Wealth Inequality Is Now As Bad As It Was During The 1920s

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

The difference between wealth held by the top 1 percent and the rest of us has climbed back up to levels not seen since the roaring 20s, according to new preliminary research from economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman:

The two economists note that wealth has always been very concentrated at the top, but that the top 10 percent of the distribution has started making bigger gains in recent decades. Yet even that doesn’t tell the whole story, as most of the changes are happening within the 1 percent. Since the 1980s, the top 0.1 percent of the wealth distribution, or those who have more than $20 million in assets, has seen big increases, and the top 0.01 percent, or those with more than $100 million, has seen even bigger ones. But there hasn’t been a big jump in wealth inequality for people below the 0.1 percent.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/31/3420998/wealth-inequality/

Edited April 1, 2014 by Porterhouse

[Danno 1,228]

We import about a million people, mostly from the third world with minimal skills..... what would you expect the numbers like this to look like?

We have shipped millions of manufacturing jobs outside the country in the NAFTA free-trade experiment.

MOst of our construction employment has been displaced by immigrants from Mexico.

One thing we can look forward to in the future-

The well educated to do well and the lower classes to continue down this path.

It's of our own making.... we deserve it.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Why do hippies suffer from ####### envy? Go buy a gun, and all will be right with the world.

[mota bhai 2,675]

We import about a million people, mostly from the third world with minimal skills..... what would you expect the numbers like this to look like?

We have shipped millions of manufacturing jobs outside the country in the NAFTA free-trade experiment.

MOst of our construction employment has been displaced by immigrants from Mexico.

One thing we can look forward to in the future-

The well educated to do well and the lower classes to continue down this path.

It's of our own making.... we deserve it.

Minor nitpick. I'm not sure I'd call NAFTA an "experiment". Experiments are designed as experiments - limited in time and scope yadda yadda yadda. NAFTA was designed to be "the way things are going forward" by the powers that be. Do I think NAFTA will last forever? No, because nothing does. But the people who dreamed it up and rammed it through never intended for it to be experimental.

[Danno 1,228]

Minor nitpick. I'm not sure I'd call NAFTA an "experiment". Experiments are designed as experiments - limited in time and scope yadda yadda yadda. NAFTA was designed to be "the way things are going forward" by the powers that be. Do I think NAFTA will last forever? No, because nothing does. But the people who dreamed it up and rammed it through never intended for it to be experimental.

I stand corrected on that point.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Blaming NAFTA? If anything is the problem with NAFTA is it does too little to help Mexico. Canada and the US Investing in making them a richer country benefits us in the future in many ways... It can still work but may take a generation or two for them to get the standard of living higher, demand higher wages, and start buying more of our stuff in kind. Having neighbors with money is a good thing.

There are many things that cause a graph like that.. One of them is a heavy debt burden... A country borrowing money does not make the rich richer (in fact it can be just the opposite) but paying the interest on the created debt sure does. When/if we run out of options and are forced into heavy austerity measures (at some point austerity may be the only viable option to stave off a total collapse depending on when we choose to ween ourselves off of living on borrowed money) then this graph will get much worse before it gets better.

Edited April 1, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[mota bhai 2,675]

Having neighbors with money is a good thing.

This is true. No one wants to live next door to the dilapidated shack with old flea infested couches on the front porch.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

The U.S. is becoming the next Russia. Extreme gaps between the rich and poor. I am sure Danno will blame that on poor immigrants from developing countries as well.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/10/231446353/if-you-think-wealth-disparity-is-bad-here-look-at-russia

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

The U.S. is becoming the next Russia. Extreme gaps between the rich and poor. I am sure Danno will blame that on poor immigrants from developing countries as well.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/10/231446353/if-you-think-wealth-disparity-is-bad-here-look-at-russia

It couldn't possibly be the erosion of unions, the Bush tax cuts and the deregulation of markets that contributed, because those have and continue to be the economic war cry of Right Wingers.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

No, it is because welfare has set the bar too high. Poor people should live in squalor, then people will no longer be satisfied living just under the poverty level to qualify for Bama Bucks, free housing, free food, free books, free phones, free heating oil, all that stuff you have to be poor to receive.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The U.S. is becoming the next Russia. Extreme gaps between the rich and poor. I am sure Danno will blame that on poor immigrants from developing countries as well.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/10/231446353/if-you-think-wealth-disparity-is-bad-here-look-at-russia

Cool. What's the target for our land-grab?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Cool. What's the target for our land-grab?

California is more like Russia. Parts used to be Russia. US is more like Ukraine. We want Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming back.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Lots of "ideas" here to make the rich more poor but jack squat about permanently reducing poverty in a sustainable way.. I guess that's not what it's really all about anyway... We can just run the economy hotter than it should, drive it into the dirt, then have endless debates about why its <insert the guy/party you hate here> fault and put up some smug self important gifs and jpegs.

gaa.. never should have come back today.. Well carry on men!

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Cool. What's the target for our land-grab?

Haha. Hmmmmmm Alaska! The Russians will never see this one coming.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Lots of "ideas" here to make the rich more poor but jack squat about permanently reducing poverty in a sustainable way.. I guess that's not what it's really all about anyway... We can just run the economy hotter than it should, drive it into the dirt, then have endless debates about why its <insert the guy/party you hate here> fault and put up some smug self important gifs and jpegs.

gaa.. never should have come back today.. Well carry on men!

Of course there is no talk about it. People like these huge gaps as long as they are not on the poor end. It can be done, but do we as a nation really want this to happen?

No