last drop of wealth from the rest of us before it all collapses, when they will retreat to their fortified mansions with their personal security forces to keep out the riffraff (and that includes all of the posters here on C-D. Yes, you are all riffraff to them.)

And they're well on their way to realizing that objective at this point, while the rest of us are distracted by silly political bickering and finger pointing.
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Old 11-08-2013, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Minnysoda
10,659 posts, read 10,686,101 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KRAMERCAT View Post
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.

Which America Do You Live In? – 21 Hard To Believe Facts About “Wealthy America” And “Poor America”

Strange how many of those 400 started poor and earned it themselves isn't it
List of members of the Forbes 400 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 11-08-2013, 10:44 AM
 
4,538 posts, read 4,796,683 times
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Originally Posted by my54ford View Post
Strange how many of those 400 started poor and earned it themselves isn't it
List of members of the Forbes 400 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Really? How many of them originated from poor households? I'd be interested to know.
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Old 11-08-2013, 10:45 AM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,206,481 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet Jones View Post
No surprise. Everything is going exactly as planned. I've said this before. The large middle class was an 20th century anomaly. It is now returning back to the norm of history. The break down being the 1% controlling virtually all of the wealth, with a small middle class of skilled workers making up up about 9%(Think doctors and engineers, in the old days they were the merchant and trades class). The rest of the 90% will be peasants and paupers.
I totally agree. We had the good times but they can't last forever.
History works in cycles and always seems to repeat itself in one way or another.
I believe we're going through a very soft Great Depression that will change US society.
And I see the same thing happening that you comment on as well.
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