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-My first job at age 15 was working 16 hour days over the summer stocking shelves for a local grocer ($5.50 / hr)... I also helped build the store in 100 degree weather
-Next job while in HS was working 5PM - 1AM fridays, 9 - 6 PM saturdays, 9 - 6 PM sundays at a crappy fast food joint... I went to school M - F. ($6 / hr)
-Next job at age 17 was working over-night 12AM - 12PM over the summer unloading trucks and stocking shelves ($7.25 / hr)
-Next job at age 18 after getting my HS degree was working 2 jobs one in the day and one at night, retail and also stocking shelves ($7 / hr)
-Saved money got good grades in HS and got scholarships, went to college, got an engineering degree, worked 2 internships in school making approx. ~($50K/yr)
-Work for a big bad corp making (~$100K/yr first year, $150K/yr second yr, $200K/yr third year)
-Getting MBA to improve myself and my skills... big bad corporation is paying for it... thanks evil corporation
My parents could have paid for me to go to school and I never would have had to do any of this... But why would I want to rely on handouts? I told them I'd take care of my expenses myself, without their help. Life is about working hard and getting ahead-- not complaining.
"Among those paid by the hour, 980,000 earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage in 2009. Nearly 2.6 million had wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 3.6 million workers with wages at or below the minimum made up 4.9 percent of all hourly-paid workers. "
So, only a small percent of the 47% who pay no FIT are making minimum wage. That's not surprising.
I worked hard for every dime I have and now Im forced to put it at risk in investments that are a crap shoot due to reckless Kenyansian economic policies...
I get to pay lots of taxes on it all too...
I "Retired early" now a Mexican does my old job for 1/2 the pay...
Im well prepared for the day the SHTF and If I lost it all I be happy if we started over with a true free society and any taxes there were would be paid by the 100%...
Im the 53%....
Well, no doubt you are angry but your anger is misdirected. One can't blame " Keynesian economics" no more than you blame the law of gravity for your woes. Keynesian economics is a model. Anti-Keynesians assured us that budget deficits would send interest rates soaring; Keynesian analysis said they’d stay low as long as the economy remained far from full employment. Which one was right? Government interest rates are around 2% even though the WSJ editorial pages have been writing for three years that Obama's budget deficits will send rates skyrocketing. They were wrong; Keynesian analysis was right.
There’s plenty of evidence that monetary policy can move output and employment — and it’s very hard to devise a model in which that is true that doesn’t also say that fiscal policy can be effective, especially when you’re up against the zero lower bound.
While we don’t have a lot of postwar experience with fiscal stimulus, we do have a lot of experience with anti-stimulus, that is, austerity — and that turns out to be reliably contractionary. Again, it’s hard to think of a model in which austerity is contractionary but stimulus isn’t expansionary.
So, as models go, Keynesian economics is an accurate model.
On this "53%" nonsense:
The 47% that don't pay income taxes still pay payroll taxes and other taxes. But to address the issue head-on, why should those 47% pay income taxes, since they earn very little money?
That lower 47% own only 2.5% of the nation's wealth and a similar proportion of earned income. Putting all this in perspective, that 47% earn about as much income as the top 400 taxpayers.
This is worth repeating. In terms of income, 150,000,000 of these poor and low-middle income people = 400 really rich people.
If you are interested in raising money, don't go after the crumbs that the 47% of the poorest Americans have. You should be looking at the top 1% whose incomes have risen dramatically. The average income of the top 1% is $1,137,684. Why are you want to squeeze widows, minimum wage employees and others with very little income?
Yes, you are angry but blame 30 years of Reaganomics for the downward plight of the middle-class.
This is worth repeating. In terms of income, 150,000,000 of these poor and low-middle income people = 400 really rich people.
First of all the approximate average income in the US is $31,000. (~50%)
If the average income of the top 1% is $1,137,684 as your chart says... then:
-For every person in the top 1% they make the incomes of 36 people in the bottom 50%.
So I'm not sure how you get that the top 400 (0.0001% of the US population) people make the income of over 150 million people or for the each person in the top they make the incomes of over 375,000 people.
... This data seems kind of dubious and questionable to me.
"Among those paid by the hour, 980,000 earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage in 2009. Nearly 2.6 million had wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 3.6 million workers with wages at or below the minimum made up 4.9 percent of all hourly-paid workers. "
So, only a small percent of the 47% who pay no FIT are making minimum wage. That's not surprising.
Also, many making minimum wage or below are not really. They get tips, so the percent at minimum wage is way below 4.9%.
The industry with the highest proportion of workers with hourly wages at or below the Federal minimum wage was leisure and hospitality (about 21 percent). About one-half of all workers paid at or below the Federal minimum wage were employed in this industry, primarily in the food services and drinking places component. For many of these workers, tips and commissions supplement the hourly wages received.
Jesus said "To whom much is given, much shall be required."
What do you think?
I think he is referring to charity to the poor and not forced government taxation that does things like fund illegal wars.
I went to private,catholic school all my life and my tuition priced in the fact that roughtly one-fourth to one-third of the student body couldn't afford it. That's my kind of socialism.
This is worth repeating. In terms of income, 150,000,000 of these poor and low-middle income people = 400 really rich people.
So what? Why do you care what other people make?
Why should I care that George Soros makes billions? Why should I care that Alec Baldwin makes millions for acting silly? Why should I care that basketball players make millions for playing a game.
I don't care. As long as I have an opportunity to earn a comfortable living, I don't care what billionaires make.
This is complete BS. It is a lame attempt to divide the working people perpetrated by the 1%.
I have not seen the wealthy bastards flood the internet with so much propaganda since 2008.
They must really be sweating.
The system of wage slavery is being rejected. Working people are tired of living on the edge and watching the fruit of their labor go to fat assed suits.
When the lifestyle of unemployment, is the same as working, people will take the free money.
The 1% have screwed the pooch, and now they are going to pay the price.
Stay focused people; do not let the propaganda distract you from what is real. The working people deserve an economy where it is possible to get ahead. That has been robbed from them and only the willingness to fight will earn it back.
Listen, many get what you are trying to achieve, many never will. I agree that corporations need to pay their share of taxes, but we must also take away the incentive to do business outside of the US. Both government and corporations are culpable.
We must also rid our society of living off of the system. Our welfare structure was never meant to be a lifestyle, only a safety net for those truly in need. Stop incenting people to game the system.
We need to regulate our healthcare providers and insurance companies. We also need tort reform regarding frivolous lawsuits.
For those who still can't get on board with how this country is run and has always run, and I mean this sincerely, move to a country that is governed more in line with your beliefs. No one is holding anyone back. With the help of slick Willie, we now have a global society, feel free to use it.
Now, people should stop their bitching and get out and make something happen for themselves.
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Im the 53%
