As Wages Dropped For Most Americans, Number Of People Making More Than $1 Million A Year Rose 20 Percent

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Inspired? We definitely need more ppl like this.

[dalegg 143]

If everyone's income was raised, the government would just raise the EITC threshold.

I believe that is the ultimate goal. Start by forcing companies to level their own salaries- that will fix the employees at the big companies, but in order to level the pay for people that don't work at fortune 500 companies, you have to raise the taxes of the people that do, and distribute that money nationally. EITC seems like the perfect vehicle to accomplish this.

Edited October 21, 2011 by dalegg

[sly_wolf 199]

It's amazing how this country has and is getting ####### raped by a few elite, yet there are slaves who want the rich to get richer and the middle class to be no more.

Some people enjoy getting a beating over and over again and just want more. There is some condition for that .... but the name escapes me now. I can only think of one other word right now ..... suckers?

[mawilson 2,133]

EITC seems like the perfect vehicle to accomplish this.

Yep. Pushing a new welfare program through is next to impossible. Tweak the tax code and no-one will notice.

[slim 1,525]

taxing all of their excess income more.

What is excess income?

When all boats are lifted, less people have to rely on outside sources to stay afloat. Just think of all the families that now qualify for the EITC having their income levels raised to where they no longer qualify.

Would they have enough money then?

It's amazing how this country has and is getting ####### raped by a few elite, yet there are slaves who want the rich to get richer and the middle class to be no more.

That would be me. It would be nice if there was no middle class and everyone was richer.

If everyone's income was raised, the government would just raise the EITC threshold.

Exactly.

Start by forcing companies

Is that the government's job?

I mean, seriously, reread your statement there. "Forcing companies." Really?

Yep. Pushing a new welfare program through is next to impossible. Tweak the tax code and no-one will notice.

It would be a lot easier to just eliminate all federal welfare programs.

Edited October 21, 2011 by slim

[sly_wolf 199]

That would be me. It would be nice if there was no middle class and everyone was richer.

Ah yes .... a 2 class society ... The rich and the poor. Its actually headed in that direction right now.

[slim 1,525]

Ah yes .... a 2 class society ... The rich and the poor. Its actually headed in that direction right now.

That's because the poor are lazy and make bad financial decisions.

There's no reason to be poor in America.

[dalegg 143]

What is excess income?

....

Is that the government's job?

I mean, seriously, reread your statement there. "Forcing companies." Really?

Excess income is any income people receive that is beyond what they need to pay for the necessities- i.e, Food, Mortgage, Education, Medical Insurance, Cable TV, Xbox, Plasma TVs.

Its got to be the government to force the companies to do this. The Occupy wall street people can't do it alone.

[mawilson 2,133]

Excess income is any income people receive that is beyond what they need to pay for the necessities- i.e, Food, Mortgage, Education, Medical Insurance, Cable TV, Xbox, Plasma TVs.

Is cable TV a necessity? Xbox?

Where do we stop? I consider champagne and caviar "necessities", who are you (or the government) to tell me they are not.

[dalegg 143]

Is cable TV a necessity? Xbox?

Where do we stop? I consider champagne and caviar "necessities", who are you (or the government) to tell me they are not.

I don't mean Cable TV and Xbox specifically. People should be able to choose Direct TV and Playstation if they prefer that. This is still the land of the free.

[Danno 1,228]

Each year, the Social Security Administrationputs out data collected from every single W-2 employment form, totaling the nation's salaries, bonuses, and other compensation added to. Last year's data, released yesterday, are "in a word, awful," as Reuters' David Cay Johnston writes.

The data show that there were fewer jobs last year for most Americans and those jobs that did exist paid less — wages were down to the lowest level in 11 years. Meanwhile, "the number of people making more than $1 million increased by 20 percent over 2009":

[b

]The median paycheck — half made more, half less

— fell again in 2010

[/b]

, down 1.2 percent to $26,364. That works out to $507 a week, the lowest level, after adjusting for inflation, since 1999.

The number of Americans with any work fell again last year

, down by more than a half million from 2009 to less than 150.4 million. [...]

The number of workers making $1 million or more rose to almost 94,000 from 78,000 in 2009

.

However, that was still below some earlier years, including 2007,

when more than 110,000 workers made more than $1 million each.

At the very top, the number of workers making more than $50 million rose in 2010 to 81, up from 72 the year before

.

But average pay in this group declined $4.5 million

to $79.6 million.

This is, of course, in line with lots of other data we have on income inequality. Median wages have been stagnant for years — with wage growth in the last decade worse than it was during the Great Depression — while executive compensation has gone updisproportionately. But the data are perhaps the most detailed look at 2010 and, as Johnston notes, "show why protests like Occupy Wall Street have so quickly gained momentum around the country."

By Alex Seitz-Wald | Sourced from Think Progress

Seems like every group is being hit by the Obama era. Whats the big news here. Ohhh that "Some" millionaires increased earnings, some in the middle did as well.

[sly_wolf 199]

That's because the poor are lazy and make bad financial decisions.

There's no reason to be poor in America.

Say someone lost their job and is now forced to work for minimum wage ..... this was a bad Financial decision that they made? Or do you consider folks who must resort to working for minimum wage as being rich?

[slim 1,525]

Say someone lost their job and is now forced to work for minimum wage ..... this was a bad Financial decision that they made? Or do you consider folks who must resort to working for minimum wage as being rich?

Anyone who gets themself so far into debt they can't afford to lose their job, etc., is making bad financial decisions.

We see this all the time in the news now. We're supposed to feel sorry for the couple that lost their jobs even though they chose to live in a $300,000 home, have two car payments and three kids. Nobody asks why that couple, who had a household income of $150,000/year, didn't better plan for the future or save for a rainy day. We just look at is as being "normal" that they were up to their eyeballs in debt before they lost their jobs and now it's time for all of us to kick in and help them out.

I don't believe it's anyone else's place to help them. They should've planned better and now that they are working minimum wage, they must adjust their lifestyle accordingly.

Too many folks are trying to keep their big houses and cars (and kids) yet refuse to make the necessary changes of having a lower income. They went to college, right? They ought to be able to figure this kind of thing out.

[sly_wolf 199]

Anyone who gets themself so far into debt they can't afford to lose their job, etc., is making bad financial decisions.

We see this all the time in the news now. We're supposed to feel sorry for the couple that lost their jobs even though they chose to live in a $300,000 home, have two car payments and three kids. Nobody asks why that couple, who had a household income of $150,000/year, didn't better plan for the future or save for a rainy day. We just look at is as being "normal" that they were up to their eyeballs in debt before they lost their jobs and now it's time for all of us to kick in and help them out.

I don't believe it's anyone else's place to help them. They should've planned better and now that they are working minimum wage, they must adjust their lifestyle accordingly.

Too many folks are trying to keep their big houses and cars (and kids) yet refuse to make the necessary changes of having a lower income. They went to college, right? They ought to be able to figure this kind of thing out.

Frankly I am sick and tired of this new buzz word or saying or whatever you want to call it these days .... "that people are what they are because of decisions that they made". That is a generalization that is absurd! Yes some people are their own worst enemies, but not everyone automatically falls in the same slot. Some poor loser gets cancer or loses his/her job or has some other misfortune ..... the resulting financial consequences were all due to his/her decision! I guess somewhere we lost the word compassion because its their own fault ... right?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Frankly I am sick and tired of this new buzz word or saying or whatever you want to call it these days .... "that people are what they are because of decisions that they made". That is a generalization that is absurd! Yes some people are their own worst enemies, but not everyone automatically falls in the same slot. Some poor loser gets cancer or loses his/her job or has some other misfortune ..... the resulting financial consequences were all due to his/her decision! I guess somewhere we lost the word compassion because its their own fault ... right?

Spot on! I blame Randian Philosophy - the virtue of greed and selfishness. Lots of schmucks buy into Ayn Rand's cult.