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This unbelievable video just made the front page of AOL.com

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posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 06:45 PM
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reply to post by NorEaster
 


I saw that last night on reddit. Many of the people had serious issues with the numbers. I'll have to go find it, but it appeared after much debate to skewed.

Oh, and AOL is still around?



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 06:47 PM
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Originally posted by MystikMushroom
reply to post by NorEaster
 


I saw that last night on reddit. Many of the people had serious issues with the numbers. I'll have to go find it, but it appeared after much debate to skewed.

Oh, and AOL is still around?


By all means, please correct the stats. Like I told that happy guy, I'd love to see the corrected numbers.

And the article was on DailyFinance.com. AOL is just a content conduit.
edit on 3/4/2013 by NorEaster because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 06:48 PM
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reply to post by dothedew
 


I think the best thing we could do to the ultra-rich is to make them live on $50,000 a year gross, then take the normal taxes out, and make them live on $36,000 a year - give them a 30 year mortgage on a 3 bedroom 1 bath ranch house, and make them shop at wal mart for all their basic necesseties.

And they're "luxuries" can be had through the disposable income they have left.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 06:51 PM
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Horrible, I can see Australia slowly following this pattern too.

I'm honestly starting to think that there should be a 500k or 1mil salary cap for every individual person, anyone who makes more then that can not justify it....

I mean seriously who works hard enough that you can say oh hey lets give them $5000 per hour???? Like really wtf can justify that other then pure greed. But sadly this is how it all is now, some people out there in positions where they can pay themself whatever value they choose without consequence.

Salary CAP would solve a lot of those problems.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 06:53 PM
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It is scary and disgusting info by all means.

What was china's actual distribution during/after Mao? Russia's actual distribution during/after Stalin?

I have nothing against communism. On paper it would make the world a much better place. You simply have to change every social dynamic of mankind in order to make it work.

The information on actual wealth distribution under attempted communist regimes is difficult to find. Wonder why that is?



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 06:59 PM
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reply to post by SneakyStyle
 


People are paid according to standards on what they earn a company. A janitor sweeps a floor (required but not essential for profit), a line worker manufactures a product (required and essential for profit), a CEO makes decisions that will make or break a corporation. Each has a place and each is paid.

Should a guy making hotdogs make the same as a guy designing aircraft? They both work the same hours, how do you justify not paying them the same.

When you make a maximum income will you also have a minimum? How long will that system work in your mind? People making the maximum will rotate through jobs (limiting continuity) and MANY will find a way to sleep all day and live off the free minimum salary.


+4 more 
posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:01 PM
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I have been far too busy trying to scrape up enough to retire some day to think much about how wealth is distributed but since 9-11-2001, I have been paying much more close attention to the 1% and their rising wealth while everything else collapses around us. Why is it so hard to find a job that pays anything while executives get bonus pay for shipping American jobs overseas? That basic inequity was created by government so I can see no way for those institutions to actually fix the problem. Every time the government has signed some free trade agreement it screwed American workers and small business people. It lined the pockets of the wealth 1% but damned the USA to third world status in the very near future.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:06 PM
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Originally posted by MasterOfTheDamned

Originally posted by HTUKno1
If you weren't previously aware to the scale of the problem, that video may well be a serious slap to the face.

Thanks for posting


Actually I was under the impression that I had a fairly decent idea as to the scale of the problem.

And yet this vid was a major slap to the face, I'm currently looking for a job and might have one soon, but after watching this I have lost all ambition to find a job or work hard after getting one. Now I'm going to have to figure out if I want to support the top earners with my hard work, or stay out of the job market all over again as I have already thought about that once. I would almost prefer to just wander the streets eating trash, almost but wouldn't.


Why are those your only options... Now look you are in the right head space and you are dead right but that doesn't mean you have to give up your life like that... Here is another option for you... Chill for a while and think, think about what you love to do and then think about how you can earn just a little money from it, then you keep it! You make sure if someone wants to steal it they take it out of your cold dead hands!

For an example (I know you will not like this btw lol)... Window cleaning! You can make good money and it is low key, no-one hassles you! And window cleaning doesn't help the 1%...

Now if you want to go all out then you start to shop ethically! Research where everything comes from and avoid large chainstores... If a good chunk of people can do this then we'll be onto a winner!


+5 more 
posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:08 PM
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Originally posted by 200Plus
reply to post by SneakyStyle
 



Should a guy making hotdogs make the same as a guy designing aircraft? They both work the same hours, how do you justify not paying them the same.


The top earners won't survive if this system continues now that the Internet can make everyone aware of the fact of just how screwed the hot dog guy (and everyone else that the hot dog guy knows - and everyone that each of them knows) is getting in comparison. If you don't care whether this society survives, then I can't force you to care, but if you do care whether America survives this situation of the average American making so much less than the very people who are trying to convince them to accept a really strict austerity-induced economic recession, then you might want to rethink your position on this.

Then again, maybe you are one of those people who think that raw, unrestricted capitalism and corporate welfare is written into the Constitution. If so, then never mind.



edit on 3/4/2013 by NorEaster because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:09 PM
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Originally posted by Twix404
reply to post by NorEaster
 



Noting that "The top 1 percent own nearly half the country's stocks, bonds, and mutual funds," the video goes on to contrast those impressive holdings with the rest of the country. By comparison, it points out, the bottom 50 percent of earners own only 0.5 percent of those investments.


--From your source.

Great video, I really do hope that people get to see this, thanks a lot for sharing.

Short of eliminating the top 10% I think there are a few answers. As a libertarian my first response is to fix the banks by not helping them when they go broke and by eliminating the federal reserve... I think that there are other things that could be put into place, not to limit freedom but to limit injustice--I think there is more than just a fine line to approach this. It wouldn't be hard to take laws away that punish unique products and "protect" the wealthy, but I would like to see more laws against things like outsourcing which helps no one in America except the very head of certain businesses...

To answer the last part of your post, am I ready for bloodshed? Well, unfortunately, I think there is no other way around this type of situation. The U.S. will need to bleed before it can "heal" and whether that is a literal sense or a metaphorical sense I am not positive...
edit on 4-3-2013 by Twix404 because: (no reason given)


"not to limit freedom but to limit injustice--" now isn't that just the most communist/socialist idea you've every heard. Are you really that deluded to believe that oxymoron, moron being the operative component. You really don't get the utter fallacy of that concept. It is an affront to our constitution and the principles of this country. And BTW that video is self serving tripe concocted into a steaming pile of crap by the obamanuts.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:10 PM
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reply to post by NorEaster
 


It's not that the actual numbers were wrong, it was the way they were presenting it -- give me a bit and I'll see what I can find.

You know the saying, "You can say anything with statistics".

I'm all about taking a harder look at the top 1% -- don't get me wrong! I just want to make sure I'm armed with the best info I can find! I'll get back to you, meanwhille S&F.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:20 PM
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Originally posted by endats01
I have been far too busy trying to scrape up enough to retire some day to think much about how wealth is distributed but since 9-11-2001, I have been paying much more close attention to the 1% and their rising wealth while everything else collapses around us. Why is it so hard to find a job that pays anything while executives get bonus pay for shipping American jobs overseas? That basic inequity was created by government...





...so I can see no way for those institutions to actually fix the problem. Every time the government has signed some free trade agreement it screwed American workers and small business people. It lined the pockets of the wealth 1% but damned the USA to third world status in the very near future.


I'm always amazed when someone flatly hands all the blame over to "the government" and lets Big Corporate Business and the puppet masters on Wall St. (after all, they do insist on double-digit growth every quarter from the firms they invest their billions in) completely off the hook for what they do, and force every other competing company to follow suit with.

Government isn't a big hairy monster. It's us....but only if we give a damn, and pay attention to it as much as the Big Business and wall St. folks do. Sadly, most Americans just don't care to even bother learning about what "government" actually does and doesn't do. For your own edification, "government" didn't cause the shipping of manufacturing jobs overseas with a "free trade agreement". They just didn't jump on Big Business' ass for shipping those jobs overseas when they started shipping them. Big difference. The shipping of those jobs started happening 30+ years ago. Long before any "free trade agreements" were signed.

And that's the problem. Too many people who have no idea what's actually true about this situation, and most of them are "teaching" everyone around them stuff that they, themselves, have no clue about.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:22 PM
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Originally posted by MystikMushroom
reply to post by NorEaster
 


It's not that the actual numbers were wrong, it was the way they were presenting it -- give me a bit and I'll see what I can find.

You know the saying, "You can say anything with statistics".

I'm all about taking a harder look at the top 1% -- don't get me wrong! I just want to make sure I'm armed with the best info I can find! I'll get back to you, meanwhille S&F.



I'd really be interested in the numbers of the top 10%. That seemed pretty alarming, and much more readily "fixable". Hell, the 1% are huddled behind enormous walls and armed security firms. The top 10% have to drive in the same streets as the rest of us. They're available.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:22 PM
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Originally posted by SneakyStyle
Horrible, I can see Australia slowly following this pattern too.

I'm honestly starting to think that there should be a 500k or 1mil salary cap for every individual person, anyone who makes more then that can not justify it....

I mean seriously who works hard enough that you can say oh hey lets give them $5000 per hour???? Like really wtf can justify that other then pure greed. But sadly this is how it all is now, some people out there in positions where they can pay themself whatever value they choose without consequence.

Salary CAP would solve a lot of those problems.


Nah man, it doesn't work like that! The companies are in competition with each other to get what they feel are the best of the best... They are willing to go into bidding wars and head hunting to get who they want and this is where the ridiculous salaries come from...

I do grant you that it is ridiculous but please do not let that distract you from the real problem here! The biggest problem that holds up progress for people is regulation! Could you afford to start a cafe for instance? You need a licence and food hygiene etc you need to pay taxes and rates and all sorts... You have a very slim chance to make it... You have a slim chance to even start!

But imagine with no regulation... You could start a cafe at your house if you liked, you could do whatever you like!

Trouble is when gov starts interfering it just makes things even worse for us! Look what they have done already! They are the ones that gave corporations the same rights as a human! They are the problem... Free trade, voluntary exchanges are never the problem....

Now imagine someone said to you that they are willing to give you a job tomorrow and you will get a million a year! Would you say no? Would you say no sir, I only want 50,000, please give the rest to someone else more worthy... Would you?

All this wealth gap stuff is simply to distract you from the real problem! They are just pointing out the shiny and snickering as everyone turns away and starts going after the rich instead, lol.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:24 PM
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reply to post by NorEaster
 


I don't think welfare of any type is built into the Constitution. I just disagree (on basic principle) with punishing people who strive to improve, while rewarding those who strive to "get over".

I know I sound like a shill, or a 1%, or simply uninformed. Everything I have, I earned. Through my blood, sweat, and tears I have made my way through life. I am in the bottom 2% I am sure. However, I have everything I need and live very well within my means.

People that support wealth re-distribution simply want more than they have without being required to perform more to earn it.

The current President supports this class warfare because he has to pay for his votes. Corporate welfare for campaign funds, and social welfare to pay for votes.

If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you will always have Paul's vote.
edit on 4-3-2013 by 200Plus because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:26 PM
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If you care about money & wealth in the traditional sense of the word, then this will matter to you.

Another point, if the masses realized what those at the top have known for centuries by way of "Secret Societies" and secret handshakes, well then we would have banded together to wash each other's backs long ago. People can not seem to see the form of "SOCIALISM" at the top of the ladder, the interdependence of the extremely wealthy, nor can they see that we are purposely divided in order to obscure this simple truth.

Instead, we have become as selfish as those at the top, yet our impotent rage against them leaves us only immobile and unable to take action. Unions were a good idea, but failed over time...the reasons are many...see above.



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:27 PM
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Originally posted by bladerunner44

"not to limit freedom but to limit injustice--" now isn't that just the most communist/socialist idea you've every heard. Are you really that deluded to believe that oxymoron, moron being the operative component. You really don't get the utter fallacy of that concept. It is an affront to our constitution and the principles of this country. And BTW that video is self serving tripe concocted into a steaming pile of crap by the obamanuts.


So....where does it state that freewheeling, Lord-of-the-Flies, dog-eat-dog, inside-advantage, vulture capitalism is a principle of our country and defended by the US Constitution. If the specific article does exist, I'd sure like to see it. Maybe then I'd feel better about what seems to be evident (if not empirically obvious) about what it takes to be successful in business in this society.


edit on 3/4/2013 by NorEaster because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 07:28 PM
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reply to post by bladerunner44
 


Hmm using big words to seem powerful. You have the social complex of a 5 according to the enneagram I believe...

ANYWAY! I think you are wrong. Limiting injustice is a natural process by allowing freedom, something I think maybe I did not make clear enough. Limiting injustice comes, as I said, by keeping an eye on the banks for starters. Politicians, bankers, big business, all need to be held to the same standards as everyone else, preventing their freedom from the rules--that's all I mean. I challenge you to disagree with me on why this is "communistic".

And this video, regardless of agenda, regardless of bias, speaks to, or at least close enough to, what I think is truth. Again, I don't see how it's very communistic, it even says that there needs to be incentive to work hard and there shouldn't be an even distribution of wealth IN THE VIDEO, so tell me how this is pro-socialist?



posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 08:22 PM
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reply to post by NorEaster
 


This video acts as if there is big pile of money in the middle of the room and the rich happen to get there first.
Wrong! Wealth distribution? How about working for it?


+2 more 
posted on Mar, 4 2013 @ 08:30 PM
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If the 99 percent got to play by the same rules as the 1 percent I would be ok with that... But the truth is they play by a different set of rules then we do... here is a few advantages they have. marking your own assets.. How about the fed window.. How about selling your bad deals to the Fed... How about breaking the law and never going to jail.. or costing your company millions in loses and don't get fired but instead get a raise,,, now for the big advantage they have more then Joe the Plummer,, Corp welfare. Banks get 80 Billion a year,, oil company's get 50 Billion a year. Food stamp guy gets 4 bucks a day... if that... The HUGE subsidies these company's get our paid for by us and China,,, The class warfare is waged against the middle class,,, The middle class is the last to receive from Santa. Its only after Corp America gets is share then the middle class gets the scraps that fall off the table...




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