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Goodbye Middle Class; 22 statsistics
Topic Started: Jul 15 2010, 01:48 PM (356 Views)
1hp
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Fulla-Carp

The US middle class is being wiped out - statistics to prove it


It's what I've complained about many times - we are not playing on a level field, and haven't been for a long time. As a consequence the high paying jobs are disappearing. [This is where all those anti-protectionists start preaching].



The 22 statistics detailed HERE prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.

So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.

Giant Sucking Sound

The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool.

What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.

So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.

What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of "chronically unemployed" is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.

Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.

The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.



What are the statistics - here's a few:

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

2. 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

3. 66% of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

4. Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.

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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

9. The top 1% of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

10. More than 40% of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.

11. For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.

12. This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.

13.The top 10% of Americans now earn around 50% of our national income.

There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and................
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
So, is that why we need socialism to make wealth distribution more equitable to expand the middle class? :D
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Renauda
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1hp
Jul 15 2010, 01:48 PM
It's what I've complained about many times - we are not playing on a level field, and haven't been for a long time. As a consequence the high paying jobs are disappearing. [This is where all those anti-protectionists start preaching].



I won't preach but instead ask the question: what is so attractive about protectionism?
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jon-nyc
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1hp
Jul 15 2010, 01:48 PM
It's what I've complained about many times - we are not playing on a level field, and haven't been for a long time. As a consequence the high paying jobs are disappearing.


Have you been doing your part? I mean, you're not one of those people that buys goods made in China and Mexico, are you? I assume you've never graced the door of a WalMart.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
jon-nyc
Jul 16 2010, 07:44 AM
1hp
Jul 15 2010, 01:48 PM
It's what I've complained about many times - we are not playing on a level field, and haven't been for a long time. As a consequence the high paying jobs are disappearing.


Have you been doing your part? I mean, you're not one of those people that buys goods made in China and Mexico, are you? I assume you've never graced the door of a WalMart.
Well, the problem with that is, we don't even have an option anymore for some goods. Good luck buying a bicycle made purely in America. Buying American is not just a matter of not going to Wal-Mart, a lot of American manufacturers send their stuff overseas, and on the other side, does it count if you buy from a foreign company who made their product here in the U.S.? It's freaking confusing.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Copper
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Axtremus
Jul 16 2010, 05:34 AM
So, is that why we need socialism to make wealth distribution more equitable to expand the middle class? :D

We have the socialism.

The problem is that it's on the other side of the world supplying slave labor.

Nice if you are the slave owner or the idiot sending the jobs there from here.

Not so nice if you try to live here with Chinese wages.

What we need are labor unions in China. Better to raise their standards than to lower ours.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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1hp
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Fulla-Carp

Quote:
 
I won't preach but instead ask the question: what is so attractive about protectionism?


When your job is given to someone who is paid way less than what you receive, you might finally see the problem.

There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and................
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Copper
Jul 16 2010, 08:05 AM
What we need are labor unions in China. Better to raise their standards than to lower ours.
Raising Chinese labor's standards means raising the cost of goods produced in China, which in turn lowers your purchasing power, thus lowering your standards of living.
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Renauda
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1hp
Jul 16 2010, 08:50 AM
Quote:
 
I won't preach but instead ask the question: what is so attractive about protectionism?


When your job is given to someone who is paid way less than what you receive, you might finally see the problem.

That's an emotional response, not an answer.

Free enterprise is opportunistic; protectionism cannot counter that or fool the market.

If anything protectionism is anti-market and anti-free enterprise since as it enevitably strives to create an autarky. Ultimatley, protectionism is a recipe for not only economic disaster but political disaster as well. There is nothing attractive about protectionism.



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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
US isolationism and protectionism after the 1929 Wall St. Crash contributed significantly to making the depression considerably worse than it needed to be. Let's not make the same mistake again.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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1hp
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Fulla-Carp

Quote:
 
US isolationism and protectionism after the 1929 Wall St. Crash contributed significantly to making the depression considerably worse than it needed to be. Let's not make the same mistake again.


The world was a vastly different place in 1929. Areyou saying that because there was a double dip recession in the 1929 case, that we are automatically headed for a double dip this time also?


Quote:
 
If anything protectionism is anti-market and anti-free enterprise since as it enevitably strives to create an autarky. Ultimatley, protectionism is a recipe for not only economic disaster but political disaster as well.


And yet look at South Korea, or China. I don't see any economic disaster, and they look to be in much better shape economically than the US. The simple explanation is that the US practices Free Enterprise, and most of Asia does not. If we can't all play by the same rules then Free Enterprise loses. It's like the British Army using rules that were commonly agreed upon with Napolean's armies, against an army that uses guerrilla warfare and routinely picks off the officers. Times change, and tactics must change with them.

Edited by 1hp, Jul 16 2010, 03:50 PM.
There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those that understand binary and................
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Copper
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Axtremus
Jul 16 2010, 09:09 AM
Copper
Jul 16 2010, 08:05 AM
What we need are labor unions in China. Better to raise their standards than to lower ours.
Raising Chinese labor's standards means raising the cost of goods produced in China, which in turn lowers your purchasing power, thus lowering your standards of living.

You're right, it's a vicious circle isn't it?

We have to sacrifice our jobs in order to spend less of a dwindling purchasing power.

Then more jobs and less purchasing power, and so on.

I guess the best solution is to just nuke them, but I would like to put that off for a little while.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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John D'Oh
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Copper
Jul 16 2010, 04:22 PM
I guess the best solution is to just nuke them, but I would like to put that off for a little while.
Preferably until after they give up all of their nuclear weapons.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Nuke 'em and you take out 1/6th of the world's labor force. Lower supply, higher price.
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Copper
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John D'Oh
Jul 16 2010, 04:23 PM
Copper
Jul 16 2010, 04:22 PM
I guess the best solution is to just nuke them, but I would like to put that off for a little while.
Preferably until after they give up all of their nuclear weapons.

Hmmm, that's good thinking.

Maybe we should nuke them before they nuke us.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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