The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it

reply to post by antonia


There sure IS wealth redistribution going on. And at a faster rate than any time in history. It's being redistributed from the middle to the upper classes. Millions of people are losing their homes to foreclosure and the vast majority are not being bought by other middle class people. They're being snapped-up by speculators and developers.

The sad things is we're not doing anything to defend ourselves. The government and the 'system' is entirely there to protect and serve the elite. We're left swinging in the wind. I started this post today in the hopes that people would begi to at least start thinking about standing our shrinking ground. So far, no takers. I guess we'll all just roll over and take it.

tidbit of infomation:

the less the american people make the less the government makes-ie taxes.

the more you make the more the government makes.


earning is down spending is up then tax revenue is down recipe for disaster.


and NO NO NO NO NO NO

the reason jobs are being shifted overseas is its cheaper.

liberal policies+unions+taxes is the pryamid of outsourcing.

noone is gonna stay in business if the cant be profitable thats

cutting taxes is the only way but it alone isnt enough.

limiting unions+cutting taxes+deregualtion is the only way to keep jobs in this country.

unions+taxes+regualtion ARE ALL LIBERAL POLICIES thus the death of this country.

if you look at any major corporation the majority of its operations are over seas for a reason and the reason are those 3 just listed.


and dont even try to pull the "crook" line guess what THERE ARE BIGGER CROOKS ND abusers of the system in social and communist systems. the onyl different is if you catch them they shoot you or jail you- silence you in anyway they can.

[edit on 24-7-2010 by neo96]

Originally posted by neo96
guess what the rich class has been shrinking too and so are corporations.

liberal policies and overtaxation are destroying this country.

Oh so I suppose the cut in taxes for big businesses and the wealthy over the last 40years has been overtaxation right? Incase you were born yesterday, our jobs have been outsourcing since the 80s and it has been steadily growing over years to this point. During that time we have been dramatically cutting taxes for the top earners and businesses in this nation and it has not made a damn difference.

Are you to suggest we start changing our policies and our economy to compete with China? Wonderful idea! We'll just completely remove minimum wage out of the picture and lower the working age. Hows that for competition?? And meanwhile as you would suggest, we will continue to reward big businesses and the wealthy by further cutting their taxes for them to enslave the rest of the population under labour.

in my little world you should be able to keep what you EARN

In man of these Asian, African and latin american countries what a 10 hour labour working day will earn ya is around $20 US. That is apparently what you EARN for your labour in those nations when your labour is 5 to 10 times worth more in the Western world. What you EARN is so often dictated by the elite. It is never FACT. What you EARN from labour, the bulk of it goes right back to the top.


[edit on 24-7-2010 by Southern Guardian]

This is what we get for these absurd "free trade agreements" that only profit corporations and end up costing both nations involved.

I surely did prefer the "fair trade system" that the middle class was protected by. Tariffs and duties and all that.

These FTAs really do let corporations come into virtually any nation and exploit the people and resources to the max, while ruining their ecology, land, and health.

And this has been used against all nations, even China Russia Europe and America are all victims of this economic vampire.

Of course I am going to bring up the WTO, IMF, WB. Those are at the center of all of this.

All of this can be reversed though. We just have to start doing things opposite.

Originally posted by Southern Guardian

Originally posted by neo96
guess what the rich class has been shrinking too and so are corporations.

liberal policies and overtaxation are destroying this country.

Oh so I suppose the cut in taxes for big businesses and the wealthy over the last 40years has been overtaxation right? Incase you were born yesterday, our jobs have been outsourcing since the 80s and it has been steadily growing over years to this point. During that time we have been dramatically cutting taxes for the top earners and businesses in this nation and it has not made a damn difference.

Are you to suggest we start changing our policies and our economy to compete with China? Wonderful idea! We'll just completely remove minimum wage out of the picture and lower the working age. Hows that for competition?? And meanwhile as you would suggest, we will continue to reward big businesses and the wealthy by further cutting their taxes for them to enslave the rest of the population under labour.

in my little world you should be able to keep what you EARN

In man of these Asian, African and latin american countries what a 10 hour labour working day will earn ya is around $20 US. That is apparently what you EARN for your labour in those nations when your labour is 5 to 10 times worth more in the Western world. What you EARN is so often dictated by the elite. It is never FACT. What you EARN from labour, the bulk of it goes right back to the top.


[edit on 24-7-2010 by Southern Guardian]

dude hate those "greedy corporations" all you want the life you lead right now is because of them.

every convience you take for granted is because of them

Originally posted by neo96
dude hate those "greedy corporations" all you want the life you lead right now is because of them.

every convience you take for granted is because of them

Well you said it so plainly yourself right? We need to continue cutting taxes so that these big businesses can stop sending jobs overseas where people work for a fraction of the cost. We need to cut taxes to compete with an individual willing to work for $10 a day in China in a manufacturing plant! Right! Cutting taxes will help us compete against this correct? Seriously?

Thank goodness that those food jobs will not be going anywhere right? Atleast I know that fastfood joint will not be shifted overseas, more jobs for everybody! Work minimum wage at a fast food joint to feed a family. Wonderful!

This article paints a pretty bleak situation, leaving out some of the facts that point out that the situation is not as bad as the article would like to portray, but the situation is bad.

The numbers that I think really give an accurate idea of the situation are these particular numbers.

83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.

In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

Most of this income disparity has occurred since the 1980ties under the con job of the free market. This last round of banking deregulation has allowed the wealthy to fleece the middle class in unprecedented ways.

Something I read, and commented about on another thread awhile back is that even with the wage disparity, the U.S. workers are competitive world wide. U.S. worker productivity remains the best in the world, with the skill levels and the infrastructure, the U.S. attracts more investment from around the world, and more companies are willing to invest in U.S. workers, so our ability to compete isn't the problem.

The article blames the usual culprits, regulations and high U.S. wage rates, but that hasn't been the problem in the past, like in the 90ties, when our economy was booming with more regulations and higher wages.

What is the real problem? For one thing, the cost of exchanging money through our money transfer system, where ATM cards and credits cards are used, is twice the amount of the the rest of the world.

Health care costs, and our nations unreasonably high litigation activity makes doing business in the U.S. unreasonable high, greatly working against U.S. worker competitiveness.

The bigger problem is the widespread corruption in our financial markets. The U.S. financial market takes a huge bit of profits, which is a far greater factor in discouraging investment in the U.S. work force.

While the rest of the world uses their tax dollar to pay for health care, and education, the U.S. uses our tax dollar to play world empire.

If you go to the website which produced this information, they call for deflationary policies. Who pays with deflation? The super rich lose when prices become deflationary, which is why they insist on inflation, which works against the workers, and for the wealthy investor class.

Here is another link to the Yahoo website, which talks more about this situation.

finance.yahoo.com...

try reading all of my posts instead of try to start a fight.

I don't hate corporations.

I just believe WE THE PEOPLE DESERVE a little bit of ownership in them if we break our back our whole lives for them eh???

How is that asking much?

All of these people's hard labor makes billions in profits for the system, why does ONE or TWO GUYS get to keep ALL of it?? When in reality these hard workers CREATED that wealth through their blood sweat and tears?

It ain't right!

derseve ????? thats the biggest problem with the country today

everyone thinks they are owed everything.


there arent one or 2 people who owned everything thats a falsehood..


the reasonS the few people who have money and do own things they work for it
and the invest in their own futures.

really its not easy to become rich its not easy to stay rich
its not easy to build a sucessful company
its not easy to stay one.

they dont sit back and bitch about what they dont have they dont blame other people for having what they do..........

THEY MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.

the current generation of " i want it now" and "THEY OWE ME" and "instant gratifaction" needs to get off their spoiled azzes and WORK FOR IT.

wealth takes time to accumalate yeah sometimes it made over nite but its also lost overnite

reply to post by David9176


Thats part of the grand plan of the illuminati, get rid of the middle class, so that only the 1% super rich Them exists. And the other 99% of the people are the SLAVE class. Which can be used as cannon fodder in all the current wars and future wars. They the elite can sell arms to all sides and get the 99% to fight there wars for them.

They just use there funded media networks to whip up the 99%, appeal to national pride, democracy, freedom, and security. And the 99% that have been programmed since birth eat it up hook, line & sinker.

I always wonder about folks that yell out the NWO stuff. problem is folks its already here, its already worldwide. They the 1% already own everything. WE the 99% are already there slaves.
The elite keep the 99% happy with game shows, reality shows, all manners of sports programs, LIVE Wars on HDTV. And just about every other thing to keep the slaves happy, sedative & ignorant. So they can work all day for money thats actually DEBT. And be good productive slaves.

Hopefully one day the 99% will wake up and do away with the 1%.
course thats probably a pipe dream. The 99% are enjooying the RIDE to much to get off...

Welcome to the real world. Slaves.

I see a lot of people blaming corporations and to a small degree you might be justified. However, corporations have been fleeing this country to increase revenue for shareholders. it is in part the 401K paradox. everyone has stock now, not just the elite. There has to be a return on investment. Low wages aside and the tax burden on business, no one really seems to see that those are not the only reasons. Social Security funding from the employer, payroll taxes, the high cost of workers comp insurance and workers who only want a check and not the gratification of earning a living through hard work. Now add the burden of regulations on each type of industry. the constant form filing for things like payroll taxes and such, OSHA always hovering around even setting standards for home based workers. In the retail sector, the banks siphon off money from the business for credit card use. It should be the card holder paying all the fees. The minimum wage for menial and part-time jobs that require little to no skill.
Now lets thrown in the Obama Health Care plan. That will have an impact on businesses. More forms to file and the need to hire another pencil pusher. Businesses are soon to have to file tax form on receipts between businesses for sales as small as $600 (I think i have that dollar figure correct). this will only serve to push small businesses out of business.

In closing yes big Corps have some responsibility to bear, but a large intrusive and highly regulating government looking only to raise money for foreign intrusions and social benefits has to shoulder the greatest amount of burden. I believe in free trade but not as it is. it was done in a way that opened the doors for our best businesses to leave and import shoddy goods. Free trade should have been done for the people of the world not for corporate profits. So the next time you bash a corporation, remember they had help in greedy politicians/lawyers who could not run a novelty kiosk at your local mall.

apologize for any spelling or grammer errors. was typing as fast as my thoughts were running. Had to shut down a small business because of excessive regulations that ate into any money I made becuae of this economic downturn. Fortunately I had a specific skill that I was able to go back to my former employer and they even let me work from home now. They gave me my seniority back, insurance and all my vacation I had from before. This is a global company. So big corporations are not always the evil slave traders some make them out to be.

reply to post by vtcajun


I also would like to add that since shutting down my business I am still personally paying off my business debts. Not sure how long I can keep it up though. The bank that holds my SBA loan was unwilling to work with me to modify the load in any way whatsoever. When I asked if if I had to get behind to get help, he became speechless. So if anyone needs bashing it is the banks who is nothing more than an extension of the FED. Its funny how everything always comes back to government being involved.

reply to post by neo96


What a bunch of nonsense, like everyone in the U.S. isn't working hard.

Are you aware that the U.S. work force is the most productive and hardest working on the planet. Your claims that everyone else doesn't work as hard is pure nonsensical hypocrisy, and completely ignorant of the facts.

You want to pretend to ignore the widespread corruption in our financial markets, and the fact that deregulation has lead to wide spread confiscation of middle class wealth.

People deserve a reasonable return for their hard work, and that isn't happening anymore. Few of the super rich start any of the large corporations that siphon up our nations wealth. Most of it is going to the finance sector, which does not create the technology, or the wealth. They are giant parasites whose wealth comes from their ability to buy political influence through wealth gained by twisting the rules greatly in the favor of the super rich.

Newly developing businesses have been hit hard by sneaky finance schemes that squeeze all the wealth from the real entrepreneurs. Before deregulation of the finance industry, the wealth of the middle class was growing at strong rates. All the growth was siphoned off by the super wealthy, and that that lead to world wide economy collapse.

Originally posted by poet1b
reply to post by neo96

 

What a bunch of nonsense, like everyone in the U.S. isn't working hard.

Are you aware that the U.S. work force is the most productive and hardest working on the planet. Your claims that everyone else doesn't work as hard is pure nonsensical hypocrisy, and completely ignorant of the facts.

You mean like your post is ignoring the facts?

The US work force isn't the most productive or hardest working on the planet, sorry to burst your bubble. LINK

nonsense? where in any of my posts did i ever say any of the trash you just did?
WHERE????????????

most productive? really? when the us imports more than 80% of goods and services here.


twist my words however you want when people cant argue facts THEY MAKE CRAP UP.

It's interesting that most people think there is a suitable place for them to work in America, but if you really become educated, have a "real education", you find there isn't really suitable space to grow. You can hardly grow within an overall contracting middle class. But that's what the younger generation is facing. Those that went down with the beast were at some height, but now that it's falling the younger folks are trying to climb up a leg

reply to post by crankyoldman


I couldn't agree with you more. I have been thinking/saying this for decades. As a society, we have been fed a false sense of socio-economic mobility, and we have eaten it up like pudding. Problem is, once you are a cog in the machine, it's not quite as easy to (willingly) disengage yourself. And we have been volunteering ourselves as slaves for so long, that when the machine spits us out, we are desperately trying to get back in.

However, because no sham lasts forever, this system can't/won't last much longer, and then (un)fortunately we will really have to be completely self-sustaining -cringe- and return to a much simpler/tougher way of life.

The extreme accumulation of wealth of a few, will prove to be a futile enterprise, as it will then be obvious who the oppressors have been, and I have a feeling, that they will need more of us, than us of them.

reply to post by MrXYZ


Here are the facts put out by a legitimate source.

www.bls.gov...

Changes in unit labor costs can be expressed either in national currency units or in U.S. dollars. Expressed in national currency units, manufacturing unit labor costs increased in all 17 economies in 2008. The increase for the United States and for Taiwan (+1.7 percent) was the second lowest among the economies compared. Expressed in U.S. dollars, manufacturing unit
labor costs increased even more in 14 of the economies, because of the weakening dollar. The U.S. manufacturing sector improved its labor cost competitiveness in 2008 against all economies compared except the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom, where unit labor cost expressed in U.S. dollars declined, because their currencies weakened against the dollar. (See
chart 2.)

Wiki simply isn't reliable as a source.

Here is another link. Note that Luxemborg is a city. Compare one of the U.S. highly productive cities to Luxemborg and see what you get.

www.nationmaster.com...

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Wake up and smell the coffee. You have been fooled, or you are just another propagandist.

i'll take wki over msnbc anyday

and really msnbc is so credible:p




[edit on 24-7-2010 by neo96]