Our country is broken:

[Political Heretic]

Maybe we should think about electing democrats that care.

[earthboundmisfit]

1. Today, that +13.2% on the median family income

is probably more like -13.2%

[avaistheone1]

2. Powerful chart.

[indepat]

14. Is it possible they lied to us about how much will trickle down to the little folks?

:shrug:

[progressoid]

3. And people say the Bush years were a failure.

Seems to have been a great success for some.

[Political Heretic]

4. It's not just the Bush years - if you pull back that timeline, you get a nice slope

From about the mid 1970s through 2008 - but honestly even with the economic crisis, you still have a basic increasing slope with only a "small dip" (relative to a 30-year timeline)

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. looks like they learned their lesson when the dotcom bubble broke..

I wonder where they are at right now.

[Political Heretic]

11. Hardly a lesson learned if they go on to repeat and worsen the same later

[Golden Raisin]

6. With Diebold, the Supreme Court

and various other methods of electoral chicanery you can't even cast a vote that really counts anymore.

[Echo In Light]

20. Coupled with a strong dose of collective denial/apathy

[asdjrocky]

7. When I was born, the boss made an average of 40 times more than the lowest paid worker.

Now it's over 400 times, what's wrong with this picture?

Maybe we need more than elections, maybe we need some real change we can believe in.

[WVRICK13]

8. I Manage A Large Non-Profit

and I declined raises for the first 5 years so others making less could be paid more. Today everyone is making close to what I make and I am proud to share in our joint productivity. But then I am one of those nasty Socialist who votes Democrat because there is not a viable Socialist party.

[handmade34]

9. thanks to you

[readmoreoften]

16. We desperately need a Labor Party.

I'm one of those nasty Socialists who ain't voting for the Democratic Party anymore (well, a few here and there tactically) and I need a new party. And I don't think we're alone.

[handmade34]

10. love graphs, want equality

"Between 1992 and 2007, notes an analysis of new IRS data by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, the bottom 90 percent of Americans saw their incomes inch up by 13 percent, in 2009 dollars. Incomes for the top 400, over the same years, soared 399 percent"


http://toomuchonline.org/
One: The enormous rewards that flow to the summits of Corporate America and Wall Street create incentives for economic behaviors that make life miserable for average Americans.

The more wealth concentrates . . .

. . . the less job security for workers.

. . . the less leisure time for average Americans.

. . . the more workaholism in our workplaces.

. . . the more stressful the work environment.

. . . the less the retirement security.

. . . the higher credit card interest rates go.

. . . the worse customer service.

. . . the less available home insurance gets.

. . . the fewer good character actors.

. . . the less comfortable airplane travel.

. . . the less cool our society’s high-tech.

. . . the less pleasure that sports fans take from watching sports.

Two: The presence of extremely wealthy people in our midst unleashes social dynamics that frustrate the hopes and dreams of average Americans and aggravate the stresses of everyday life.

The more wealth concentrates . . .

. . . the longer Americans spend commuting to work.

. . . the less accessible art museums become.

. . . the harder to find a parking space.

. . . the shorter the life-expectancy, for everybody.

. . . the more stressful applying for and attending college becomes.

. . . the more overpriced our housing.

. . . the noisier our neighborhoods.

. . . the less compassionate our communities.

. . . the less inviting the great outdoors.

. . . the more coins that toll booths demand.

. . . the wider our waistbands.

. . . the less the sum total of our happiness.

Three: The political power of the extremely wealthy undermines society’s capacity to overcome modern life’s core problems and challenges.

The more wealth concentrates . . .

. . . the more corruption in the political process.

. . . the less robust a nation’s free press.

. . . the less attractive the helping professions become.

. . . the more resources squandered on guarding wealth..

. . . the harder to confront entrenched special interests.

. . . the less public interest in politics.

. . . the lower the voter turnout in elections.

. . . the less likely politics will seek solutions outside the box.

. . . the more frayed the social fabric.

[Political Heretic]

19. lol instead of have gun / will travel its have graph / will advocate :P

[ipaint]

12. And these same top hoarders (they didn't earn anything)

think they are going to fix our public school system. The same public system that wasn't broken until they started hoarding worker's wealth.

The number of people who defend them here is astounding.

[Greyhound]

13. Frightening, IMO. n/t

[Kablooie]

15. It's so nice that the median family income is on the rise again.

Some people see the glass as half empty.

I see the glass as 1/1000000 full.

[Political Heretic]

18. Haha man that post was awesome. Thanks for that.

Yes, when you look at it that way, median income has "steadily" risen over the last thirty years.

Those people who say its "essentially flatlined" are just exaggerating pessimists. Silly people. :)


And always look on the briiiiight side of life doo doo. da doot dee doot dee doo....

[DisgustedInMN]

17. The time is..

...approaching when We the People will refuse to tolerate this. The greedy have managed to destroy the one thing that keeps the masses at bay, their evil greed has killed the hope that things CAN get better. That, throughout history has been the tipping point at which revolutions happen. This time is no different, let us all hope that it's a political, not a violent revolution, but the odds are getting worse for that with each passing day and each new slap in the face by those who promised to work for We the People, that have now proven to nothing more than corporate whores.