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You mean those lower-income houses with at least two big screen tvs, a/c, a car, a gaming system, a cell phone, a refrigerator, etc?
Sure, the rich keep outpacing everyone else, but today's lower income families are the upper-middle class of 1915.
And when all else fails, pull the "at least low income people live better lives than they did 100 years ago" card. An absolutely ridiculous argument.
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The more prosperous the middle class and poor, the better for an economy.
Save your breath, right-wingers have bought into the "job creators" myth so hard, I'm surprised they don't toss rose petals at the feet of CEOs when they walk by.
And when all else fails, pull the "at least low income people live better lives than they did 100 years ago" card. An absolutely ridiculous argument.
It's actually quite the valid argument.
You could have 20 free pizzas delivered to your home every night at dinner time and be throwing away the majority of them, but if you knew the rich guy on the other side of town had 1000 free pizzas delivered, you'd complain that he's getting more than you.
There are many strategies to target income inequality that focus on the poor and middle-class, not the 1 %.
For example,
1 - increase child tax credits.
how about reforming the tax code, and simplifying it. that way we can eliminate a lot of the crap in the tax code, and cut evey ones taxes.
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2 - strengthen and restore collective bargaining. -- unions played a major role in the rise of the middle class in the past; it is no surprise that as unions have weakened, wages for the poor and middle-class workers have stagnated over the last several decades
its the unions that hurt themselves by being politically active, and politically biased. and with the power the unions had, the leaders became very corrupt indeed, to the point where they would throw the rank and file under the buss to maintain their power.
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3 - try to get corporations to pay a minimum of a living wage to their workers --- many hundred corporations in the United Kingdom have voluntarily adopted this strategy
ok, but what is a living wage? $20 an hour might be a living wage in new york city, but in tucson arizona it is excessive depending on the job.
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4 - provide better sick and family leave --- other countries seem to be able to do this without damaging their economies; it is time the U.S. caught up
how much better do you want? i guess two weeks per year isnt enough for you?
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5 - better child-care options - affordable child care
alright, but who pays for it? this doesnt come free you know.
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6 - more equitable educational opportunities
i can go along with this, but again, the vast majority of the problem in education today is the amount of administration compared to the amount of teaching. if we can eliminate the vast majority of the federal department of education, and put that money into the local schools and let them put the money where they need it rather than where the feds want it, our public school system can be greatly improved across the board.
but in the end it is still up to the students to want to learn the lessons, and to do the work. the teachers have to set the standards, and then expect the students to meet or exceed those standards. right now most teachers are glorified baby sitters, passing students onto the next grade regardless of whether or not they are ready.
we wonder why johnny cant read. johnnys parent complain that the teacher isnt passing their precious little boy to the next grade just because he cant pass the tests, so they sue the school, and the courts force the school to pass johnny along. then johnny turns 18, still cant read, still cant do simple math, and so because the schools failed little johnny, the parents again sue the schools, and again the courts side with the parents, and the lesson that is learned here is, use the courts to solve your problems instead of working to solve your own problems.
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The more prosperous the middle class and poor, the better for an economy. Economies are hurt by wealth and income inequality, which act as a drag on growth.
very true, a strong middle class is what drives the economy of any country. but our governments have at every turn done every thing they can to reduce the middle class. the biggest issue is going to be regulations on business. keep loading regulations on business, and you tend to get only businesses that are big enough to deal with those regulations, and the smaller they are the more they struggle. so if we make it easier to start a small business, we can get more people running their own business, and we can create an environment for success for those that are willing to put forth the effort.
LOL my liberal friends are acting like the Republicans have been in charge for the last 6 years and their policies have carried the day!
We seem to forget that the last 6 years have occured during the years when democrats have held at least the whitehouse and the senate. and for 4 of these last 6 years, our liberal friends have held the House, the Senate and the Whitehouse.
you sneer at trickle down economics as if republicans been capable of actually putting things in place.
the simple reality is, IF the rich are getting vastly more rich while the rest of us eat our cake, then it is BECAUSE OF Barak Obama's policies. It is HE who has been at the helm of the ship of state.
if you dont like this ship being on the rocks, its your own policy that did it.
Mr Obama plans on doubling down on policies that have seen the rise of African American Poverty at levells not seen in decades, more people on welfare than at any time in our history. more people getting food stamps than ever before. the lowest labor participation rate known here.
Americans are taking it in the shorts and what do you guys do? you complain that the magical republican party that has not been able to pass a single bill into law without a majority of democrats voting for it, has put policy in place that are hurting people. ignoring the fact that democrats ARE IN CHARGE.
you guys make me laugh. dont pee on my leg and tell me its raining.
Even you don't believe all that BS you just spouted. How does it further debate to put junk like this out there? It makes you look foolish you know. Don't you care? The fact is that the Republican Party has never been this far to the right in our country's history. Everywhere in the world where things lean to the right you have this kind of economic inequity. The further right, the more inequality. America had a middle class and a very strong one because it was a more Centrist country than now. Democrats that lean to the right exist. Not a good thing. Nothing about a right of center partisanship is good and a far right position could be considered a danger to National Security. Its about wealth and privilege and at a certain level of wealth people lose their humanity and become obsessed with seeing how much more wealth they can accumulate. Very bad for anyone that shares a country (planet) with them. Obama is indistinguishable from a centrist Republican of a generation or two ago. The country could prosper with a Congress full of Obama's. It cannot prosper with Tea Party and Liberterian extremists filibustering and holding hostage the Hope and Change that Obama wants.
The more wealth the rich have the more wealth we all have.
Example
Let's say there is a total wealth in the world of 10 million dollars , the rich have 5 million the rest have 5 million
Now let's say the total wealth is 10 trillion the rich have 5 trillion the rest of us have 5 trillion.
The more wealth there is for one the more wealth for us all.
very true, a strong middle class is what drives the economy of any country. but our governments have at every turn done every thing they can to reduce the middle class. the biggest issue is going to be regulations on business. keep loading regulations on business, and you tend to get only businesses that are big enough to deal with those regulations, and the smaller they are the more they struggle. so if we make it easier to start a small business, we can get more people running their own business, and we can create an environment for success for those that are willing to put forth the effort.
Wrong. Money drives the economy. It is actually more efficient to have a few mega-wealthy individuals support your business than to have to sell to millions. The middle class has to look out for itself. It is neither needed nor wanted at this juncture in history. Globalisation has made local consumption optional. It is disingenuous to argue that regulations are bad because of what is happening. What is happening is happening in spite of regulations, because what regulations exist do not go far enough, nor are they enforced to an effective degree. I don't know if the genie can go back in the bottle but that is what it will take. The only way America can survive is to return to 1967 borders! That's right, the same prescription for peace in the Middle East will also return America to economic prosperity. But lets not kid ourselves. The present situation is not bad. It's just bad for people that cannot obtain opportunity and financial security. That there are more such people now had ZERO effect on the GDP. Its doing fantastically well thank you. America can carry on like this indefinitely! GDP wise that is. I really don't know what it will take to get the former Middle Class riled enough to storm the Bastille. I thought it would have happened by now.
H
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