Why You Should Feel Cheated, Deceived and Sickened by America's Stunning Inequality, Even If You're

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/149477/why_you_should_feel_cheated%2C_deceived_and_sickened_by_america%27s_stunning_inequality%2C_even_if_you%27re_doing_well/

Why You Should Feel Cheated, Deceived and Sickened by America's Stunning Inequality, Even If You're Doing Well

If middle- and upper-middle-class families had the same share of the economic pie as in 1980, they'd be making an average of $12,500 more per year.


Why should a relatively prosperous upper-middle-class family care about inequality? There are lots of reasons, but here's the most personal one: that's our money the very rich are taking! Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle-class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year.

That bears repeating: $12,500 of my money every year to the richest 1 percent, and $600 more to pay my share of their tax cuts!

Inequality in the U.S. doesn't get the attention it deserves. Many of us brush it off, thinking, "So the rich get richer -- it's always been that way." Or we think: "I'm doing OK myself – and I want to be really rich someday, too."

The lopsided distribution of wealth in the U.S. doesn't get the blame it deserves for our budget problems, either. On the contrary, since our economic system is based on individual freedom, most of us believe in the inalienable right to make unlimited amounts of money. The thought of taking back a greater share from innovative and industrious business leaders is (shudder) "socialism."

So instead we increase sales taxes and service fees. We cut police forces and educators. We remove funding for food pantries, homeless shelters and elder assistance.

More at the link --

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Catherina]

2. Rec'd n/t

[dkf]

3. There is no pressure to increase wages without full employment.

Excess cheap labor is the cause of low wages. And we all know where the cheap labor comes from.

[notesdev]

4. Yep though in some circles that's a third rail issue

It's easy to have sympathy for Mexicans fleeing the mess in their country - and I certainly do - but it's a whole different ballgame when you analyze the impact of 15 million new laborers on the US job market. As an American I have to take the side of the other Americans who are displaced by such a massive influx of low-cost and often under-the-table labor.

The easier part of the issue to address are all the H1-Bs. People in my line of work have been suffering an estimated $16k/year income loss from the policy of mass importation of technical personnel.

[dkf]

5. Exactly. How many became unemployed in this downturn? 9 million?

Without 15 million extra laborers we would be at full employment and wages would go up.

[notesdev]

6. Yep

All that imported labor was part and parcel of the Bush economy, and had no insignificant impact on the mess we find ourselves in today.

There's not a whole lot of practical difference between offshoring jobs and importing labor which will work for 3rd world wages and live in 3rd world conditions here in the US.

[WCGreen]

7. and the right yells and screams about it...

While they look the other way with their grubby palms being greased by the owners of the farms and sweat shops that employ the illegals...

[pampango]

9. Good to know that it is FOREIGNERS causing our problems, not our own elite. n/t

[notesdev]

10. What is happening

is that the foreigners are the tool our own elite is using to force us into a lower standard of living. It makes no sense to be hosting millions of foreign workers while our own people are out of work by the millions - it's a betrayal of the social compact.

[socialist_n_TN]

17. BINGO! Who do people think SUPPORT..............

these policies? The very ones that BENEFIT from this influx of workers, i.e., THE WEALTHY CAPITALISTS!

[dkf]

18. Yup. The wealthy capitalists love the cheap labor that brings down the value of all our labor.

[Hannah Bell]

22. lol.

[Gaedel]

13. Not just the Mexicans

Downward pressure on wages began as the baby boomers entered the workforce. During the sixties, they were absorbed by the growth in higher education and the draft. In the seventies, the "excess labor" began to exert itself on unemployment and wage rates. The period of upward pressure on wages was during the time when the depression babies that never were born were not entering the workforce (coupled with draconian immigration policies).

[dkf]

20. True. And gains in productivity also put downward pressure.

So it's true that there are multiple reasons, but only one that is a choice and has a remedy.

On edit...it's not just Mexicans. It is anyone who is here without permission and especially those who need to be paid under the table.

[xchrom]

8. Recommend

[Starry Messenger]

11. recommend.

[woo me with science]

12. Recommended. nt

[blondeatlast]

14. Excellent. k/r nt

[WillyT]

15. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[lonestarnot]

16. K & R to the fullest extent possible.

:) And they will use the same police to beat people down when they object.

[jxnmsdemguy65]

19. This is what the rich are doing with all your money...

http://www.gorsuch.com/

[hfojvt]

21. that's an interesting way to put it

and perhaps effective too. I tried to make that point as well with pie charts.