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However, profit margins have gone up like crazy.
The fact that 1/3 of America is receiving some form of government assistance is alarming, but not in the way you are trying to make it. It's alarming to me because it's a sign that Americans are no longer able to take care of themselves despite them having jobs, or performed military service. That our economic system no longer supports a self-sustaining, healthy middle class.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -- John Kenneth Galbraith
Yet the balance of wealth is clearly the other way. The vast majority of wealth is controlled by very small number of people.
In 2010 alone, government at all levels oversaw a transfer of over $2.2 trillion in money, goods and services.
originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: bbracken677
And maybe that's because "conservatives" HAVE more money to donate.
Maybe?
Conservatives are also very active on Wall Street -
people on the dole can't afford to play.
originally posted by: Mirthful Me
109,631,000 Americans lived in households that received benefits from one or more federally funded "means-tested programs" — also known as welfare — as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
...
When those receiving benefits from non-means-tested federal programs — such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and veterans benefits — were added to those taking welfare benefits, it turned out that 153,323,000 people were getting federal benefits of some type at the end of 2012.
www.cnsnews.com...
There's no doubt that this dependent class has done nothing but increase in size since 2012. The only thing that will end this socialist bloat is it's eventual collapse under it's own weight when there are too few people actually working and producing to tax and prop up this horrific blight. This government hand out dependence may ensure socialist victories over the next few election cycles, but may spell the end of our once great republic.
I see little hope of correcting this political malfeasance and saving this great, no, this extraordinary experiment that was ingeniously crafted and corrupted by graft and misguided largesse... The disease is set to run it's course now that critical mass has been reached..
...And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.
If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when....
Nick Hanauer
originally posted by: Iamthatbish
There are cities and counties garemteeing their h.s. graduates a college education for free. That's a damn good start.
When the federal govt was proud to make a profit off of our student loans you should have paid attention.
Education of the people for employment means less need for assisting them later.
originally posted by: Pants3204
originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: Mirthful Me
I strongly disagree. The wealth hoarding of the super-elite is the problem.
Trickle-down Economics DOES NOT WORK.
You all (the rich and laissez-faire fans) broke it? You FIX IT - and stop whining about it.
The wealthy do not "hoard" their wealth. If you think that is truly what happens then maybe that is why you aren't wealthy yourself.
The United States, and many other nations, experienced their most substantial increases in quality of life and personal freedoms under a very limited governmental role.
originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: neo96
You really need to watch the documentary Inequality for All . It sheds some light on the half truths and straight up lies that so many believe. The gap of wealth in the US has been growing for decades, this is a fact.
There is also another thread worth checking out:
Ultra-rich man's letter: "To My Fellow Filthy Rich Americans: The Pitchforks Are Coming"
Keep blaming the poor, that is the trap that has been set. Many of the working class continue to fall for it.
You really need to watch the documentary Inequality for All . I
originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: neo96
The words of the billionaire:
...And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.
If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when....
Nick Hanauer
The very few control the vast majority of wealth in the world, the rest of us are fighting for scraps. This is the reality of our times.
originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: neo96
Way to try to polarize people..."First they say rich people are evil. Then they say we have to listen to what they say." That is not exactly logical reasoning there.
Not everyone who earns a fortune has no morals.