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The other day I saw a chart that showed the average age of employees at "top" companies like Amazon, Yahoo, etc. It was around 28, which means that nowadays if you're 30 then you're over the hill. And we all know that these companies don't employ that many people to begin with. They employ around 20,000-100,000 whereas companies like Ford and GM each employed millions back in the day, and many of their workers were able to work at the companies until retirement and receive a pension.
The reason this concerns me is because nowadays the average person is living to be 80 or 90 years old and is guaranteed a "safety net" by the government, including unemployment insurance, health insurance, unlimited student loans, etc., while at the same time the population is expanding, the cost of living is exploding and the number of good jobs is shrinking relative to the population. Very few people have the power to actually support themselves.
The system will implode somehow. The money we've thrown at the growing number of "surplus people" in society has run out. Jealousy and class warfare is on the rise (Note the enthusiasm behind Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump this past year).
Is anyone else seeing this problem? What is the end game here?
The End Game is you either go broke and die of a health issue or violent crime - You keep chugging along like a zombie kept afloat by various pharmaceutical drugs, you survive the rat race and make it to the top and step over everybody else - Or you get out alive and expatriate.
Contract work and working for yourself aka consulting, or Uber/Airbnb type stuff are on the rise obviously. People need to be willing to strike out on their own, nothing wrong with that. Definitely has more risk but also has the potential to provide a better lifestyle overall.
The reason this concerns me is because nowadays the average person is living to be 80 or 90 years old and is guaranteed a "safety net" by the government...
Perhaps you were unaware that there is no "guarantee" of a safety net.
In two important cases, Helvering v. Davis and Flemming v. Nestor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Social Security taxes are simply taxes and convey no property or contractual rights to Social Security benefits. Benefits are at the sole discretion of Congress.
. . .
In other words, the "Tax and Bribe" system is no guarantee of a safety net.
Economics is a very complex subject....I'm going to throw out some ideas and numbers to either give people hope...or make them give up.
First of all, Amazon employs over 500,000 - a figure likely to grow.
Secondly, the "eco-system" surrounding Amazon (I published 3 books there and MILLIONS make affiliate money...and there are other vendors who sell stuff through Amazon) - makes it MUCH bigger than the employee count.
Thirdly- there are 100's of billions of dollars in capital gains which have gone to various Amazon stockholders - this includes many millions of Americans.
That is just a small piece of one company.
Let's take another example - Apple. They have over 300,000 US Employees, but if you look around you will see many repair stores, consultants, add-ons and other jobs created by those. The total number guessed at is close to 1.5 Million...in the Apple Orbit.
Once again, you have 900 Billion in market cap - a good % of that money was made by those of us with US investments and IRA's. That's real money.
The products are mostly made in China...BUT, 90% plus of the PROFITS are not made there. So your $800 iphone represents mostly money going to Americans (assuming you are an American buyer of one)....
So that is just a small part of the corporate numbers - FAR DIFFERENT than the OP makes them out to be.
There are many other factors involved with our modern economy. Vast amounts of wealth are left as inheritances and charitable donations (Gates, Buffet and many more have signed on). This is "free money" for our economy. If I inherit a couple million or even less and buy a vacation house, that means a lot of money for a builder, landscapers, contractors, recreation providers, etc.
Note- I have worked for myself...or my own businesses...my entire life, and I think I ended up better off than 95% plus of my peers who worked in "jobs", even stable ones.
The point is - economics is complicated. The Big Picture is very large.
Its funny...we could support everyone just fine at one point, but now suddenly we can't. Despite being wealthier then EVER.
The real issue is all the wealth being concentrated in the .1%. Thats the root cause of the crisis the OP is discussing. How can we be so wealthy as a country....and have so much homelessness and poverty?
People who work hard and give it their all are dying broke.
Economics is a very complex subject....I'm going to throw out some ideas and numbers to either give people hope...or make them give up.
First of all, Amazon employs over 500,000 - a figure likely to grow.
Secondly, the "eco-system" surrounding Amazon (I published 3 books there and MILLIONS make affiliate money...and there are other vendors who sell stuff through Amazon) - makes it MUCH bigger than the employee count.
Thirdly- there are 100's of billions of dollars in capital gains which have gone to various Amazon stockholders - this includes many millions of Americans.
That is just a small piece of one company.
Let's take another example - Apple. They have over 300,000 US Employees, but if you look around you will see many repair stores, consultants, add-ons and other jobs created by those. The total number guessed at is close to 1.5 Million...in the Apple Orbit.
Once again, you have 900 Billion in market cap - a good % of that money was made by those of us with US investments and IRA's. That's real money.
The products are mostly made in China...BUT, 90% plus of the PROFITS are not made there. So your $800 iphone represents mostly money going to Americans (assuming you are an American buyer of one)....
So that is just a small part of the corporate numbers - FAR DIFFERENT than the OP makes them out to be.
There are many other factors involved with our modern economy. Vast amounts of wealth are left as inheritances and charitable donations (Gates, Buffet and many more have signed on). This is "free money" for our economy. If I inherit a couple million or even less and buy a vacation house, that means a lot of money for a builder, landscapers, contractors, recreation providers, etc.
Note- I have worked for myself...or my own businesses...my entire life, and I think I ended up better off than 95% plus of my peers who worked in "jobs", even stable ones.
The point is - economics is complicated. The Big Picture is very large.
I think the very important second point is that opportunity is out there to succeed on your own without waiting around for government or other employers to do something for you, or rely on them to be there for you at all times.
Its funny...we could support everyone just fine at one point, but now suddenly we can't. Despite being wealthier then EVER.
The real issue is all the wealth being concentrated in the .1%. Thats the root cause of the crisis the OP is discussing. How can we be so wealthy as a country....and have so much homelessness and poverty?
It's our progressive tax system.
I've explained this to people before (well, I've cited several economists who've explained it), but here's why a progressive tax system only widens income/wealth gaps and shifts ever more power to the wealthy, even though it seems counterintuitive. You have to put away the emotional, knee-jerk reactions, and think logically to understand it...
Quote:
[Economist Anatole] "Kaletsky argues that over-reliance on progressives taxes creates “a perverse incentive for governments to promote income inequality. If the solvency of the state and the ability to fund basic services for the poorest people in society depends on the rich getting even richer, it is tempting for even the most progressive politicians to support widening inequalities."
That's what's inherently wrong with a progressive tax system such as we have here in the US; it distorts and exacerbates inequalityby necessity in order to maximize tax revenue.
And is that not exactly what's happening?
Implement a regressive tax system like European countries have instead of the progressive tax system we currently have.
Why? It removes the Fed Gov's incentive to enact policies, laws, etc., that end up making the rich even richer, in order to maximize tax revenue, and activates the incentive to lessen the income/wealth gap for a much greater number of people.
You all think money rules politicians. It doesn't. Votes do. Politicians have no power if they don't get elected. Rich people have one vote each. That's it. Implement tax law and policies that result in more income/wealth equality, and what happens? They lose a few rich people's votes because they're unhappy their situation is changing, but they gain many more votes from a populace that's happy that income/wealth gaps are narrowing.
How do you think European countries were able to implement their regressive tax systems but still end up with happy populations by giving them all kinds of government benefits and services? PLUS as an added benefit, they end up with lower income/wealth inequality than the US. Europeans recognized the greater good and didn't balk at paying MUCH flatter taxes PLUS the 20% to 25% VATs (which actually end up making their tax systems quite regressive). All those countries aren't wrong.
For reference on income inequality, by country, here's a GINI Index. The lower the score, the better:
You all think money rules politicians. It doesn't. Votes do. Politicians have no power if they don't get elected. Rich people have one vote each. That's it. Implement tax law and policies that result in more income/wealth equality, and what happens? They lose a few rich people's votes because they're unhappy their situation is changing, but they gain many more votes from a populace that's happy that income/wealth gaps are narrowing.
.
This is not the way the US system works. Our system is closer to "one dollar=one vote" or, more accurately, perhaps $1,000=one vote.
Those rich people don't even have to get near the voting booth - that's optional. All they have to do is spend lots of money (and spread fear and lies...very easy thing to do with $$) and they force people to vote against their own interests.
This is why "wedge issues" are so popular - abortion, guns, racism, etc....they all provide a lot of votes for the buck.
The average person cannot understand a complex system. As a perfect example, let's take the ACA. At various times, despite everything the GOP could throw at it, it had an "effective" approval of over 60%. I say "effective" because you may have had 35% approving and 25% who wanted something EVEN STRONGER...and 35% against, and 5% with no opinion.
So, this is a no-brainer, right? Everyone should be for the ACA with the idea of it getting stronger and better as they improve on it.
But money talks and BS walks....or, more accurately, con men and lying works, and the truth walks. So we have an entire political party who promise to "repeal on day one" this (now popular) program...and they WIN Congress and the POTUS (with financial help, i.e.. DOLLARS=VOTE) from the Russians and others...
When the foundation of your thinking is incorrect, the conclusions are often off also. This is to say nothing for our warped system where a million people in one state get "2 votes" in the important Senate, while 40 million in another get the same 2 votes.
Put those things together with attempts at keeping the vote low and you get a gamed system...not what you claim. Few of us doubt that if everyone voted (or even 90%) that more progressive policies would be the result. This is why the same $$$ often go to making voters "just give up" and stay home. Never forget what the Father of Conservatism said:
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