Top 8% Own 85%

[sonic]

Ah, the fallacy of trickle down economics still persists despite such strong evidence to the contrary. The rich get richer, keep their wealth and the middle and lower classes are the losers. It's actually trickle up, yet people still hang on to trickle down theory because it sounds like it should work (to them) and their pundits and politicians preach it - facts be damned. And isn't that the big problem we're facing in this country - the thinkers vs. the anti-intellectual fact-challenged crowd who consistently vote against their best interests due to some overhyped wedge issue, then bitch about the results.
As someone in the very top segment of the OP's pyramid, I just shake my head and wonder why the lower and middle classes don't overwhelmingly support the few politicians who really want to change the rules to help level the playing field (not wealth redistribution, but making everyone subject to the same rules). We see some of this support with Bernie Sanders, but he's running as a member of the rigged 2 party system so he never really had a chance despite the great effort.
It will take a Herculean effort to transform the system, and that will never happen if people continue to cling to debunked economic ideology and refuse to band together because their viewpoints are formed by some group of partisan pundits paid millions of dollars to divide the people of this great country. The Obama and Sanders campaigns have proven that grass roots movements can be extremely powerful, so why not channel that into a bipartisan effort to launch a third party? Ignore the pundits, find what people have in common (a lot more than the partisans want you to think), and band together to take serious action.

 

[Care4all]

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

You'll have better luck putting an end to gravity than putting an end to income inequality.

Yes income inequality will always be with us, but it doesn't have to be this bad. It is this bad because the elites have control of everything. Centralization of power leads to centralization of wealth.

A rising tide raises all ships. JFK said that and that should be the focus.

Then Why hasn't it? Why hasn't the rising tide raised all ships? It should make ALL ships rise, but clear as the light of day, it hasn't.

This means the laws of nature, are being manipulated artificially, how else can it be explained??? Honestly, why? Why do you think all ships are not rising with the tide, and only the few are rising?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

You'll have better luck putting an end to gravity than putting an end to income inequality.

Yes income inequality will always be with us, but it doesn't have to be this bad. It is this bad because the elites have control of everything. Centralization of power leads to centralization of wealth.

A rising tide raises all ships. JFK said that and that should be the focus.

"People have asked if I feel guilty about getting ahead because getting ahead leaves others behind. The idea of getting ahead IS TO leave others behind. After all, if we all moved ahead the same distance at the same time, then nobody gets ahead!"
Andrew Wilkow

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

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

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

No, the only way to end income inequality is to quit participating in it.

How does money get to the top anyway? We give it to them. We not only give it to them, we beg them to take it from us.

The solution to income inequality is quit transferring your money to the top. Get rid of that cell phone. Do you know that the makers of that phone are a multi-million dollar company? And what about the service to that phone? Multi-billion dollar company depending on who your carrier is.

And what about that cable or satellite television you have? Why are you transferring your money to the top just to watch television? And what about your internet service? It's entertainment, and entertainment that other people don't need or pay for. Quit transferring your money to those internet providers.

The list goes on and on.

 

[auditor0007]

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

It's not about being against capitalism. It's about making the wealthy play on a fair playing field rather than the one they have rigged to benefit themselves. If a real correction is not made soon, we will most definitely move toward true socialism, which might not be the best thing in the long run. This isn't just a problem in the US but worldwide.

 

[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.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Ah, the fallacy of trickle down economics still persists despite such strong evidence to the contrary. The rich get richer, keep their wealth and the middle and lower classes are the losers. It's actually trickle up, yet people still hang on to trickle down theory because it sounds like it should work (to them) and their pundits and politicians preach it - facts be damned. And isn't that the big problem we're facing in this country - the thinkers vs. the anti-intellectual fact-challenged crowd who consistently vote against their best interests due to some overhyped wedge issue, then bitch about the results.
As someone in the very top segment of the OP's pyramid, I just shake my head and wonder why the lower and middle classes don't overwhelmingly support the few politicians who really want to change the rules to help level the playing field (not wealth redistribution, but making everyone subject to the same rules). We see some of this support with Bernie Sanders, but he's running as a member of the rigged 2 party system so he never really had a chance despite the great effort.
It will take a Herculean effort to transform the system, and that will never happen if people continue to cling to debunked economic ideology and refuse to band together because their viewpoints are formed by some group of partisan pundits paid millions of dollars to divide the people of this great country. The Obama and Sanders campaigns have proven that grass roots movements can be extremely powerful, so why not channel that into a bipartisan effort to launch a third party? Ignore the pundits, find what people have in common (a lot more than the partisans want you to think), and band together to take serious action.

(not wealth redistribution, but making everyone subject to the same rules)

Please tell me more.

 

[initforme]

A strong work ethic nowadays isn't close to enough to make a living.

 

[pismoe]

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

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

No, the only way to end income inequality is to quit participating in it.

How does money get to the top anyway? We give it to them. We not only give it to them, we beg them to take it from us.

The solution to income inequality is quit transferring your money to the top. Get rid of that cell phone. Do you know that the makers of that phone are a multi-million dollar company? And what about the service to that phone? Multi-billion dollar company depending on who your carrier is.

And what about that cable or satellite television you have? Why are you transferring your money to the top just to watch television? And what about your internet service? It's entertainment, and entertainment that other people don't need or pay for. Quit transferring your money to those internet providers.

The list goes on and on.

--------------------------------- excellent post Ray , I also see it all the time , cellphones and the service ... All kinds of meaningless tattoos which I imagine cost money , starbucks , imported beer , eating take out food all the time and 200 dollar a pair sneakers . Same goes for the internet and cable television just to watch sports and inane comedy . Its funny , let them cry about being poor .

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

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

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

No, the only way to end income inequality is to quit participating in it.

How does money get to the top anyway? We give it to them. We not only give it to them, we beg them to take it from us.

The solution to income inequality is quit transferring your money to the top. Get rid of that cell phone. Do you know that the makers of that phone are a multi-million dollar company? And what about the service to that phone? Multi-billion dollar company depending on who your carrier is.

And what about that cable or satellite television you have? Why are you transferring your money to the top just to watch television? And what about your internet service? It's entertainment, and entertainment that other people don't need or pay for. Quit transferring your money to those internet providers.

The list goes on and on.

--------------------------------- excellent post Ray , I also see it all the time , cellphones and the service ... All kinds of meaningless tattoos which I imagine cost money , starbucks , imported beer , eating take out food all the time and 200 dollar a pair sneakers . Same goes for the internet and cable television just to watch sports and inane comedy . Its funny , let them cry about being poor .

Well thank you.

When this started to become a topic during the Obama administration, I sat back and asked myself why this income inequity as they call it?

Then I thought back to when I was a kid in the 70's. Back then, Dad was the only one with a car. Back then, you had a color television set (if you were lucky) and had three or four channels all for free. Back then, going to McDonald's or any FF restaurant was a treat--not a weekly staple. There was one telephone for the entire family, and you couldn't take it anywhere but the living room if you were lucky.

We just have more things to spend our money on these days--and most of that is entertainment or technology that makes our lives much easier. In that process, we transfer more money to the rich people, so yes, there are more of them.

 

[Care4all]

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.

I agree with you for the most part, (as the saying goes: ''...the harder I worked, the luckier I got.'') but that has not been the case in recent times with many Americans...within the last decade or even two.... more and more are falling through the cracks and the jobs that kept this upward movement for the middle class are not there for the masses as it once was.... and more and more of this Nation's wealth is moving in to the hands of the FEW and not in to the hard working, middle class or hard working lower class...

 

[gipper]

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

You'll have better luck putting an end to gravity than putting an end to income inequality.

Yes income inequality will always be with us, but it doesn't have to be this bad. It is this bad because the elites have control of everything. Centralization of power leads to centralization of wealth.

Where do you people get this idea that how rich the rich are affects your life any?

This entire liberal fallacy that if the rich have too much, it's the reason you have too little is ridiculous.

Let me ask: if the government took 4/5 of the wealth away from every millionaire and billionaire in this country, how does that help you or me? It doesn't. Oh, but government would have more money. And just what does government do with any money they have????

The system is rigged and it will eventually crater. How in the Hell do you not see that?

Concentrations of private wealth and the central state are simply two sides of the same coin. Private wealth, monopolies and cartels are all protected and enforced by the state/central bank: the status quo exists to protect the privileges of the few at the expense of the many.

As long as central banks create and distribute money to banks, which are free to use the money for speculation and lend vast sums at near-zero rates of interest to corprorations and financiers, nothing can possibly change.

Recall that the central state enforces moral hazard: if banks reap vast profits on their gambles, they keep the winnings and can use a sliver of this wealth to buy political favors from politicos like Hillary Clinton.

If they lose the bets and are insolvent, the federal government and the central bank (Federal Reserve) bail them out by transferring the losses to the public or by rigging the system to funnel cash to the banks via paying interest on deposits held at the Fed (while slashing interest income to the serfs to near-zero).

There is another way to run the world: if money is decentralized, i.e. created by a distributed, decentralized system that pays people directly for their labor, rather than being distributed to banks to lend at interest, the sort of concentrations of wealth, power and exploitation enabled by central banking would no longer be possible.

Technologies such as the blockchain are enabling alternative ways of creating and distributing money outside central banks and states. I describe a labor-backed crypto-currency in my book A Radically Beneficial World. The potential of the blockchain to disrupt and bypass central banks' monopoly of money creation is revolutionary, which explains why Goldman Sachs and their cronies are desperate to own their own versions of blockchain technologies.

But the cats are out of the bag, and central bankers and their cronies will have a difficult time herding these new technologies back into the enforced serfdom of central banking. The only way to bring down the corruption created by the concentration of wealth and power is to dismantle the monopoly of money creation held by central banks and their private-bank cronies.

 

[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.

I agree with you for the most part, (as the saying goes: ''...the harder I worked, the luckier I got.'') but that has not been the case in recent times with many Americans...within the last decade or even two.... more and more are falling through the cracks and the jobs that kept this upward movement for the middle class are not there for the masses as it once was.... and more and more of this Nation's wealth is moving in to the hands of the FEW and not in to the hard working, middle class or hard working lower class...

Times have changed.

Years ago the theme used to be to Buy American. That's no longer the case. The theme today (and the past couple of decades) has been to buy cheap no matter where our products are made.

So manufacturers cater to their customers demands. Robotics have replaced those low skilled worker jobs. The rest of the jobs moved overseas to cheap labor and much less government regulations and costs. If an American company would do things the way we used to do them, they would be out of business in less than a year because we consumers refuse to support those good paying low-skill jobs.

The only remedy to that is for one to acquire a skill or learn a trade making you worth more money. The problem there is our social programs pay so well it's not worth the time and the effort. That's one of the reasons we have 93 million Americans of working age not working or not even looking for work. The other of course is immigration both legal and illegal. Those people are really keeping our wages down because they come here and work for next to nothing, so the pay never increases.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Can someone please tell me how a rich guy has ever stopped anyone of you from earning more, owning more, or anythig else?

 

[NightFox]

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

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

No, the only way to end income inequality is to quit participating in it.

How does money get to the top anyway? We give it to them. We not only give it to them, we beg them to take it from us.

The solution to income inequality is quit transferring your money to the top. Get rid of that cell phone. Do you know that the makers of that phone are a multi-million dollar company? And what about the service to that phone? Multi-billion dollar company depending on who your carrier is.

And what about that cable or satellite television you have? Why are you transferring your money to the top just to watch television? And what about your internet service? It's entertainment, and entertainment that other people don't need or pay for. Quit transferring your money to those internet providers.

The list goes on and on.

You're looking in the wrong place as far as how wealth transfer from the bottom rungs to the top rungs happens, it's NOT consumers buying products from businesses. When a consumer purchases say a "cell phone" there is NO wealth transfer since the consumer is receiving VALUE greater than the price asked for said cell phone (in the consumers mind), consumers are actually richer because of things like cell phones not poorer.

There are a myriad of ways that this transfer of wealth is taking place under the current system (most of them involve manipulating the financial system and using state power for rent seeking) but one of the most egregious is via the distribution effect of inflation, in a nutshell it's central banks increasing the money supply and that NEW money ending up FIRST in the hands of the top rungs of the economic ladder, that means that they can deploy that new money (on things like land, capital equipment, equities, etc..,) BEFORE the effects of this new money (rising prices) hits the general economy. It's in effect the wealthy getting the new minted gold coins and then shaving off a bit for themselves and passing it along to the next guy as if it was still at full value by the time it gets to the last guy in the chain (the poor) it's been severely devalued (purchasing power reduced).

The OP is spot on; centralization of power in the form of the state and central banks is the mechanism via which egregious wealth inequality is created, the answer isn't further centralization of power (i.e. socialism), the answer is DECENTRALIZATION, starting with the control of the means of exchange (aka currency).

 

[gipper]

Can someone please tell me how a rich guy has ever stopped anyone of you from earning more, owning more, or anythig else?

Damn you are slow.

Do you not get that the system is rigged? Even after what has happened in the past few years....

Read the F**KING article I posted in the OP and wake the F**K up!!!

 

[gipper]

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

Damn you are slow.

A soft Socialism is what we have now.

So you think we should double down on stupid?

The only way to put an end to income inequality is to impose socialism...is that right?

No, the only way to end income inequality is to quit participating in it.

How does money get to the top anyway? We give it to them. We not only give it to them, we beg them to take it from us.

The solution to income inequality is quit transferring your money to the top. Get rid of that cell phone. Do you know that the makers of that phone are a multi-million dollar company? And what about the service to that phone? Multi-billion dollar company depending on who your carrier is.

And what about that cable or satellite television you have? Why are you transferring your money to the top just to watch television? And what about your internet service? It's entertainment, and entertainment that other people don't need or pay for. Quit transferring your money to those internet providers.

The list goes on and on.

You're looking in the wrong place as far as how wealth transfer from the bottom rungs to the top rungs happens, it's NOT consumers buying products from businesses. When a consumer purchases say a "cell phone" there is NO wealth transfer since the consumer is receiving VALUE greater than the price asked for said cell phone (in the consumers mind), consumers are actually richer because of things like cell phones not poorer.

There are a myriad of ways that this transfer of wealth is taking place under the current system (most of them involve manipulating the financial system and using state power for rent seeking) but one of the most egregious is via the distribution effect of inflation, in a nutshell it's central banks increasing the money supply and that NEW money ending up FIRST in the hands of the top rungs of the economic ladder, that means that they can deploy that new money (on things like land, capital equipment, equities, etc..,) BEFORE the effects of this new money (rising prices) hits the general economy. It's in effect the wealthy getting the new minted gold coins and then shaving off a bit for themselves and passing it along to the next guy as if it was still at full value by the time it gets to the last guy in the chain (the poor) it's been severely devalued (purchasing power reduced).

The OP is spot on; centralization of power in the form of the state and central banks is the mechanism via which egregious wealth inequality is created, the answer isn't further centralization of power (i.e. socialism), the answer is DECENTRALIZATION, starting with the control of the means of exchange (aka currency).

Thank you. At least you get it. How others in this thread fail to see the obvious is beyond me.

 

[NightFox]

Thank you. At least you get it. How others in this thread fail to see the obvious is beyond me.

Thanks for the great thread, as far as others go, one has to consider that overcoming the constant barrage of propaganda (re: "The system works for you and you can't do without us") emanating from those in power is hard for folks to overcome. One really has to do a deep dive into the nature of the global financial system and it's relationship with state power to understand that the root cause of the alarming concentration of global wealth is the state and central banks and systems like socialism only exacerbate the problem.

 

[Wilbur Right]

The solution to income inequality is quit transferring your money to the top. Get rid of that cell phone. Do you know that the makers of that phone are a multi-million dollar company? And what about the service to that phone? Multi-billion dollar company depending on who your carrier is.

And what about that cable or satellite television you have? Why are you transferring your money to the top just to watch television? And what about your internet service? It's entertainment, and entertainment that other people don't need or pay for. Quit transferring your money to those internet providers.

Why you must be a truck driver if you think a person doing without 300 dollars of monthly payments is going to fix "income inequality".

LMAO.

Hey Ray, is it true that if you save 1000 dollars, you are super wealthy?

What an idiot you are.

 

[gipper]

Thank you. At least you get it. How others in this thread fail to see the obvious is beyond me.

Thanks for the great thread, as far as others go, one has to consider that overcoming the constant barrage of propaganda (re: "The system works for you and you can't do without us") emanating from those in power is hard for folks to overcome. One really has to do a deep dive into the nature of the global financial system and it's relationship with state power to understand that the root cause of the alarming concentration of global wealth is the state and central banks and systems like socialism only exacerbate the problem.

I just find it incomprehensible that particularly after what has occurred since the crash of 07/08, that some still think the system is not rigged.

The mere fact that only 8% own 85% of the wealth, clearly proves collusion and corruption.