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I'm not sure why you're asserting that wealth is "gone" when there's countless corporations with record profits and record numbers of billionaires across the globe.
Well, we're talking the US economy, not the "globe".
After WWII, the US was 50% of global GDP. Today, we're only 16%. We held most of the world's gold reserves (approx. 20,000 tons). Today, our gov't claims 8,000 tons, but many sceptics think it's actually much less.
The American post-WW2 economic boom was a rare event. We used that wealth to create endless social programs and a very expensive (but good) healthcare system.
Since a corporation doesn't normally have more than one CEO, I'll wager that if you confiscate all the money from all the CEOs, it wouldn't be enough to keep the gov't gravy train rolling.
The idea that we're going to fund our massive sovereign debt and social spending by more taxes on billionaires is a progessive fantasy.
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We're seeing massive inflation because the world has gotten so used to cheap labor and taking advantage of the working class.
Doesn't cheap labor reduce the cost of goods? If so, cheap labor is anti-inflationary.
Doesn't cheap labor reduce the cost of goods? If so, cheap labor is anti-inflationary.
Precisely. My point is that the era of cheap labor is over, and it ain't coming back.
The working age population is now in decline in the US and most of the developed world, including the manufacturing powerhouse of China.
Not trying to make this too tangential to the thread, but basically we're at an inflection point globally with increasingly fewer working people available and ever-increasing costs of goods and services as a result.
And unless we have some major solutions to reset our economy, we're going to be in a "doom loop" for the foreseeable future. This will only aggravate social issues like crime in big cities like Philadelphia.
Precisely. My point is that the era of cheap labor is over, and it ain't coming back.
The working age population is now in decline in the US and most of the developed world, including the manufacturing powerhouse of China.
Not trying to make this too tangential to the thread, but basically we're at an inflection point globally with increasingly fewer working people available and ever-increasing costs of goods and services as a result.
And unless we have some major solutions to reset our economy, we're going to be in a "doom loop" for the foreseeable future. This will only aggravate social issues like crime in big cities like Philadelphia.
I agree with almost everything you wrote.
But, the sticking point is how "major solutions" are defined. Societies don't normally "reset" until they're forced to. The Romans didn't scale down bread and circuses to shore up their defenses. They continued on the road to ruin until Rome was overrun by the barbarians and Roman society was FORCED to reset.
The current gov't CPI underestimates inflation. The CPI algorithms were modified in the 80's to underestimate inflation. The old algorithms are maintained by an outfit called "shadow stats". If the current CPI says inflation is 6%, inflation is actually about double that. BTW, six years of 12% inflation cuts the purchasing value of the US dollar in half.
TPTB and their legacy media have kept much of the electorate focused on non-issues (personal pronouns, Confederate statues in the park, etc.), but once real, persistent inflation hits, the public is going to lose interest in the silly issues.
Lots of debate regarding the "causes" of how the current situation came to be. Instead of trying to sort out all the arguments, I would like to make a couple of points of "where we are".
1. The trillions of dollars spent over the 60 years on social programs has NOT eliminated low income areas. The US gov't now has enormous debt (which will probably never be repaid). Much of the post-WWII American wealth is gone. Yet, some expect continued increases in social spending. This won't happen because it would destroy the financial system.
2. After years of artificial low inflation, inflation has come roaring back. The result will be (depending upon how bad inflation gets and how long it persists) a significant erosion in the purchasing power of everyone's dollars. Let's say that purchasing power is reduced 25-50%. How does the half of America living paycheck to paycheck cope?
bold part: also known as creating inner-city dependence on gov't to ensure among other things: votes on the local, state, and federal level. Has been described as the ''Democratic plantation''.
Generally black leadership has been an abysmal failure with policies designed to keep them in powerful positions.
It depends on the reform. The fact is, the USA has an outsized prison population relative to other countries. Many criminal justice reform movements seek to change that. A big push in these movements is the decriminalization of non-violent, self-harm incidents such as drug use. We should indeed be seeking answers about why we have such a disproportionate share of the global prison population.
Are you unfamiliar with the term "guardian" in relation to minors?
Yes, familiar with the term ''guardian'' related to minors. Guardians are appointed by the courts. You only referenced ''guardians'' being held responsible for minors actions as if there are no parent/s.
The US has an outsized prison population relative to other countries most recently due to the 1994 Crime Bill that created what is now known as the ''mass incarceration crisis'' and continues to undercut this alleged ''criminal reform'' movement.
Ah yes, the ''Violent Crime Control Act and Law Enforcement Act of 1994" proudly pushed by Hillary 'Super Predator'' Clinton and Joe "Never Met an Anti-Crime Bill I Didn't Like" Biden...at least until 2020.
Many criminal justice reform movements seeking to change the outsized U.S. prison population need to seek out and confront the leadership who caused it: Hillary Clinton & Joe Biden.
H Clinton & Biden are still very much around today and yet have somehow been disconnected from causing the issue you raise and, specifically, the black male mass incarceration crisis. The latter is what this ''criminal reform'' movement is all about: keeping black males out of prison and, so far, it's really been simply not enforcing the law genrerally and by progressive prosecutors in general.
Changing the laws is the only way to achieve these goals; simply not enforcing and disregarding current laws creates instability in the justice system and the entire country generally.
Then again we're becoming a country of individuals deciding what rules apply to them, disregarding ones they don't like, and having their ''own truth. Or, generally, what used to be called hearing the word ''no''.
I've often felt that Trump had the opportunity to become a true populist and rally poor/working-class folks of all stripes to his cause and become a real life Jay Bulworth. Instead he went in another direction that largely continued to alienate Black voters from his party.
Also, as I shared in my other post(#52), the heavy lifting of unemployment numbers primarily occurred during Obama's time in office. So if we are going to give Presidents credit (or blame) for the economy, it should be shared proportionately.
What was Trump's other direction that largely continued to alienate black voters from his party...or voting for him?
Can't think of 1 President who hasn't, didn't, and continues to this day...not blaming the preceding President for ''inherited problems'' and dismissing the preceding President for being the root cause of any success.
Yet more black males voted for Trump in 2020 which is dismissed by the left, their alleged patronizing racist protectors, otherwise preaching for tolerance, inclusion, women, blacks and other assorted 'victims, with racist black male stereo typing that they're misogynist/female abusers...wtf? No way was it because they had some more $$ in their wallets and bank accounts...it's because they like the white orangeman who allegedly abuses women...smh.
Then again, the inclusive, equity, and diversity party also labelled black males as ''super predators'' and created the mass incarceration issue in their communities so describing black males today as being misogynist, female abusers shouldn't be a shock.
What "legislation to protect and social programs" are you referring to? I suspect that poor people of all shades benefit from many of them even as Blacks may make up a disproportionate % relative to their community.
Also, if my guess at your definition of such programs and legislation is correct, middle-to-upper-income Blacks do not benefit. So it is not "reparations". I feel like I've suggested in the past - possibly in this thread - what true reparations would look like in our fair city. So as not to repeat myself too much, it would revolve around improving the social and physical infrastructure in the most challenged communities while protecting such improvements from forcing residents out via gentrification. However, I am sure that this would involve buy-in at the regional, state and federal levels that would be all but impossible to achieve.
Well, for starters, read up on the mid-1960s Civil Rights Legislation and, separately, on the simultaneous Great Society social programs. Legal Protections with a boost of social reparation spending.
You think today's reparations movement is about social and physical infrastructure improvements in challenged communities and being anti-gentrification? Sorry, it's about direct cash $$ payments. Look what San Francisco wants to do: pay out $5 million plus per black resident...lol
They should stop voting for and electing dangerous politicians with dangerous policies disguised under the innocuous sounding name ''progressive.''
Police aren't elected. Police should do their damned jobs no matter who is mayor or DA. Why that seems too be too much to ask, I don't know. I manage to do my job regardless of the CEO and their random rhetoric.
Police aren't elected. Police should do their damned jobs no matter who is mayor or DA. Why that seems too be too much to ask, I don't know. I manage to do my job regardless of the CEO and their random rhetoric.
Cops aren't elected but progressive politicians are who control policy and enact laws to restrict and reduce cops' jobs including, for example, encounters between cops and the black community. It does matter who the mayor, DA, and city council members are.
Add the foregoing to the general amped up anti-cop rhetoric since the Obama administration, Criminal Reform, the anti-cop/pro-criminal Biden-Harris 2020 campaign and sideshow political violence disguised a short-lived racial equality movement that in reality was an anti-police/capitalism pogrom, George Floyd effect= a record year-over- year spike in violent crime with record high homicides and gun violence, a huge spike in general crime, resulting business closures, and a police staffing shortage.
Now the city is paying middle aged race manipulating protesters for being ''traumatized'' by cops for blocking an Interstate and creating and participating in violent anarchy in West Philly. The mayor, DA, and police commissioner and local and black leadership all had these ''protesters'' backs in 2020.
Then again Philly was the worldwide focal point of the 2018 version of keeping the old school 1960s Civil Rights Movement alive with its ''Free The Bathrooms Now'' embarrassment. This humiliation opened the doors for anyone to come in off the streets and stay in a business and the police are not allowed to remove let alone arrest them.
And what can cops do with street people today in Society Hill anyway? Nothing.
It's time for those psychiatrists/social workers encouraged by leadership from Biden-Harris to local pols to hit the Philly streets, including Society Hill. Cops can't handle people on the streets having a ''mental health crisis'' also known as doing hi-octane drugs; Walter Wallace's violent drug reaction passed off and manipulated by everyone from Biden-Harris, Bernie Sanders, to the white progressives (just paid off by the City) as a ''mental health crisis''? Philly went under curfew, the guard, looting, anarchy, all a week prior to the 2020 election...we need psychiatrists and social workers for these ''mental health crisis'' situations cuz cops hunt down and needlessly kill black men. Then a week later or so, November 7, 2020...poof...it all ended. Hmm. Where are these psychiatrists and social workers?
But cops need to do their damn jobs! The analogy to CEO and rhetoric is misplaced if you're applying your situation to PPD in 2023.
Maybe Society Hill folks should hire social workers and psychiatrists to patrol their 'hood.
Tangible ''progress''? The Frank Rizzo Statue and Italian Market Mural are gone...now that's real tangible social progress...after threats of white progressive violence on behalf of the helpless black community.
Yes, familiar with the term ''guardian'' related to minors. Guardians are appointed by the courts. You only referenced ''guardians'' being held responsible for minors actions as if there are no parent/s.
The US has an outsized prison population relative to other countries most recently due to the 1994 Crime Bill that created what is now known as the ''mass incarceration crisis'' and continues to undercut this alleged ''criminal reform'' movement.
Ah yes, the ''Violent Crime Control Act and Law Enforcement Act of 1994" proudly pushed by Hillary 'Super Predator'' Clinton and Joe "Never Met an Anti-Crime Bill I Didn't Like" Biden...at least until 2020.
Many criminal justice reform movements seeking to change the outsized U.S. prison population need to seek out and confront the leadership who caused it: Hillary Clinton & Joe Biden.
H Clinton & Biden are still very much around today and yet have somehow been disconnected from causing the issue you raise and, specifically, the black male mass incarceration crisis. The latter is what this ''criminal reform'' movement is all about: keeping black males out of prison and, so far, it's really been simply not enforcing the law genrerally and by progressive prosecutors in general.
Changing the laws is the only way to achieve these goals; simply not enforcing and disregarding current laws creates instability in the justice system and the entire country generally.
Then again we're becoming a country of individuals deciding what rules apply to them, disregarding ones they don't like, and having their ''own truth. Or, generally, what used to be called hearing the word ''no''.
Yes, the term can be used as a catch-all for anyone responsible for a minor.
I don't think they (Clinton and Biden) are actually that disconnected from that issue. I've heard plenty of left-of-center people criticize the two for supporting that law. It is high time we confront the issue of mass incarceration, and I am for anyone, regardless of political leanings, who earnestly wants to see an end to the problem.
And to your final point, yes, but we've been a colony/country like that for centuries. Think the Boston Tea Party and the Wild West. Today, people of all political persuasions are guilty of what you speak about.
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