Goodbye Middle Class

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: Ursae_Majoris
What is it with you and political threads?
Don't you have a crime to solve or something?
How's the socialist paradise of Michigan working out for you?


These are social threads UR. People are making them political it appears.

I just see a problem. Don't you?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Another fact: 51%, yes, 51% pay absolutely no Federal Income Tax.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/25/60minutes/main20046867.shtml

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2...S-Billions.aspx

Corporate tax havens, you're welcome too.

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Originally Posted By: ZZman
No more force than any other job. If you don't want to pay my salary with tax dollars move elsewhere. An island maybe?

Oh so you have no guilt at all?

You are greed free?

I admit I have guilt......can you?

Guilt for what? I have no idea what it is I'm supposed to be guilty of.


Have you bought the cheapest goods you could from other countries instead of seeking out American made goods?

Have you invested in companies that moved jobs overseas?

Would you still have invested in companies that moved jobs overseas knowing that they were doing it just to make more profit? Or kept being invested in companies who cut jobs?

Did you or we raise a rukus when this happened? Did you or we give it a second thought?

I think we all have a part in the problem.

But I suppose in your mind there is no guilt in that is there? It is life. Suffering for some is expected. It is business.

 

[05ChevyI5]

How's that "Hoax and Chains" working for ya??

 

[Trav]

Quote:
These are social threads UR. People are making them political it appears.



Thats the problem with socialism! The communist,socialist,progressives or whatever you want to call them are at their very root political.
Their whole Robin Hood social agenda is hugely political thinly guised as social issues.

This using scare tactics,accusations about some people or groups having more than their fair share,while the middle class is deteriorating is pure socialist clap trap IMO.

Time to shut off the freeloaders,fire up the smoke stacks,deregulate industry,throttle the EPA and throw these bums out of office that scream hope and change and get America working again then and only then will you see the middle class prosper.
again JMHO.

 

[chubbs1]

Have you seen what CEO's are making nowadays?? CEO of Viacom cable network made over $800 MILLION. The rich keep getting richer and the middle class keep getting poorer.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
People are on Unemployment and food stamps because they can. Years ago people would have planted a garden. You don't see them much anymore with the explosion of the food stamp program. Why plant potatoes when you can get someone else to feed you? No point.


Agree. People have gotten dumber and lazier - and thus fatter as well. It's really amazing.

What amazes me more is that a cellphone and cable TV are necessities. I think if you dont make over $150k/yr, you CANT afford them. That's about $200 to the typical American's bottom line every month!

 

[ZZman]

Yes.

Executive Paywatch

http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/index.cfm

 

[fdcg27]

The simple fact is that American population increased by 100 million from 1975 to 2010, while per capita GDP nearly doubled in constant dollars.
There is something wrong with our economy?
We are all being impoverished and enslaved?
Wake up!
I wish that more of you had been of age during the early 'eighties.
We had a very similar situation economically, and it took years to recover, but recover we did.
The American economy reached lows in unemployment during the mid to late 'nineties not seen before or since.
We have a vibrant and adaptable people and economy.
Good times will return, and there is no secret conspiracy on the left or the right to prevent this.
The middle calss is not dead.
If it were, sales of BMWs and Mercedes in our country would have tanked.
They haven't.
Those we would consider middle class are most of the buyers.

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2


Agree. People have gotten dumber and lazier - and thus fatter as well. It's really amazing.

What amazes me more is that a cellphone and cable TV are necessities. I think if you dont make over $150k/yr, you CANT afford them. That's about $200 to the typical American's bottom line every month!


They are "luxuries" the lower income people can afford.

Wow....that would mean I can't have or ever have a cellphone or cable TV.

 

[JHZR2]

Quote:
Here are just some of the sobering facts:

-- There are 8.5 million people receiving unemployment insurance and over 40 million receiving food stamps.



I agree with above, grow a garden. And make the food stamps good only for raw, fresh food. That is all that should be given off the dole.

Quote:

-- At the current pace of job creation, the economy won't return to full employment until 2018.



So be it. Meanwhile in certain fields, we cannot find people to hire. It is the rap star attitude. Add some complex math and science into the curriculum and people may be more employable.

Quote:
-- Middle-income jobs are disappearing from the economy. The share of middle-income jobs in the United States has fallen from 52% in 1980 to 42% in 2010.



You can thank wal-mart for that... And who buys at wal-mart? Average Joe American. So they can thank themselves.

Quote:

-- Middle-income jobs have been replaced by low-income jobs, which now make up 41% of total employment.



Again, Wal-Mart effect. The companies can then put the workers over a barrel by competing them against China, India, etc. What can you do?

Quote:

-- 17 million Americans with college degrees are doing jobs that require less than the skill levels associated with a bachelor's degree.



And whose fault is this? In an era where colleges cannot graduate math/science majors anywhere near the rate of business, art, etc., what else do we get but a dumbed down population not good for much, and wanting (expecting) too much money to do it.

Quote:

-- Over the past year, nominal wages grew only 1.7% while all consumer prices, including food and energy, increased by 2.7%.



Maybe if they hadnt printed all the money in the intent to protect the middle class, there would be no issue?

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
The simple fact is that American population increased by 100 million from 1975 to 2010, while per capita GDP nearly doubled in constant dollars.
There is something wrong with our economy?
We are all being impoverished and enslaved?
Wake up!
I wish that more of you had been of age during the early 'eighties.
We had a very similar situation economically, and it took years to recover, but recover we did.
The American economy reached lows in unemployment during the mid to late 'nineties not seen before or since.
We have a vibrant and adaptable people and economy.
Good times will return, and there is no secret conspiracy on the left or the right to prevent this.
The middle calss is not dead.
If it were, sales of BMWs and Mercedes in our country would have tanked.
They haven't.
Those we would consider middle class are most of the buyers.


Please define middle class income to me? No middle class people I know buy BMW's or Mercedes unless they are very used.

I would define Middle class as about $ 30-100,000 a year. Upper middle above that.

 

[3311]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
These are social threads UR. People are making them political it appears.



Thats the problem with socialism! The communist,socialist,progressives or whatever you want to call them are at their very root political.
Their whole Robin Hood social agenda is hugely political thinly guised as social issues.

This using scare tactics,accusations about some people or groups having more than their fair share,while the middle class is deteriorating is pure socialist clap trap IMO.

Time to shut off the freeloaders,fire up the smoke stacks,deregulate industry,throttle the EPA and throw these bums out of office that scream hope and change and get America working again then and only then will you see the middle class prosper.
again JMHO.
+1. We need to also do away with corporate taxes as well.

 

[simple_gifts]

Seems to be a lot of demagoging
Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
These are social threads UR. People are making them political it appears.



Thats the problem with socialism! The communist,socialist,progressives or whatever you want to call them are at their very root political.
Their whole Robin Hood social agenda is hugely political thinly guised as social issues.

This using scare tactics,accusations about some people or groups having more than their fair share,while the middle class is deteriorating is pure socialist clap trap IMO.

Time to shut off the freeloaders,fire up the smoke stacks,deregulate industry,throttle the EPA and throw these bums out of office that scream hope and change and get America working again then and only then will you see the middle class prosper.
again JMHO.


Is your degree in demagoguery?

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Originally Posted By: JHZR2


Agree. People have gotten dumber and lazier - and thus fatter as well. It's really amazing.

What amazes me more is that a cellphone and cable TV are necessities. I think if you dont make over $150k/yr, you CANT afford them. That's about $200 to the typical American's bottom line every month!


They are "luxuries" the lower income people can afford.

Wow....that would mean I can't have or ever have a cellphone or cable TV.


Nobody deserves "luxuries". Lower-income people especially! It is the same as taking food stamps versus growing a garden.

Maybe or maybe not. But don't tell me that you need food stamps, unemployment payments, or Uncle Sam to pay for your retirement when those $200/month could have gone to something more constructive.

There are a lot of pulls on one's money that just didnt exist before... They all take away from wealth-building potential.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I think if you dont make over $150k/yr, you CANT afford them. That's about $200 to the typical American's bottom line every month!


That's too extreme. I have a plan that's $80 / month for 3 phone and I get to cut my landline to save $20. There's basic cable TV for $20 / month (or use antenna) and you can get DSL in many cases for only $20 a month after tax. Not all that extreme and you don't need $150k a year to afford that.

But of course, if you are low income you have to make up your own priority, and cell phone / cable TV / internet connection are not on top.

 

[ZZman]

Don't you know that cell phones and cable TV help keep the poor masses content and quiet?

 

[JHZR2]

Perhaps. Bread and circuses, right?

Of course that is why some will never be able to pull themselves up and just claim that it is impossible and a made for TV story...

 

[pbm]

Our leader has REFUSED an offer by the CEO of IBM to save the taxpayers 900 BILLION in Medicare fraud for FREE.
I wonder why?

http://www.examiner.com/political-transc...use-define-free

 

[Trav]

No but i have seen naked socialism up front and personal in East Germany in the early 80's and all this social nonsense being talked about here in the U.S. echoes everything they preached there,its like reading the same book verse and page.

Dumb down the people beginning in the schools,get them fat,and lazy then convince them that high pay and profit is taking something from them.In reality the Government is just stealing more and more freedom away with every new law they pass,they are the real tyrants.

Does anyone really believe that mandating compensation limits on companies or CEO's is going to make even the slightest difference to their self inflicted misery or even put one more dime in their pockets?

If i could make 800 million and not get locked up doing it i would be the happiest man on earth,all the more power to those who can.Personally I admire and salute those who make a fortune and live the dream.