Top 8% Own 85%

[jasonnfree]

The "system" is rigged, for the wealthiest to stay the wealthiest... if you can not recognize this, then you are blind, and willfully ignorant.

One of the greatest things about being in a country like this is you can be anybody you want.

If you don't need much, are lazy, and don't care about your future, you can not work and be poor.

If you have more ambition, you can be middle-class. That means you have to go go work everyday however. You probably need a skill or trade to get by, but it can be done.

If you want to live better than middle-class, then you need to open up your own business, get an advanced education, and work night and day.

And of course, if you want to be wealthy, you must do some of the things above and more, such as invest every spare dollar and dime you have. You will need to give up all those extras and focus on money only. You need to educate yourself on the stock market, real estate, the commodities market, foreign markets and so on.

But it's all up to the individual and you have to start very early in life.

Completely naive and poorly thought out. While everyone can certainly improve their lot in life, it's ridiculous to think that everyone has an equal opportunity to earn even an above average level of success let alone make it into the highest percentiles. There simply aren't enough high paying positions for that to even be possible. The idea that if people only worked hard and were diligent enough, they too could hit it big is foolish. The higher the income the more exclusive the club becomes. Why is that? Because everyone can't be a chief, the world needs Indians and a lot of them. I'm fine with that dynamic. It's the way the Indians are treated, often times unfairly and for the benefit of the chiefs, that is the problem.

So who says you have to be part of that tribe?

It's the same old argument about CEO's. If you think CEO's get paid too much money and don't do any work, why don't you become a CEO yourself? Of course the answer is because it's not that easy. It takes a lot of education, a lot of experience, a lot of getting to know politicians, a lot of getting fired from jobs, a lot of packing up your bags and traveling.

I have several people in my family that don't work for anybody. One Uncle (now retired) was a carpenter. Another Uncle ran his own remodeling business. Two of my cousins own their own remodeling business. My one cousin is an artist and runs his own business.

If you really believe that employers are taking advantage of you, then the solution is to simply work for yourself. Take up a construction trade. Learn how to be a plumber, an electrician, a bricklayer. Take courses in HVAC and work for yourself. There are a lot of things you can do besides work for somebody else.

These working slobs could use accelerated depreciation on the cars they use to go to work if they weren't so busy drinking beer. And they could use the cayman islands as residence for tax purposes just like mitt romney does, but they're too lazy and stupid. That's right, anybody can be rich in America.\

 

[Hutch Starskey]

And it is slowing our economy which hurts us all.

What's slowing our economy are the illegals and foreigners that come here and work for lower wages. What's slowing our economy is that we have over 93 million Americans of working age that are not working nor looking for a job. What's slowing our economy is government and their regulations. But the biggest thing slowing down our economy is that we consumers will not support American workers. We will buy the cheapest of just about anything to save a buck.

Wages are stagnant, of course people are cheap. An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

How do you fix inequality? Higher taxes? More regulation?

Give more power to the workers. We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions. We need to better police companies to stop the collusion. I would actually decrease Corp taxes in return for higher wages and benefits for employees. I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help. Maybe raise minimum wage, though I prefer the other things mentioned.

We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions.

Unions are the worst. We need to outlaw government unions.

I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help.

Boot 15 million illegals, wages will rise. Unemployment will tank.
Tariffs just help the connected. Like the Fanjul family benefits from sugar tariffs.

Maybe raise minimum wage,

Boot the illegals, enforce E-Verify, companies would have to pay more than the minimum to get workers.

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

What's slowing our economy are the illegals and foreigners that come here and work for lower wages. What's slowing our economy is that we have over 93 million Americans of working age that are not working nor looking for a job. What's slowing our economy is government and their regulations. But the biggest thing slowing down our economy is that we consumers will not support American workers. We will buy the cheapest of just about anything to save a buck.

Wages are stagnant, of course people are cheap. An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

How do you fix inequality? Higher taxes? More regulation?

Give more power to the workers. We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions. We need to better police companies to stop the collusion. I would actually decrease Corp taxes in return for higher wages and benefits for employees. I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help. Maybe raise minimum wage, though I prefer the other things mentioned.

We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions.

Unions are the worst. We need to outlaw government unions.

I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help.

Boot 15 million illegals, wages will rise. Unemployment will tank.
Tariffs just help the connected. Like the Fanjul family benefits from sugar tariffs.

Maybe raise minimum wage,

Boot the illegals, enforce E-Verify, companies would have to pay more than the minimum to get workers.

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

View attachment 70708 View attachment 70709

If only we had more union thugs, eh? Durr.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Wages are stagnant, of course people are cheap. An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

How do you fix inequality? Higher taxes? More regulation?

Give more power to the workers. We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions. We need to better police companies to stop the collusion. I would actually decrease Corp taxes in return for higher wages and benefits for employees. I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help. Maybe raise minimum wage, though I prefer the other things mentioned.

We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions.

Unions are the worst. We need to outlaw government unions.

I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help.

Boot 15 million illegals, wages will rise. Unemployment will tank.
Tariffs just help the connected. Like the Fanjul family benefits from sugar tariffs.

Maybe raise minimum wage,

Boot the illegals, enforce E-Verify, companies would have to pay more than the minimum to get workers.

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

View attachment 70708 View attachment 70709

If only we had more union thugs, eh? Durr.

Yes. If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending, a component of which is wages and 90% of consumers make less than 100k/ yr and as shown on my previous graph, wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP, then yes, higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth.

 

[Pop23]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

 

[Wry Catcher]

"Take action" like elect a socialist who will make sure nobody ever gets too upity? I think not.

Take no action and we'll find ourselves living in an authoritarian plutocracy - proving that B. Franklin was insightful when he commented to the person who asked what type of a government did we have, and he responded, "a republic if you can keep it".

 

[Hutch Starskey]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

Something tells me that quite a bit in your life goes by without thought.

 

[Wry Catcher]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

Yeah, it is just you. Myopia does that, try to see panoptically.

 

[Pop23]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

Something tells me that quite a bit in your life goes by without thought.

Something tells me that to you cash = happiness

 

[Pop23]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

Yeah, it is just you. Myopia does that, try to see panoptically.

No, actually the well adjusted can live happily without being overly wealthy.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

An economy slows when there is too much inequality.

How do you fix inequality? Higher taxes? More regulation?

Give more power to the workers. We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions. We need to better police companies to stop the collusion. I would actually decrease Corp taxes in return for higher wages and benefits for employees. I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help. Maybe raise minimum wage, though I prefer the other things mentioned.

We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions.

Unions are the worst. We need to outlaw government unions.

I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help.

Boot 15 million illegals, wages will rise. Unemployment will tank.
Tariffs just help the connected. Like the Fanjul family benefits from sugar tariffs.

Maybe raise minimum wage,

Boot the illegals, enforce E-Verify, companies would have to pay more than the minimum to get workers.

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

View attachment 70708 View attachment 70709

If only we had more union thugs, eh? Durr.

Yes. If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending, a component of which is wages and 90% of consumers make less than 100k/ yr and as shown on my previous graph, wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP, then yes, higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth.

If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP,

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

Something tells me that quite a bit in your life goes by without thought.

Something tells me that to you cash = happiness

I'm quite happy.
It's you I'm worried about.

 

[Pop23]

I've never quite figured out how someone making more money then me can diminish my happiness?

Maybe it's just me?

Something tells me that quite a bit in your life goes by without thought.

Something tells me that to you cash = happiness

I'm quite happy.
It's you I'm worried about.

No worries.

Good income

Little debt

Raised right I guess

 

[Hutch Starskey]

Give more power to the workers. We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions. We need to better police companies to stop the collusion. I would actually decrease Corp taxes in return for higher wages and benefits for employees. I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help. Maybe raise minimum wage, though I prefer the other things mentioned.

We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions.

Unions are the worst. We need to outlaw government unions.

I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help.

Boot 15 million illegals, wages will rise. Unemployment will tank.
Tariffs just help the connected. Like the Fanjul family benefits from sugar tariffs.

Maybe raise minimum wage,

Boot the illegals, enforce E-Verify, companies would have to pay more than the minimum to get workers.

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

View attachment 70708 View attachment 70709

If only we had more union thugs, eh? Durr.

Yes. If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending, a component of which is wages and 90% of consumers make less than 100k/ yr and as shown on my previous graph, wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP, then yes, higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth.

If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP,

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

You don't understand much ,do you?

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

You're wrong.

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

Because you have no critical thinking skills.
I stated that wages were a component of consumer spending.

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

Well, you're wrong again.




BTW, that's how you quote someone.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

We are definitely hurting from the decline of unions.

Unions are the worst. We need to outlaw government unions.

I think we need to stop importing workers and some well placed tariffs might help.

Boot 15 million illegals, wages will rise. Unemployment will tank.
Tariffs just help the connected. Like the Fanjul family benefits from sugar tariffs.

Maybe raise minimum wage,

Boot the illegals, enforce E-Verify, companies would have to pay more than the minimum to get workers.

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

View attachment 70708 View attachment 70709

If only we had more union thugs, eh? Durr.

Yes. If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending, a component of which is wages and 90% of consumers make less than 100k/ yr and as shown on my previous graph, wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP, then yes, higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth.

If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP,

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

You don't understand much ,do you?

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

You're wrong.
View attachment 70712

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

Because you have no critical thinking skills.
I stated that wages were a component of consumer spending.

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

Well, you're wrong again.




BTW, that's how you quote someone.

You don't understand much ,do you?

Correct, I don't understand why people talk about spending when Gross Domestic Product is about production.

I stated that wages were a component of consumer spending.

Okay, so 44% of GDP is wages but 70% of GDP is consumer spending.
Where are consumers getting an extra 26% of GDP to spend?

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

Well, you're wrong again.

Higher wages for government workers, to improve economic growth!
Sounds like a winning political slogan!!!
Maybe you should run for office?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

The "system" is rigged, for the wealthiest to stay the wealthiest... if you can not recognize this, then you are blind, and willfully ignorant.

One of the greatest things about being in a country like this is you can be anybody you want.

If you don't need much, are lazy, and don't care about your future, you can not work and be poor.

If you have more ambition, you can be middle-class. That means you have to go go work everyday however. You probably need a skill or trade to get by, but it can be done.

If you want to live better than middle-class, then you need to open up your own business, get an advanced education, and work night and day.

And of course, if you want to be wealthy, you must do some of the things above and more, such as invest every spare dollar and dime you have. You will need to give up all those extras and focus on money only. You need to educate yourself on the stock market, real estate, the commodities market, foreign markets and so on.

But it's all up to the individual and you have to start very early in life.

Completely naive and poorly thought out. While everyone can certainly improve their lot in life, it's ridiculous to think that everyone has an equal opportunity to earn even an above average level of success let alone make it into the highest percentiles. There simply aren't enough high paying positions for that to even be possible. The idea that if people only worked hard and were diligent enough, they too could hit it big is foolish. The higher the income the more exclusive the club becomes. Why is that? Because everyone can't be a chief, the world needs Indians and a lot of them. I'm fine with that dynamic. It's the way the Indians are treated, often times unfairly and for the benefit of the chiefs, that is the problem.

So who says you have to be part of that tribe?

It's the same old argument about CEO's. If you think CEO's get paid too much money and don't do any work, why don't you become a CEO yourself? Of course the answer is because it's not that easy. It takes a lot of education, a lot of experience, a lot of getting to know politicians, a lot of getting fired from jobs, a lot of packing up your bags and traveling.

I have several people in my family that don't work for anybody. One Uncle (now retired) was a carpenter. Another Uncle ran his own remodeling business. Two of my cousins own their own remodeling business. My one cousin is an artist and runs his own business.

If you really believe that employers are taking advantage of you, then the solution is to simply work for yourself. Take up a construction trade. Learn how to be a plumber, an electrician, a bricklayer. Take courses in HVAC and work for yourself. There are a lot of things you can do besides work for somebody else.

These working slobs could use accelerated depreciation on the cars they use to go to work if they weren't so lazy. And they could use the cayman islands as residence for tax purposes just like mitt romney does, but they're too lazy and stupid. That's right, anybody can be rich in America.

Let me tell you, you'd stand a much better chance at financial success by concentrating on your own money than the money of others. If you sit around, bitch and complain about what other people have, you only ruin your own life rather than enhance it.

The funny thing is I look at the time some of these posts were sent. Many of them during normal working hours. So who has time to sit around on blogs all day long and not work?

Some people fortunately, but those are not usually the people complaining about how much money other people have. The people that complain about millionaires all day long on a blog are those that don't have money.

Why do I bring that up? Because my philosophy is that every day that you don't work, you missed out on making money. in other words, if I was one of these super jealous types that was so irritated at millionaires and billionaires, I would not be on this blog. I would be working more hours. I would be using the computer to study how these people became successful. Instead of complaining, I would do something about my situation.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Only welfare people "take" money. People who have more earn money.

Do they really? Through suppressing employee wages? Shipping jobs overseas? Importing foreign workers?

However they do it, it's still their money whether you like it or not.

And it is slowing our economy which hurts us all.

What's slowing our economy are the illegals and foreigners that come here and work for lower wages. What's slowing our economy is that we have over 93 million Americans of working age that are not working nor looking for a job. What's slowing our economy is government and their regulations. But the biggest thing slowing down our economy is that we consumers will not support American workers. We will buy the cheapest of just about anything to save a buck.

Talk radio nonsense.

Yes, of course. It's always talk radio or Fox News, isn't it???

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

The "system" is rigged, for the wealthiest to stay the wealthiest... if you can not recognize this, then you are blind, and willfully ignorant.

One of the greatest things about being in a country like this is you can be anybody you want.

If you don't need much, are lazy, and don't care about your future, you can not work and be poor.

If you have more ambition, you can be middle-class. That means you have to go go work everyday however. You probably need a skill or trade to get by, but it can be done.

If you want to live better than middle-class, then you need to open up your own business, get an advanced education, and work night and day.

And of course, if you want to be wealthy, you must do some of the things above and more, such as invest every spare dollar and dime you have. You will need to give up all those extras and focus on money only. You need to educate yourself on the stock market, real estate, the commodities market, foreign markets and so on.

But it's all up to the individual and you have to start very early in life.

Completely naive and poorly thought out. While everyone can certainly improve their lot in life, it's ridiculous to think that everyone has an equal opportunity to earn even an above average level of success let alone make it into the highest percentiles. There simply aren't enough high paying positions for that to even be possible. The idea that if people only worked hard and were diligent enough, they too could hit it big is foolish. The higher the income the more exclusive the club becomes. Why is that? Because everyone can't be a chief, the world needs Indians and a lot of them. I'm fine with that dynamic. It's the way the Indians are treated, often times unfairly and for the benefit of the chiefs, that is the problem.

So who says you have to be part of that tribe?

It's the same old argument about CEO's. If you think CEO's get paid too much money and don't do any work, why don't you become a CEO yourself? Of course the answer is because it's not that easy. It takes a lot of education, a lot of experience, a lot of getting to know politicians, a lot of getting fired from jobs, a lot of packing up your bags and traveling.

I have several people in my family that don't work for anybody. One Uncle (now retired) was a carpenter. Another Uncle ran his own remodeling business. Two of my cousins own their own remodeling business. My one cousin is an artist and runs his own business.

If you really believe that employers are taking advantage of you, then the solution is to simply work for yourself. Take up a construction trade. Learn how to be a plumber, an electrician, a bricklayer. Take courses in HVAC and work for yourself. There are a lot of things you can do besides work for somebody else.

I said nothing about CEO's. I never said it impacted me personally either. You don't read so well. Do you believe that everyone in America can earn 100K if they wanted to?

No, I don't. But it's like my father taught me many years ago. "Ray, anybody can make money; an idiot makes money. But it's less of how much you earn than how much you can keep. Instead of sending your money out to buy silly shit for you, it's better to send your money out to work for you instead."

As always, Dad was correct. I've known very well-to-do people in my life, and regardless of how much they have, it's never enough. Money is an obsession with them. It's the main focus of their life from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed.

The thing is I get in on these types of discussions when I can. What I found is that most of the people that complain about what other people have never made a serious investment in their lives. Oh sure, some may have an IRA from work or something if not a personal one, or they may have bought a house which will increase in value, but none that I've talked to ever made any serious investments in their lives; take every dime they've been able to save and just put it towards growth.

 

[Hutch Starskey]

The American middle class as well as business both thrived with unions. The decline started with the decline of unions.

View attachment 70708 View attachment 70709

If only we had more union thugs, eh? Durr.

Yes. If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending, a component of which is wages and 90% of consumers make less than 100k/ yr and as shown on my previous graph, wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP, then yes, higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth.

If you consider that 70% of the GDP is consumer spending

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

wages are 44% of GDP while corporate profits are 12.5% of GDP,

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

higher wages due to higher union membership is a boon to economic growth

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

You don't understand much ,do you?

I've always hated that misuse of statistics. GDP is production, not spending.

You're wrong.
View attachment 70712

If we add up wages, profits and consumer spending, we're up to 126.5% of GDP.
How'd we manage that?

Because you have no critical thinking skills.
I stated that wages were a component of consumer spending.

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

Well, you're wrong again.




BTW, that's how you quote someone.

You don't understand much ,do you?

Correct, I don't understand why people talk about spending when Gross Domestic Product is about production.

I stated that wages were a component of consumer spending.

Okay, so 44% of GDP is wages but 70% of GDP is consumer spending.
Where are consumers getting an extra 26% of GDP to spend?

Government union employees have high wages and I think they're a major detriment to economic growth.

Well, you're wrong again.

Higher wages for government workers, to improve economic growth!
Sounds like a winning political slogan!!!
Maybe you should run for office?

You're a simple one aren't you?

Correct, I don't understand why people talk about spending when Gross Domestic Product is about production.

You can clear this up quite easily by linking to something that explains your point. Or we can go around a third time.

Okay, so 44% of GDP is wages but 70% of GDP is consumer spending.
Where are consumers getting an extra 26% of GDP to spend?

Again. You're lost. I named one component, the largest component. I made my point. Educate yourself on the rest.

Higher wages for government workers, to improve economic growth!
Sounds like a winning political slogan!!!
Maybe you should run for office?

Look at my graph again. Govt spending is a bigger bang for my buck when you look at the percentage of GDP it affects. Both consumer and govt spending are bumped with govt jobs. That's why economists called for more govt spending in the early days of the recession and throughout the recovery.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Capitalism cannot help everyone. No system can. Its based on the wealthy for the wealthy. Capitalists are rich folk. The system is for the few to really prosper and the test to maybe have a shot for a tiny bit of wealth. Its far better than any other system out there. I don't care how hard one is willing to work. If they atentborn into wealth they aren't going to become wealthy.​

1. According to a study of Federal Reserve data conducted by NYU professor Edward Wolff, for the nation’s richest 1%, inherited wealth accounted for only 9% of their net worth in 2001, down from 23% in 1989. (The 2001 number was the latest available.)

2. According to a study by Prince & Associates, less than 10% of today’s multi-millionaires cited “inheritance” as their source of wealth.

3. A study by Spectrem Group found that among today’s millionaires, inherited wealth accounted for just 2% of their total sources of wealth.

The Decline of Inherited Money