This Just In . . .

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Amskeptic
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This Just In . . .

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:36 pm

Not only are the rich still getting richer, they are now taking from the rest of us . . .

. . . from Bard College and Levy Institute economist Pavlina Tcherneva
For a long time, most of the gains from economic growth went to the bottom 90 percent of the income distribution. And, after all, the bottom 90 percent includes the vast majority of people. Since 1980, that hasn't been the case. And for the first several years of the current expansion, the bottom 90 percent saw inflation-adjusted incomes continue to fall.
The data series ends in 2012 and we don't know how long the expansion will last, so that negative income trend may evaporate before all is said and done. But unless there's a massive break with the previous three expansions we will continue to have an economy where the typical family's living standards grow much more slowly than GDP growth per se would allow.
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by hercdriver » Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:45 pm

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Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity. -Socrates

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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Bleyseng » Sun Sep 28, 2014 7:04 am

'effin Reaganomics......."Trickle down Economics" all that GOP B*llsh*t!

There is no way the Rich can buy enough for the economy to grow but they can scoop up all the money and stash it away offshore.
My question is then what happens? Are people finally going to vote out the GOP this fall?
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Jivermo » Sun Sep 28, 2014 2:24 pm

Nope. Too many brainwashed folks who watch too much television, drink too much Miller Lite, eat too much fast food, smoke too much tobacco and use too little of their brains.

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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:18 am

Jivermo wrote:Nope. Too many brainwashed folks who watch too much television, drink too much Miller Lite, eat too much fast food, smoke too much tobacco and use too little of their brains.
I am afraid that's too true as too many people listen to Sean and Rush or watch Foxnews and actually believe that crap. "Those stupid poor people on Welfare/Social Security are thieves and are on drugs plus they shouldn't vote either!" Long live the John Birch Society and Ayn Rand dogma !
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by yondermtn » Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:20 am

It would be interesting to see how the income in the posted graph is allocated amongst wages and salaries vs investment income. I would assume that the top 10% have far more interest, dividend and capital gain income than the bottom 90% do.
Very few of the bottom 90% have benefited from the bull market of the past few years while the top 10% have really benefited. All the while wages and salaries have remained fairly flat.

I'd also be interested in more data on the middle class. Maybe remove the top and bottom 10% from the equation. It doesn't appear that the Fed has an effective plan to make the changes necessary to move the economy forward and to spur an increase in wages here. And why would they? Those in a position to influence the Fed and the economy are in that top 10% laughing all the way to the bank right now and they'll probably ride this wave as long as they can.
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:30 am

yondermtn wrote:It doesn't appear that the Fed has an effective plan to make the changes necessary to move the economy forward and to spur an increase in wages here. And why would they? Those in a position to influence the Fed and the economy are in that top 10% laughing all the way to the bank right now and they'll probably ride this wave as long as they can.
Yes. It is a profound lack of will. We *know* what would spur the economy. There is a hateful selfishness that is becoming the norm. It has been rationalized into our conventional wisdoms. Those who actually know better, choose to turn away from their fellow Americans' dreams and hopes to protect their stash.

Watching the media lock-step promulgate this notion that the Republicans have a good chance to take the Senate this fall is almost frightening. I say, keep chatting it up with your fellow Americans, good serious discussions.
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by pj » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:08 pm

Reaganomics? Mr. Reagan been room temp for years. Mr Obama has been in charge for the past 6, with the compliant, yoga stretching, pilates limber Mr. Reid from Nevada assisting him in helping the awful 1 percent. For all of his everyman rhetoric, Mr. Obama is a friend of big business, big banking, and all those big donors that line up on both coasts for those $50,000-$100,000 rubber chicken, 3 green bean dinners.

Must be hard to realize that all that hope and change bullshit six years ago was a ruse to steal your vote. Gitmo is still open, Al Queda is not dead, boots on the ground in Iraq& Syria, GM is building cars that do kill their customers, 41 million of us are on snap benefits, standard of living is down over the last 6 years, we owe 17 trillion and if the government was honest with the unemployment #'s we'd probably be in the10+% range.

I guess one of the commenters was right, it's all those God**** Republican's fault.

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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by hambone » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:49 pm

Am I missing something? The tone of these "discussions" really sucks. Bitter irony? Ironically bitter?
Part of the reason I stay out of free speech anymore...
Fuck the Republicans. And the Democrats too while we're at it. Karl Marx? Fuck him too.
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by JLT » Fri Oct 03, 2014 1:59 pm

I solved the Cryptoquote puzzle from the paper the other day and found it to be a quote from Robert Bosch. It went something like this:

"I don't pay good wages because I make a lot of money. I make a lot of money because I pay good wages."

We need more of that attitude.
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by JLT » Fri Oct 03, 2014 2:24 pm

pj wrote:Reaganomics? Mr. Reagan been room temp for years. Mr Obama has been in charge for the past 6,
Correction. Obama has been president for the past six years, but with an obstructionist congress, he hasn't been in charge. For example, Gitmo is still open because Republicans won't have terrorists corrupting the fine morals of our present prison inmates here in the US.

Yes, a lot of us are on SNAP benefits (a program which the GOP is trying to emasculate), GM is building killer cars (which they seem to be recalling faster than they can build them ... not a bad thing considering the alternative), and we still owe trillions on a national debt that Republican administrations ran up like there was no tomorrow. (Remember Cheney? "Deficits don't matter.")

And I agree that "Mr. Obama is a friend of big business, big banking, and all those big donors that line up on both coasts for those $50,000-$100,000 rubber chicken, 3 green bean dinners." That is how the political process works, and it sucks. The only cure for that is campaign financing reform, and our present politicians (both parties, but mainly Republican) are too entrenched in the current system to make that happen. There's a movement for a constitutional amendment or two to specify that money isn't speech and corporations aren't people, but that's not going to make much headway with the people who are really in charge.

As for "Reaganomics," the Great Communicator may be room temperature, but his theories of trickle-down economics are still held as hot gospel among Republicans, along with "minimum wage kills small business," "the super-rich are job creators," and "de-regulation is the only road to prosperity, the more the better." All of which have been refuted time and again. (I find it ironic that while his economic policies are still held in great reverence, his social policies would have made him un-electable in the modern GOP climate.)
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Oct 06, 2014 6:55 am

JLT wrote: And I agree that "Mr. Obama is a friend of big business, big banking, and all those big donors that line up on both coasts for those $50,000-$100,000 rubber chicken, 3 green bean dinners." That is how the political process works, and it sucks. The only cure for that is campaign financing reform, and our present politicians (both parties, but mainly Republican) are too entrenched in the current system to make that happen. There's a movement for a constitutional amendment or two to specify that money isn't speech and corporations aren't people, but that's not going to make much headway with the people who are really in charge.
The above, I can continue to discuss.

"Must be hard to realize that all that hope and change bullshit six years ago was a ruse to steal your vote."
The above here, I cannot discuss. It does not go deep enough into the reality of our predicament. I think money is the problem, that does not make me a democratic cheerleader, it does not make me a republican hater, it makes me wonder how money became equivalent to speech. That, I would discuss. I agree that Obama has been a disappointment in so many ways, but the problems I would like to solve will all be here when he leaves office. The money problem is a big problem. Republicans happen to embrace money way more eagerly than the Democrats who have to compete with their own money-making.
Colin
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Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by TrollFromDownBelow » Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:11 pm

As JLT alluded to, a lot of the problem stems from (relatively) recent rulings from the Supreme Court that has effectively opened up the spigots from Corporations and private individuals. It appears in my simplistic mind that donating money = free speech, therefore, since free speech is one of the tenants this country was founded on, therefore it shouldn't be regulated (or at least that is what I am interpreting from the Supreme Court rulings). Should go back to the old methodology, where donating money should be akin to one person = one vote; there were limits on corporations and wealthy individuals which kept them from "sticking their fingers on the scale" of the democratic process.
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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:34 am

TrollFromDownBelow wrote:As JLT alluded to, a lot of the problem stems from (relatively) recent rulings from the Supreme Court that has effectively opened up the spigots from Corporations and private individuals. It appears in my simplistic mind that donating money = free speech, therefore, since free speech is one of the tenants this country was founded on, therefore it shouldn't be regulated (or at least that is what I am interpreting from the Supreme Court rulings). Should go back to the old methodology, where donating money should be akin to one person = one vote; there were limits on corporations and wealthy individuals which kept them from "sticking their fingers on the scale" of the democratic process.
I can see the money game at work down here in Georgia. The Koch Brothers have unleashed a torrent of their "speech" in glossy ads that are nakedly lying. This is amazingly damaging to our Nation. If we cannot depend on our language to actually communicate reality, we are doomed. I have seen families succumb to mental illness when children's natural instinctual grasp of reality is twisted beyond repair by parents who have their own agendas and twisted views. We run the risk of making ourselves psychically sick when we allow naked lying to take hold in our public common. If the liars are not challenged by truth (as opposed to equally stupid lies from the other side), then we all lose our mooring.

Clue: it is not about Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and President Obama.
It is more about "Friends Of Florida Marshland, paid for by Exxon Mobil".
Loser in this case is the word "friend".
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: This Just In . . .

Post by Jivermo » Mon Oct 13, 2014 8:07 am

I am sick of all the bullshit from both sides. It is a continuous torrent of lies and deception. Let's not even get into the incompetence shown in the healthcare/government systems in dealing with the Ebola crisis. We have some major problems facing us as a nation, and we need smart, courageous decision makers to lead. Where are they?

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