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There is a whole mess of class warfare being conducted. Some people like to claim that we are in the next "guilded age". Not even close. The level of wealth consolidation in those days was mind boggling by today's standards. In those days, JP Morgan had the power to bail the country out as they teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Something he did follow through on. Maybe that's why their monopolies were off the tables during Teddy Roosevelt's term? How the tables have turned...
At any rate, as much as I hate to say it, we are moving back towards the historic norm. It won't be anywhere near as bad as the guilded age, largely because of government involvement, and the average Americans unwillingness to work 14 hours a day. It will still be an ever present reality. Bad timing because politicians wrote a check to the middle class that they simply cannot sign. In the end, those who work had and exercise wisdom in their daily lives will fair the best odds for success. Survival of the fittest is making a rather unwelcome return.
The rich are getting richer; And this is now news? Throughout history the fact of power and wealth being wedded together was something most proles knew as a norm, and, most knew things weren't going to change any time soon. In a lot of peoples minds today wealth is a thing to be considered separately from power, but, money and power are one and the same, the more you have of one the more you gain of the other. I can't say that the news tip was really all the revealing, don't most people know that the income "gap"isn't something that occurs as an anomaly, it's simply the proof of a terribly lopsided financial system being withstood by those with neither wealth nor power?
The realization of these facts certainly don't constitute class warfare but they should, and this realization may still be the aggregate of future U.S. social upheaval, I guess time will tell. I also have thought for a long time that it isn't necessarily this huge disparity between the highest and lowest incomes that is the problem, most people I know wouldn't know what to do with millions of dollars should some type of sci-fi scenario where re-distribution of wealth were to happen, but they certainly know what to do with the money from their job, IF THEY HAVE A JOB. Isn't that the real concern of most working class American's? Isn't it true that the worst gap we endure is that which allows some to eat well while others go hungry, allows some to live in huge palatial homes while others seek shelter under the freeways, allows a splendid life in your old age while others wonder what their old age fate will be?
I have never wanted or needed a lot of money, and millions of other working class American's have had similar feelings about their own wealth. What really looks like class warfare is when the highest living standard is enjoyed by a few, and a few more have plenty, still more have enough, and a ton more have little or no wealth. This is the gap I worry about, and it's a growing gap that creates a hell-life for millions of kids, our elderly, our veterans, our mentally ill, and much of our young adult populace. Closing this gap would really be a newsworthy event, I won't be holding my breath though....
I don't think a large income disparity is a good thing, but I also don't think it is fair to be critical of the top earners or bottom earners. Take for example 2 people on the top:
Person struggles for years to build a company, perfect a product, hire employees, expand, etc. Ends up with a billion dollar company making millions of dollars of income. How can we criticize this person?
Another person grows up in a wealthy family with all the connections to the business world, hops from CEO position to CEO position at major corporations, gets board of director (i.e. friends) approval for fantastic pay and golden parachute, runs companies to the ground and treats employees with contempt. How can we not hate this guy?
Same thing with the bottom earners or unemployed:
Person grows up in the ghetto with a crackhead mother and no father, struggles through a failed education system, works their but off at minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet. How can we not feel sorry for this person?
Another person grows up with all the benefits of a middle-class lifestyle, but fails to take advantage of it, has an bad attitude toward work, comes in late, slacks off, gets repeatedly fired from jobs, complains about how unfair the world is, becomes a socialist, etc. How can we not hate this guy.
Bottom line...forget about this class warfare BS, judge people individually?
Exactly. Sometimes, I think people look at the 1%ers as an excuse to give up. Why try, the game is rigged, right? Better off finding out how to live off the government than to make a meaningful contribution to society.
The only people who win in the class warfare mess are the politicians.
Interesting. The data I had seen previously suggested that (1) the top lost less than everyone else and (2) gained more than everyone else when they rebounded.
I don't know what the truth is, I was just reading what that particular study claimed. It would stand to reason to me that those who make most of their money in investments (the wealthy) would have lost the most in a crash (as a % of total income). I don't have the numbers to back that up right now, however. The wealthy definitely grabbed more of the upside after the crash though. The average middle class person is not educated enough in finance and investing to realize you need to double down on equities immediately after a crash.
I don't know what the truth is, I was just reading what that particular study claimed. It would stand to reason to me that those who make most of their money in investments (the wealthy) would have lost the most in a crash (as a % of total income). I don't have the numbers to back that up right now, however. The wealthy definitely grabbed more of the upside after the crash though. The average middle class person is not educated enough in finance and investing to realize you need to double down on equities immediately after a crash.
The latest numbers say that the very rich have recovered just fine from the Great Recession, even as the great majority of Americans continue to struggle. In fact, the super-elite — the top 0.01 percent — actually had higher incomes in 2012 than they did at the height of the bubble.
Capital gains income is mainly income that goes to the more wealthy. So, low capital gains rates benefit the wealthy. New data shows that the already low capital gains rate is already concentrating income at the top -- more than at any other time in history. Lowering capital gains will just increase that concentration of income at the top.
The top 10 percent of earners took more than half of the country’s total income in 2012, the highest level recorded since the government began collecting the relevant data a century ago...
But that's only part of the picture. The top 0.1% captured half of the gains of the top 10% group and the top 0.01% took a quarter of the top 10% gains. The group 5% to 10% took nearly none of those gains.
What this means is that a very small elite of the super-rich are capturing a greater and greater portion of national income -- and then we have conservatives arguing that we should give this group even more tax-breaks, which will concentrate their income even more.
Big flaw with the "analysis" of MTAtech -- the "top earners" prior to the crash included people that were partners at Lehman Bros and Bear Sterns and other such firms that have FAILED -- at one time Jimmy Cayne's personal stake in Bear Sterns was valued at over $1B, the whole company was sold to JPMorgan for about $240M -- the same thing happened to lots of other folks too. Now I am not crying for this former masters of the universe types, they surely can find a nice quiet spot to live out there days on the mere millions they socked away, but the new crop of billionaires was "minted" not just from the ashes of that melt down but includes folks like Facebook founder Zuckerberg and the google guys...
No way to really "stick it to 'em" when the crowd is very different.
Big flaw with the "analysis" of MTAtech -- the "top earners" prior to the crash included people that were partners at Lehman Bros and Bear Sterns and other such firms that have FAILED -- at one time Jimmy Cayne's personal stake in Bear Sterns was valued at over $1B, the whole company was sold to JPMorgan for about $240M -- the same thing happened to lots of other folks too. Now I am not crying for this former masters of the universe types, they surely can find a nice quiet spot to live out there days on the mere millions they socked away, but the new crop of billionaires was "minted" not just from the ashes of that melt down but includes folks like Facebook founder Zuckerberg and the google guys...
No way to really "stick it to 'em" when the crowd is very different.
I think you are making my case stronger, not refuting it. In 2012 the very rich have recovered from the decline of the Great Recession. So even with all those 2007/2008 losses, they made it all back and then some.
Which makes me wonder... Will the lefties drop their facebook accounts due to the fact that Zuckerberg is now one of the 1% elites? I mean, how dare he be rewarded for the countless hours of human energy he invested in his service!
This isn't just an American trend but a global trend. Even countries known for more equitable distribution of income such as Sweden have been seeing rising inequality.
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