We're in a Recession Because the Rich Are Raking in an Absurd Portion of the Wealth

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Following that logic, executives' jobs have not become more valuable than they were 40 years ago, yet their pay has continuously gone up while other wages have remained stagnant. I guess you'd have to look at a specific job in a company and adjusting for inflation, see how that job pays less now than it did 40 years ago.

well, if inflation would occur....

[^_^ 5,021]

well, if inflation would occur....

What?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

What?

err. meant 'wouldn't'

[^_^ 5,021]

err. meant 'wouldn't'

Ok. I almost thought you were about to go off on another one of your conspiracy theories. Maybe inflation doesn't really occur, the gubmint put flouride in our toothpaste and that affects our brain function and we think inflation occurs as a result.

[chri'stina 190]

I always argued for more consumerism and less saving by those who have the money. We won't recover from this recession unless people spend. If people spend more, then there will be demand. Demand will create the environment for more jobs. Yes. My argument is rudimentary but I'm usually shunned when I mention consumerism as it is some sort of terminal disease.

People were buying vuvuzelas. This created hundreds of jobs in Sud Africa. Think vuvuzela seller, reseller, distributor, etc. And in China, hundreds of people were employed making these horns of devil. And the cycle of life was complete. When people horde wealth and don't spend it, the economy tastes bitter. Those who can afford to spend should be encouraged to spend. Say whatever you want about Mr. Bush, the 41 president of America, but he did encourage people to go out and have dinner and spend that $20 (US) right after 9/11. He didn't want people to go into a shellshock of not spending. Noone has advocated consumerism recently.

I'm doing my part by trying out different fast food chains. I'm sure you're aware of my previous excursion with Taco Bell, Chick-fil-a, Subway, etc.

I don't think consumerism is a good idea when people should be saving in these times. I shun you! I think people trying to keep up with the Joneses, buying things they can't afford, has only added problems and that is a very bad aspect of consumerism. I see it all the time among my own friends who have no savings yet have tons of video games and flatscreen TVs and no financial security.

I also heard people hated vuvuzelas. I never heard of them until I read people complaining about them on facebook.

[IndigoSkies 168]

If you buy American products, then you're helping the retailer AND the producer at the same time and all of the money stays here and the cycle goes 'round and 'round.

A consumer based economy is fine, so long as the good you are buying in a vast majority are made within your own nation. If you buy goods from another nation, and that nation doesn't buy the same back amount from you, then you're literally sending them money and never seeing it come back. It's a negative effect and possibly one of the greatest arguments for raising tariffs ridiculously high....

While buying American will or might produce immediate benefits, buying Chinese ensures the Chinese have money to buy our craps (i.e. Ford) too. The whole trickling down of things takes longer with international export/import.

But you're suggesting protectionism. Trust me if American only buy American. The rest of the world will stop bying American too. That would royally fk up the economy. We need a healthy mixture of buying American and buying foreign. The end sum is that we need more consumption to sustain our ways of life both here in America and elsewhere.

[^_^ 5,021]

... we need more consumption to sustain our ways of life both here in America and elsewhere.

That's it, I'm going to go have a donut.

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

from (2004):

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. corporate profits surged 87 percent from the third quarter of 2001 to the end of 2003, according to Commerce Department figures. Wages and salaries grew 4.5 percent.

The increase in workers' pay was the smallest for the first nine quarters of any recovery since World War II, said Barry Bosworth, who directed the White House Council on Wage and Price Stability during Jimmy Carter's administration. After inflation, real wage gains were 1.1 percent, Bosworth said.

``What you have here is a dual economy,'' said Bosworth, now an economist at the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington. ``You can talk all you want about the benefits from the rapidly expanding economy, but the only people who have gained have been the stockholders.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aCttIAcLPoXs&refer=us

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

I have news for you. If you can find me a job at a company that exists today in the exact form it existed 40 years ago, I'll show you a company that is dead or should be.

Teachers?

Over the last decade, teacher salaries have remained flat, growing at just 2.8 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. Fifteen states saw real declines in average teacher salaries between the 1993-1994 and 2003-2004 school years. Among them were: Alaska (-4.3 percent), Kansas (-0.4 percent), Connecticut (-9.4 percent), Wisconsin (-6.3 percent) and New York (-5.2 percent).

(dated 2005)

http://diverseeducation.com/article/4657/

[^_^ 5,021]

... the only people who have gained have been the stockholders.

Aren't most of us stockholders? This isn't the 1950s.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

While buying American will or might produce immediate benefits, buying Chinese ensures the Chinese have money to buy our craps (i.e. Ford) too. The whole trickling down of things takes longer with international export/import.

But you're suggesting protectionism. Trust me if American only buy American. The rest of the world will stop bying American too. That would royally fk up the economy. We need a healthy mixture of buying American and buying foreign. The end sum is that we need more consumption to sustain our ways of life both here in America and elsewhere.

As was pointed out, buying from China is fine, buying from Germany is fine, etc. The problem becomes when an equal amount of money is not being poured.

The idea to have a prosperous economy can only come if you're producing something and what you're producing sells. China is successful because they make almost everything and make it for cheap. It makes us want to buy things from them, but it has its negative effects as I mentioned.

Now if we were buying things equally from each other, that's be fine as the money would be going in a circle. Even better would be if they were buying more from us than we were buying from them, because that would contribute to growth.

If you're in a situation like we are now though, it's just not sustainable. You cannot expect growth in an economy is the money your spending is not invested right back into your economy and it being sent overseas.

[^_^ 5,021]

Teachers?

(dated 2005)

http://diverseeducation.com/article/4657/

As long as there are people willing to work for those wages, wages won't and shouldn't go up. Saying otherwise is like insisting on paying more than $20 for that lapdance just because $20 is what you paid last year (and the year before, and the year before...).

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

None of us can thrive in a nation divided between a small number of people [government employees] receiving an ever larger share of the nation's income and wealth, and everyone else [taxpayers] receiving a declining share. The lopsidedness not only diminishes economic growth but also tears at the social fabric of our society. The most fortunate among us who have reached the pinnacles of economic power and success depend on a stable economic and political system. That stability rests on the public's trust that the system operates in the interest of us all. Any loss of such trust threatens the well-being of everyone. We will choose reform, I believe, because we are a sensible nation, and reform is the only sensible option we have.

Makes sense to me, as long as we know who we are talking about.

[^_^ 5,021]

Wow, a retarded response to a retarded article. Good job #####. Or is that ######?

[SMOKE 1,426]

As long as there are people willing to work for those wages, wages won't and shouldn't go up. Saying otherwise is like insisting on paying more than $20 for that lapdance just because $20 is what you paid last year (and the year before, and the year before...).

why pay $20 for a lap dance when you can go to the stage & get suffocated w/ titties or give a dry mustache ride for a $1....wasteful spending i say. yes i only frequent the classy gentleman's clubs.