Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In one of his most memorable recent rants, Faber then went to explain what the US [really] needs to do: "I tell you what the US needs. The US needs Lee Kwan Yew [Singapore's first Prime Minister] who stands in front of the US and tells them: Listen you lazy buggers, you have to tighten your belts, you have to save more, work more for lower salaries and only through that will we get out of the current dilemma, that essentially prevents the economy from growing."
Some elite, ass kissing, Wall St insider marc farber - Google Search lecturing Americans who already work some of the longest hours in the Western World that they need to work even more...LOL
Only persons that would vote GOP would be stupid enough to believe that drivel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by padcrasher Sad. I made $9 an hour during the Summer break in the mid 1980s running telephone lines in office buildings. It was a horrible low paying job then. You know what $9 is worth today adjusted for inflation since 1985. $4.42 cents. That same job today would be need to pay $18.50 per hour. If you have no perspective on how things suck..you'll settle for anything. The USA will look like these ghettos in Brazil before people wake up to this right wing propaganda they've been spoon fed for 30 years.
THIS!!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^+100000000
Right on padcrasher!!!!!!!!!
"You know what $9 is worth today adjusted for inflation since 1985. $4.42 cents." Maybe not even that much.
Once again this post is appropriate.
Originally Posted by wawaweewa Just because things were better, doesn't mean they were great. I don't deny that there were folks like yourself. Nevertheless, more opportunity (on average) did exist back then.
During college I worked part time at a warehouse. One of my co workers was a Guyanese who came into the US illegally in '77 or '78 (he later received amnesty under Reagan). He used to tell me how his first job, as an illegal, paid $10.50/hour. In 2006, after he was laid off from a warehouse making 33/hour, we were working for $12/hr. $10.50 in '78 or 12 in 2006. Inflation much?
Originally Posted byworkingclasshero:
it doesnt
its becoming harder to afford many things for all people
a personal example...I make about 3 times what my father made at his highest level...and it is tougher for me to make ends meet that it was for him
look at the price of a car...a midsize chevy (say the nova) in 1970 was $2200.....today a midsize chevy is 20k or more
the value of the dollar is in the toilet
Yep!!!!! And going lower. Wait till QE3 LOL!
Quote: Originally Posted byMircea:
Also the wages aren't there and if you compare that with inflation it just doesn't work.
In 1980, I had an entry level job as a sound engineer with a local independent TV station earning $5.00 per hour.One paycheck paid my rent and utilities and auto insurance and the other 3 paycheckseach month were disposable income.
An entry level job today pays $8.50 to $10 per hour and even at $10 per hour it takes 2 paychecks to cover the cost of rent, utilities and auto insurance (and don't forget in 1980 $10 -- or two hours of work -- paid for 2 tickets to the cinema show, a tank full of gasoline and something to eat after the movie -- the cost of two movie tickets now is over $20).
GuyNTexas says IT ALL Here!!!!
Originally Posted byGuyNTexas:
No. I'm really disagreeing with .. not missing your point. And those numbers don't tell a very accurate story, and the proof is demonstrated by the drop in net worth of middle income earners as their debt has increased significantly, while earnings have declined relative to inflation.
By most measurable data points, the middle income class has been dying a very slow, incremental death for 4 decades because the costs on high ticket items have increased more rapidly than the either the inflation rate or rates of increases in income. To further compound the problem, average income levels have failed to keep pace with the inflation rate itself. Much of this goes unnoticed because of it's slow incremental nature (like growing old). But if you are old enough, and still maintain your mental faculties, you can't be bull $hted into believing what you are trying to say here.
As just one example, in 1977, I bought a brand new Pontiac Trans Am for $5200. And since it was my first car purchase, I suspect I was clubbed like a baby seal (paid full MSRP), as I simply asked how much, and said OK (later I learned the error of this way to purchase automobiles )
Now today, that car is no longer available, but a comparable car "Chevy Camero SS" is. And a similarly configured model is around $35,000 MSRP. Which is almost double the adjusted for inflation number of $18,700 that Camero should cost relative to the $5200 Trans Am of 1977.
My income back then was 14,000 or just shy of 3 times what the car cost ... if you apply that same formula to the $35,000 Camero today, I'd have to earn roughly $100,000 per year to maintain the same standard (drive the same car) as my $14,000 income provided then. I was not wealthy then .. I was a 20 year oldworking in a warehouse driving a forklift. And I don't think there are many 6 figure forklift drivers around today ...I would say, the 40-50K range would be the upper limit ... or roughly the same as my $14,000 would be, adjusted for inflation.
This is one example, and almost any big item ... car, house, etc. works out to be the same. Some other items like Healthcare have dramatically exceeded those rates exponentially compared to 1977 where mine was absolutely free and first rate, including dental.
Now, add to this the higher taxes, social security withholding, and medicare ... all of which have exceeded the inflation rate (and don't let anyone BS you into believing it hasn't), means that the net spending power of your income has declined dramatically over the past 30+ years. (See video below she documents ALL this IN DETAIL)
Now around about that same time frame, my step father worked for one of the US Government agencies earning roughly in the 50-60K range, and at the time, that was very good money, but not even close to RICH & Wealthy .... but adjusted for inflation, that comes out to around $200+K now. The house he purchased then at $50,000 appraised for $480,000 in 2004-5 even though the adjusted for inflation value would have only dictated a $155,000 figure ... 3 times the inflation rate!! By the time he retired in the late 90's, his income may have doubled, yet his house increased by 6-8 fold. What does that tell you?
Now if you are following me here ... this is where it gets real hairy ... if you take a Quarter ... 25 cents ... from say 1964 (the last 90% silver Quarter) that 25 cents equates to $1.76 in 2010 value. But guess what? Today's melt value of that sliver quarter is about $3.70 which is again more than double the published inflation rate ....
So what does that all mean? It means very simply, that the value of your money is worth about half of what it's claimed to be worth, even after being adjusted for inflation .... and all it takes is to actually look at the historical costs of items like cars, and houses and health care costs from the late 60's to today, and also the median incomes. You see that the purchasing power has indeed declined. And this is a result of the devaluation of the currency (a hidden tax).
So when it comes to buying power, there has been a continuous decline that doubles the the inflation rates admitted .. which is why the middle class really doesn't exist for all practical purposes today.
There are the ultra wealthy, and the rest. The $250kers are just at the higher end of that rest of us, and they are the last of the upper middle class, and the next in line to fall ... apparently, much to delight of many who think that they are members of the Wealthy Club, and must fall for the sake of everyone.
I suppose this proves that indeed, misery loves company.
Lee and Faber can both shove their ideas where the sun don't shine. Americans are working more hours for less real income than since before WW2.
Between WW@ and about the mid 1970's industrial productivity was shared with workers as wages pretty well tracked with productivity. Since the mid 70's, wages have remained flat while productivity has nearly tripled. This is reflected in the huge disparity in income between salaried and hourly workers and the investors and managers.
Creating this disparity has been the policy of the owners, and, incidentally, the Republican Party for the last 40 years. It has worked and worked well. Instead of investing their money in wages and more industry in the US they have invested it overseas and in corrupting the government. The latter has earned then far more money and power than the former.
Our economy is suffering from the combination of wasteful debt supported wars, rampant speculation and market manipulation, export of industry and jobs and, most significantly, the stagnation of wages and substituting debt for income in the working and middle classes. Changing from an economy where everyone has a decent income to one where everyone has a huge debt has destroyed our economy and our standard of living. Instead of working less as in the European Union we are working ever harder to pay off the usurers.
We can restore working and middle class prosperity but it will require first disconnecting the death grip the financiers have on our politicians. Even though this would require our Representatives to live on their salaries it has to be done. We can start with electing people that refuse to take financial or corporate money. Then we can institute countervailing tariffs to negate the cost advantage of offshore production. And finally institute an income tax the places the burden of operation and maintaining the country on the people that effectively own it. I suggest a progressive (rising rate) tax with a deductable set at the 90th percentile.
Finally but not least we have to stop our foreign empire and stop borrowing money to protect international oil and financing. We need to withdraw to our own defense and let the rest of the world pay for theirs. We also have to stop protecting American exploitation Central and South America because it costs us far more then it earns.
If we develop the political will to do these things we once again be the envy of the world. But we will have to tell FABER and his buddies that we are tired of working for them and will be working for us.
In one of his most memorable recent rants, Faber then went to explain what the US [really] needs to do: "I tell you what the US needs. The US needs Lee Kwan Yew [Singapore's first Prime Minister] who stands in front of the US and tells them: Listen you lazy buggers, you have to tighten your belts, you have to save more, work more for lower salaries and only through that will we get out of the current dilemma, that essentially prevents the economy from growing."
Marc Faber is a fascist pig. Another elite trying to tell the American people what's good for them and how lazy they are? Meanwhile our f'ing politicians and corporate America are selling out Americans left and right, running roughshod over our entire way of life by putting profits before people. Marc Faber needs to pull his ugly head out of his brown dirty a@#hole and realize that capitalism as he knows it wouldn't even survive without a third world craphole of slave labor. He's just another idiot financial nazi who does nothing but shuffle money around to make more of it. Can't stand idiots like him who live in a wallstreet fantasy.
Some elite, ass kissing, Wall St insider marc farber - Google Search lecturing Americans who already work some of the longest hours in the Western World that they need to work even more...LOL
Only persons that would vote GOP would be stupid enough to believe that drivel.
I know, Farber is likely one of the loons that bemoan that 47% don't pay income taxes. So, his idea is to put more people into that category. Hey, how about 60% not earning enough to pay income taxes?
Should he work less? If he would have worked for half of his salary his employer could have employed more people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
$10.50 in '78 or 12 in 2006. Inflation much?
) 
And I don't think there are many 6 figure forklift drivers around today ...
