It's like people never get a fucking clue what has happened over the past three, three-and-a-half decades. They act like the jobs "crisis" is anything new. Well, what the fuck did they expect? They kept voting GOP election after election, while the neoliberal economic policies they espoused was screwing these people over and over and over.
I really don't give a shit about them anymore, especially the white dudes who thought they were owed "family wage" jobs when they graduated out of high school. Now they actually have to get off their asses and work to make themselves employable. Now if the younger ones would lay off the porn and video games and actually do something, they might have less to complain about. Other people, meaning other workers, are not profiting off their misfortune. Only the economic elite are.
The "middle class" has long since been "hollowed out." There is NO return of "family wage" jobs which were entirely sexist and discriminatory.
The fact is the Democrats can't do squat about the aggrieved white dudes. They simply need to fortify support among their base and go after the non-voters.
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts
Stating the Obvious
I don't need articles like this one telling me what I have long known about our economy.
The system is rigged so that women have to avail to the marriage racket. Women are underpaid on purpose in order to force them into economic dependence on men and men get sexual access and free domestic labor in return. This is why women make up by far the biggest group of poor people. Marriage is the major means of upward mobility for women, and our society doesn't question it at all.
I don't need to read a book trying to explain the obvious. Second-wave feminists heavily criticized the "family wage" system pushed by unions and churches like the Catholic church because women not only were kept out of fields dominated by men, but the work that they did do was completely denigrated in pay.
This is why "equal pay for equal work" doesn't truly address the issue because men's pay has always been inflated thanks to the "family wage" concept that still influences our economy despite the fact fewer and fewer jobs pay "family wages." Most "male jobs" should pay little more than minimum wage.
The system is rigged so that women have to avail to the marriage racket. Women are underpaid on purpose in order to force them into economic dependence on men and men get sexual access and free domestic labor in return. This is why women make up by far the biggest group of poor people. Marriage is the major means of upward mobility for women, and our society doesn't question it at all.
I don't need to read a book trying to explain the obvious. Second-wave feminists heavily criticized the "family wage" system pushed by unions and churches like the Catholic church because women not only were kept out of fields dominated by men, but the work that they did do was completely denigrated in pay.
This is why "equal pay for equal work" doesn't truly address the issue because men's pay has always been inflated thanks to the "family wage" concept that still influences our economy despite the fact fewer and fewer jobs pay "family wages." Most "male jobs" should pay little more than minimum wage.
Cry Me a River
Since men are all butt hurt because they aren't making the money they used to and refuse to do the "drudge work" of child care and housework if they have wives, women in the Rust Belt are left to pick up the pieces.
"Automation" has little to do with it. This is a direct result of trade policies and other neolib policies in D.C. that have been designed to destroy living standards. There is NO "rise" of women--it is all decline of men's economic fortunes thanks to those policies. Now everybody but the tiny economic elite face a lifetime of poverty.
Yet most of these men vote GOP.
Fortunately I am at the age where I don't care one way or the other about men. Most of the men in my age bracket are now retired, something I cannot ever afford to do.
This pattern of men leaving the labor force is also happening nationwide. “There is no doubt that men are working much less during the 2000s, and it doesn’t look like it’s a cyclical pattern as much as it is structural,” said Erik Hurst, an economist at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. His research suggests that men aged 21 to 30 without a college degree worked 12 percent less in 2015 than they did in 2000, and men aged 31 to 55 worked 8 percent less. Women’s shares were lower: younger women worked 7 percent less, while older women worked four percent less. Much of this decline is not just that all men worked fewer hours, but that a large number of men just stopped working, Hurst said, a trend that he attributed to automation and the disappearance of good jobs. The fraction of men who say they had worked zero hours over the past year has skyrocketed since 2000, he found. As they drop out of the labor force, men depend on family members and partners more, in some cases quite a lot. About 70 percent of non-working men ages 21 to 30 live with a parent or close relative other than a spouse, according to the Hurst data; 20 percent live with a spouse or with friends.
"Automation" has little to do with it. This is a direct result of trade policies and other neolib policies in D.C. that have been designed to destroy living standards. There is NO "rise" of women--it is all decline of men's economic fortunes thanks to those policies. Now everybody but the tiny economic elite face a lifetime of poverty.
Yet most of these men vote GOP.
Fortunately I am at the age where I don't care one way or the other about men. Most of the men in my age bracket are now retired, something I cannot ever afford to do.
He Should Try Southern Oregon
Believe me, there are many worse places to be than in Reno. It is fairly expensive and the wages suck thanks to "right-to-work," but there are much more expensive areas. I miss the high desert. I had to move back to Oregon seven years ago after 26 years in Nevada and I have NEVER gotten used to the Oregon cold. Plus it is much more difficult to find work in order to be able to survive up here in the southern end of the state.
The fog and rain are what are the killers to me. When there was all that snow early in January, it wasn't nearly as hard on me than the goddamned fog.
No wonder I left the first time, but I had no choice but to move back.
The fog and rain are what are the killers to me. When there was all that snow early in January, it wasn't nearly as hard on me than the goddamned fog.
No wonder I left the first time, but I had no choice but to move back.
Cry Me a Goddamned River
Lots and lots of ignorant people keep voting against their economic interests. Trump and the GOP are going to do anything to help them? How stupid can they get? These white dudes are a bunch of sexist, racist jerks who think they deserve the best jobs just because they are white males. They can't be reached, so Dems need to just not bother with them. These guys keep voting the wrong way decade after decade. Let 'em wither and die. I stopped feeling sorry for them years ago because these morons or their fathers or grandfathers voted for Reagan, whose policies began the wholesale destruction of living standards.
If they are that dumb after thirty-five years not to understand what happened to this country, that it isn't the fault of immigrants (legal and illegal), women, and minorities their living standards have plummeted, then they are beyond hope. They are willfully stupid.
The only way these white dudes will ever come around is if we have another Great Depression. It has to be that bad for any sense at all to be knocked into their stupid heads.
More Democratic Party blaming them for not "communicating" with idiots who will NOT listen is here.
If they are that dumb after thirty-five years not to understand what happened to this country, that it isn't the fault of immigrants (legal and illegal), women, and minorities their living standards have plummeted, then they are beyond hope. They are willfully stupid.
The only way these white dudes will ever come around is if we have another Great Depression. It has to be that bad for any sense at all to be knocked into their stupid heads.
More Democratic Party blaming them for not "communicating" with idiots who will NOT listen is here.
This Is My Situation Exactly
It doesn't take much, folks, to wind up like this woman, working until she is close to 80 years old.
A lot of people in this world have no clue what it is like to be a single woman over 60. It is basically a ticket to poverty to not have that working spouse.
She has more than I am going to get, since I am being fucked over because I have a tiny pension of $312 a month. See, I am subject to the terrible WEP because I worked in Nevada public employment.
My Social Security, while I will be forced to take next year, will be only about $725 a month. I will have to continue to work until I can't do it anymore.
The only way I won't collect SS at 62 is if I work full time, but that is a pipe dream at my age.
It took me FOUR goddamned years to get the classified, no benefits except PERS, school district job.
But see, it's her own goddamned fault, not the system that is rigged largely against single women and of people who have the unmitigated nerve to be over 55. She should have stayed married and would have had a secure future instead of wanting to be independent.
At least at one time she owned her own place. I doubt that is going to happen to me.
A lot of people in this world have no clue what it is like to be a single woman over 60. It is basically a ticket to poverty to not have that working spouse.
She has more than I am going to get, since I am being fucked over because I have a tiny pension of $312 a month. See, I am subject to the terrible WEP because I worked in Nevada public employment.
My Social Security, while I will be forced to take next year, will be only about $725 a month. I will have to continue to work until I can't do it anymore.
The only way I won't collect SS at 62 is if I work full time, but that is a pipe dream at my age.
It took me FOUR goddamned years to get the classified, no benefits except PERS, school district job.
Nearing 80, she suffers daily aches and pains — leg cramps and arthritis and weakness from low blood sugar. Big Foot has its own problems: The roof leaks, so do the pipes beneath the sink. The water pump feeding the shower and sink is failing. “One of us is going to give out first,” Westfall said with a laugh. “It’s either me or Big Foot.”
She avoided disaster after the prime rib dinner by persuading the insurance company to space out her payment in installments. But then that same month, she was caught driving 43 mph in a 35-mph zone. The ticket: $300.
“I could just cry,” she wrote in her journal. “I won’t have earned $300 in all of May. If I can get it lowered to $150, it will still be more than my entire grocery budget. Don’t know how I’m going to manage it.”
But see, it's her own goddamned fault, not the system that is rigged largely against single women and of people who have the unmitigated nerve to be over 55. She should have stayed married and would have had a secure future instead of wanting to be independent.
At least at one time she owned her own place. I doubt that is going to happen to me.
The Clueless Always Have Something To Say To the Struggling,
when they really need to shut up.
I have had all but the last one told to me over the years. I have compromised enough in this shitty economy and will probably NEVER be able to retire.
I am hardly making it at all now. It is literally nickel and diming with me.
I have had all but the last one told to me over the years. I have compromised enough in this shitty economy and will probably NEVER be able to retire.
I am hardly making it at all now. It is literally nickel and diming with me.
It's Always Been About Class, Not Race
Race is important, but people everywhere in the country are reaching a breaking point, as I have written before, as their living standards have deteriorated as a result of deliberate federal policy.
Protests of rogue cops killing people are just protests against a much bigger sickness. Contrary to what (likely future president) Hillary Clinton says, these are not matters of race and justice.
Entire urban areas have been hollowed out to be pilfered by the elites. The fact that many of these cities have large populations of African Americans and other minorities only means that the elites pilfering those cities are just using those as test cases or guinea pigs before going after all major cities to destroy them for profit.
What most people still haven't figured out is the elites have been waging a thirty-year class war on the rest of us. I have been talking about this for years, ever since there was a movement afoot to export decent jobs to third world countries.
The neolibs running the government are still happily peddling dismantling public schools and pushing through more ruinous trade agreements like TPP.
They WANT massive poverty so they and their backers can have more.
I have said I give the U.S. about a decade before the shit really hits the fan. A country that hollows out its middle class and has a massive number of poor and a tiny number of rich cannot survive long.
Protests of rogue cops killing people are just protests against a much bigger sickness. Contrary to what (likely future president) Hillary Clinton says, these are not matters of race and justice.
Entire urban areas have been hollowed out to be pilfered by the elites. The fact that many of these cities have large populations of African Americans and other minorities only means that the elites pilfering those cities are just using those as test cases or guinea pigs before going after all major cities to destroy them for profit.
What most people still haven't figured out is the elites have been waging a thirty-year class war on the rest of us. I have been talking about this for years, ever since there was a movement afoot to export decent jobs to third world countries.
The neolibs running the government are still happily peddling dismantling public schools and pushing through more ruinous trade agreements like TPP.
They WANT massive poverty so they and their backers can have more.
I have said I give the U.S. about a decade before the shit really hits the fan. A country that hollows out its middle class and has a massive number of poor and a tiny number of rich cannot survive long.
Video of Thomas Picketty
This is a recent interview with French author/economist Thomas Picketty discussing income and wealth. You have to listen carefully because he has a thick accent.
His last name is pronounced "PICKET-ey," but then the French are known to violate phonetic rules. That's why I never bothered to take French because unlike Spanish and other languages, what you see printed is not how it is pronounced. It's worse even than English. It drives me up the goddamned wall.
I know it could be worse. It could be Russian or Chinese, but it's bad enough.
He makes a lot of good points. I haven't read his book yet, but from what I know he tends to be more pessimistic than he needs to be. Furthermore, it appears some of what he says doesn't really apply to the United States. In other words, we KNOW what works in this country because it was done before after the war and was not a result of it. To paraphrase Robert Reich, we had strong labor unions, strong regulations of businesses, and high taxes on the very rich. That had nothing whatsoever to do with World War II; it was a result of deliberate federal policies that redistributed wealth more equitably and thus was great prosperity in the country. This got changed thanks to the influence of the insane neoliberalism from the Chicago School that began in the late 1970s. Our country has been on the road to ruin ever since.
A lot of Picketty's problem, and it isn't his fault, is that he was born too late (in 1971) to have meaningfully experienced how things were, and he didn't live in this country to experience firsthand the U.S. economy during the postwar years. It wasn't a fluke but a result of deliberate federal policy.
His last name is pronounced "PICKET-ey," but then the French are known to violate phonetic rules. That's why I never bothered to take French because unlike Spanish and other languages, what you see printed is not how it is pronounced. It's worse even than English. It drives me up the goddamned wall.
I know it could be worse. It could be Russian or Chinese, but it's bad enough.
He makes a lot of good points. I haven't read his book yet, but from what I know he tends to be more pessimistic than he needs to be. Furthermore, it appears some of what he says doesn't really apply to the United States. In other words, we KNOW what works in this country because it was done before after the war and was not a result of it. To paraphrase Robert Reich, we had strong labor unions, strong regulations of businesses, and high taxes on the very rich. That had nothing whatsoever to do with World War II; it was a result of deliberate federal policies that redistributed wealth more equitably and thus was great prosperity in the country. This got changed thanks to the influence of the insane neoliberalism from the Chicago School that began in the late 1970s. Our country has been on the road to ruin ever since.
A lot of Picketty's problem, and it isn't his fault, is that he was born too late (in 1971) to have meaningfully experienced how things were, and he didn't live in this country to experience firsthand the U.S. economy during the postwar years. It wasn't a fluke but a result of deliberate federal policy.
The Awful Economy
Instead of a post ranting about how rigged the entire political process is for the billionaires/banksters, here are a couple of articles saying the same thing, thus saving me keystrokes:
Paul Krugman says, in a polite way, of course, it's the oligarchs, stupid.
I happen to like Pope Francis; he tells it like it is.
Paul Krugman says, in a polite way, of course, it's the oligarchs, stupid.
I happen to like Pope Francis; he tells it like it is.
The Rich: Tax Them or Eat Them
For this country to survive, thirty years of neoliberalism needs to be thrown into the garbage can where it belongs.
A mixed economy is the only thing that works for the greatest number of people. It isn't the "natural order of things" for a handful of parasites at the top to have everything while everybody else is destitute.
Start with a return of the 90-percent tax rate. If these dirtbags threaten to leave the country, tax them wherever they go.
A mixed economy is the only thing that works for the greatest number of people. It isn't the "natural order of things" for a handful of parasites at the top to have everything while everybody else is destitute.
Start with a return of the 90-percent tax rate. If these dirtbags threaten to leave the country, tax them wherever they go.
There is NO Such Thing as "Free Trade"
"Free trade" doesn't work, and Obama is a lying, neoliberal shill. It's just a race to the bottom.
Everybody else has "protectionist" policies while our stupid-assed country and its politicians keep giving away the store here.
I am sick of this bullshit. Repeal ALL of the ruinous trade agreements of the past 30 years and bring back tariffs.
While they're at it, bring back 1950s tax rates on the richest people.
_____
Everybody else has "protectionist" policies while our stupid-assed country and its politicians keep giving away the store here.
I am sick of this bullshit. Repeal ALL of the ruinous trade agreements of the past 30 years and bring back tariffs.
While they're at it, bring back 1950s tax rates on the richest people.
_____
They Have Way Too Much Money, That's the Problem
There is no use trying to sugarcoat what is wrong with these billionaires and near-billionaires. They didn't get to where they are because they are more talented or more deserving than the rest of us. They just know how to game the system better than the rest of us. They can afford the armies of lawyers and accountants to game the system. They also can buy the politicians to carry out every single whim. And THAT is disastrous for the rest of us. These filthy rich do not know what's best for this country; virtually everything they and their fake think tanks and fake media and fake politicians propose is bad for the country.
When people have that much money, they get screwed up mentally. They get an entitlement mentality that they really ARE better than everybody else. However, to paraphrase what Clark Gable once said about acting and fame, they eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom like everybody else. There's nothing inherently special about these people; however THEY think they are special, and they want to make sure they keep exclusive club of specialness away from the riffraff, meaning the rest of us. They will destroy unions, demonize the poor and starve them, destroy the education system, and do everything else in their power to make sure the masses NEVER rise from what these sociopaths think is their lot in life.
The most dangerous billionaires of all are Bill Gates and Peter J. Peterson because they literally own the White House and control policy. Peterson is the one behind Obama's austerity shit that he attempted with Social Security and Medicare before Obama gave up on it, and Gates, well, he's just even more evil with his attempt to circumvent the law and destroy the public education system in this country for his own ends.
The Kochs are seditious bastards who should be locked up and their assets seized, but they are easy targets because they are so batshit crazy. Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and others are much worse because they appear to be so benign. They are as benign as cancerous tumors.
When people have that much money, they get screwed up mentally. They get an entitlement mentality that they really ARE better than everybody else. However, to paraphrase what Clark Gable once said about acting and fame, they eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom like everybody else. There's nothing inherently special about these people; however THEY think they are special, and they want to make sure they keep exclusive club of specialness away from the riffraff, meaning the rest of us. They will destroy unions, demonize the poor and starve them, destroy the education system, and do everything else in their power to make sure the masses NEVER rise from what these sociopaths think is their lot in life.
The most dangerous billionaires of all are Bill Gates and Peter J. Peterson because they literally own the White House and control policy. Peterson is the one behind Obama's austerity shit that he attempted with Social Security and Medicare before Obama gave up on it, and Gates, well, he's just even more evil with his attempt to circumvent the law and destroy the public education system in this country for his own ends.
The Kochs are seditious bastards who should be locked up and their assets seized, but they are easy targets because they are so batshit crazy. Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and others are much worse because they appear to be so benign. They are as benign as cancerous tumors.
The American People Are Being Played Like a Stradivarius
I just about blew a gasket when I read this. You find this sideshow crap going on all over the country.
When I see stupid "issues" like these being bandied about, I am asking myself what ELSE are the elites trying to pull in D.C. and in the state legislatures?
These are completely unimportant "issues" that are designed to distract the masses from what is REALLY going on, and that is the complete dismantling of public institutions for private gain, ruinous trade agreements, attempts to destroy public pensions and Social Security so the Wall Street crooks can gamble it all away, complete indifference by D.C. politicians to job creation and to unemployment, destroying public education and limiting educational opportunity for the masses, destruction of the right to organize, efforts to further erode and destroy the middle class, and related issues. The poison of neoliberalism/economic libertarianism is THE issue of our time, and our country is literally on the ropes. But hey, focus on non-issues like pot, like gay marriage, like abortion, like illegal immigration so the billionaires/hedge fund crooks/neoliberal policymakers-politicians can further steal from you. They are just laughing at how utterly stupid and easily distracted the 99.9999-percent of the American people are. If we don't reverse course in this country, we will wind up living in a third world country in just a few years.
This isn't conspiracy thinking or delusion--this is FACT if you bother to even look around you. The American people have been played like a Stradivarius for over 30 years thinking "government" is the enemy, "unions" are the enemy, public sector employees are the enemy, and all of the phony baloney divide-and-conquer garbage while the elites and their puppets in D.C. continue to run roughshod over us.
The truth of the matter is there are NO meaningful political divisions in this country anymore. It isn't about "left-right," "liberal-conservative," "Democratic-Republican" anymore; this is about blatant class warfare by the few against everybody else, and that few will not be happy until they own everything except perhaps the shirts on everybody else's backs.
When I see stupid "issues" like these being bandied about, I am asking myself what ELSE are the elites trying to pull in D.C. and in the state legislatures?
These are completely unimportant "issues" that are designed to distract the masses from what is REALLY going on, and that is the complete dismantling of public institutions for private gain, ruinous trade agreements, attempts to destroy public pensions and Social Security so the Wall Street crooks can gamble it all away, complete indifference by D.C. politicians to job creation and to unemployment, destroying public education and limiting educational opportunity for the masses, destruction of the right to organize, efforts to further erode and destroy the middle class, and related issues. The poison of neoliberalism/economic libertarianism is THE issue of our time, and our country is literally on the ropes. But hey, focus on non-issues like pot, like gay marriage, like abortion, like illegal immigration so the billionaires/hedge fund crooks/neoliberal policymakers-politicians can further steal from you. They are just laughing at how utterly stupid and easily distracted the 99.9999-percent of the American people are. If we don't reverse course in this country, we will wind up living in a third world country in just a few years.
This isn't conspiracy thinking or delusion--this is FACT if you bother to even look around you. The American people have been played like a Stradivarius for over 30 years thinking "government" is the enemy, "unions" are the enemy, public sector employees are the enemy, and all of the phony baloney divide-and-conquer garbage while the elites and their puppets in D.C. continue to run roughshod over us.
The truth of the matter is there are NO meaningful political divisions in this country anymore. It isn't about "left-right," "liberal-conservative," "Democratic-Republican" anymore; this is about blatant class warfare by the few against everybody else, and that few will not be happy until they own everything except perhaps the shirts on everybody else's backs.
Why Our Country Is So Effed Up
All you have to do is look at this to know something is horribly screwed up.
The parasites at the top are doing better than ever. When you realize money is a finite resource, that money "they" earned had to come from someplace.
I think we know just WHERE it is coming from.
On a related note and from the same site, it appears it is getting more and more difficult to find full-time employment anymore.
The parasites at the top are doing better than ever. When you realize money is a finite resource, that money "they" earned had to come from someplace.
I think we know just WHERE it is coming from.
On a related note and from the same site, it appears it is getting more and more difficult to find full-time employment anymore.
Parasitism
The country will DIE if the tax laws and trade policies are NOT reversed back to pre-1970s levels. It is dying now, and that is because the parasites at the top have succeeded in brainwashing the American people that handing more of the people's money to these sociopathic parasites is in their best interests.
Of course as the middle class is hollowed out, businesses will die, which creates more poverty, which creates fewer jobs because there is no demand, while the fucking billionaires and Wall Street crooks and their henchmen in D.C. and in the statehouses find new, more inventive ways to fuck over the American people. Right now, thanks to "Democrats" in D.C. giving the green light, they are going after public education to rip taxpayers off to enrich themselves. They are also going after public employees in general and public pensions in particular in order to rip people off and gamble it all on Wall Street. In other words, they want to sell off public assets by creating a false "crisis" to enrich themselves even more.
It is inevitable there will be revolution if this isn't stopped, and billionaires and Wall Street crooks will be rounded up by desperate people and murdered. Unfettered greed cannot continue. It is practically a law of nature that you cannot continue to steal and steal and steal and there be no consequences for your actions.
It's like we have this same goddamned situation every century. As generations who went through financial hardship through depressions die off, their children and grandchildren, spoiled rotten as they are, have NO frame of reference in which to base their voting decisions. They become very easily conned by the elite of the top one percent to hand their hard-earned money over to these elites, using politicians to take away regulations that were there to prevent revolutions by the masses and preserve capitalism, shifting the tax burden on the masses so these criminals can have more, and cramming a phony ideology (neoliberalism) on the masses via the media and "think tanks" they own to justify the thievery.
It's sickening.
Bring back the 90-percent tax rate on the rich, institute a wealth tax, repeal the trade policies of the past thirty years and institute stiff tariffs, and watch the economy roar back with a vengeance.
But we can't have that, can we? Our "betters" won't allow it.
Of course as the middle class is hollowed out, businesses will die, which creates more poverty, which creates fewer jobs because there is no demand, while the fucking billionaires and Wall Street crooks and their henchmen in D.C. and in the statehouses find new, more inventive ways to fuck over the American people. Right now, thanks to "Democrats" in D.C. giving the green light, they are going after public education to rip taxpayers off to enrich themselves. They are also going after public employees in general and public pensions in particular in order to rip people off and gamble it all on Wall Street. In other words, they want to sell off public assets by creating a false "crisis" to enrich themselves even more.
It is inevitable there will be revolution if this isn't stopped, and billionaires and Wall Street crooks will be rounded up by desperate people and murdered. Unfettered greed cannot continue. It is practically a law of nature that you cannot continue to steal and steal and steal and there be no consequences for your actions.
It's like we have this same goddamned situation every century. As generations who went through financial hardship through depressions die off, their children and grandchildren, spoiled rotten as they are, have NO frame of reference in which to base their voting decisions. They become very easily conned by the elite of the top one percent to hand their hard-earned money over to these elites, using politicians to take away regulations that were there to prevent revolutions by the masses and preserve capitalism, shifting the tax burden on the masses so these criminals can have more, and cramming a phony ideology (neoliberalism) on the masses via the media and "think tanks" they own to justify the thievery.
It's sickening.
While spending among the most affluent consumers has managed to propel the economy forward, the sharpening divide is worrying, Mr. Fazzari said.
“It’s going to be hard to maintain strong economic growth with such a large proportion of the population falling behind,” he said. “We might be able to muddle along — but can we really recover?”
Mr. Fazzari also said that depending on a relatively small but affluent slice of the population to drive demand makes the economy more volatile, because this group does more discretionary spending that can rise and fall with the stock market, or track seesawing housing prices. The run-up on Wall Street in recent years has only heightened these trends, said Guy Berger, an economist at RBS, who estimates that 50 percent of Americans have no effective participation in the surging stock market, even counting retirement accounts.
Bring back the 90-percent tax rate on the rich, institute a wealth tax, repeal the trade policies of the past thirty years and institute stiff tariffs, and watch the economy roar back with a vengeance.
But we can't have that, can we? Our "betters" won't allow it.
There's a Problem
When one says it has to take the anger of the middle class to change things around, there has to be a middle class LEFT in order to get angry.
The "middle class" or "working class" or whatever you call it has been hollowed out to the point there are fewer and fewer people left in it. You can thank Washington tax and economic policies which have created such an outrageous inequality of income.
Reich knows that without that outrage, revolution is sure to follow:
The "middle class" or "working class" or whatever you call it has been hollowed out to the point there are fewer and fewer people left in it. You can thank Washington tax and economic policies which have created such an outrageous inequality of income.
Reich knows that without that outrage, revolution is sure to follow:
But it’s more likely they merely allowed all this to unfold, like a giant wet blanket over the outrage and indignation most Americans feel but don’t express.
Change is coming anyway. We cannot abide an ever-greater share of the nation’s income and wealth going to the top while median household incomes continue too drop, one out of five of our children living in dire poverty, and big money taking over our democracy.
At some point, working people, students, and the broad public will have had enough. They will reclaim our economy and our democracy. This has been the central lesson of American history.
Reform is less risky than revolution, but the longer we wait the more likely it will be the latter.
The Globalists Must Be Jumping for Joy
because things are so bad in the United States now, the "drybacks" from the Rust Belt and other depressed parts of the country are canoeing across the Rio Grande into Mexico, now that the country's economy is improving a great deal. That is if immigrants from the United States, legal or not, don't get stuck in the middle of drug wars and murders for a shot (no pun intended) at a better life.
Of course many of the immigrants going to Mexico were from the country in the first place and decided to return.
It's all a race to the bottom, and the neolibs just LOVE this shit since they aren't affected in any way possible.
Of course many of the immigrants going to Mexico were from the country in the first place and decided to return.
It's all a race to the bottom, and the neolibs just LOVE this shit since they aren't affected in any way possible.
None Dare Call It Gangsterism
This country is completely, and totally screwed up when you have a handful of filthy rich people whose combined wealth is greater the the GNP of entire countries and a massive number of people on the brink of destitution.
This is entirely the fault of Washington politicians who, over a period of thirty years, have deliberately screwed over the American people in an attempt to repeal the twentieth and now twenty-first centuries.
It's nothing but gangsterism, pure and simple.
_____
This is entirely the fault of Washington politicians who, over a period of thirty years, have deliberately screwed over the American people in an attempt to repeal the twentieth and now twenty-first centuries.
It's nothing but gangsterism, pure and simple.
_____
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Crater Lake National Park Photos 1
Here are a few pictures I took at Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon today, including a couple of them from the historic lodge:
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