Wealth Inequality In America...and its perception?

[elder999]

Just watch, and post comments.....I don't really have one...

 

[granfire]

wow.

 

[pgsmith]

I guess I'm just surprised that people don't know that already. Too much reality TV maybe.

 

[K-man]

I have pointed out this problem on other threads and then get accused of 'hating' America. It is a sad reality that this type of uneven spread of wealth will eventually bring the country to its knees.
:asian:

 

[Makalakumu]

I posted this in another discussion, but I think the points truly apply here because they explain how this all happened.

I'm going to pull together a little data for everybody so that they can understand more clearly what is actually happening with this situation.

This Chart shows the growth in food stamp usage since 1970. It's topping out at 44 million, but the truth is that there are over 15 other food assistance programs that American's utilize, reducing some of the pressure on the food stamp program. So, this chart would actually be showing a steeper rise if we aggregated the data. According to the source I quoted in my earlier post, there are over 100 million utilizing government food assistance programs.

This chart shows the purchasing power of the US dollar since 1913 when the Federal Reserve was created in order to "protect and serve" the economy. The 100 year anniversary of the Federal Reserve is coming this year, so this post is very apropos.

This chart tracks inflation from nearly the beginning of the country to 2006. Notice that when the dollar was based on a physical commodity that was limited in supply and stable in value (GOLD) the inflation rates were basically steady. Even the Civil War only caused slight blips in the inflation rates because the amount of dollars was only limited by how quickly gold could be mined from the ground.

In 1971, Nixon abandoned the use of the Gold Standard and the US completely forswore sound money principles. Please note that this is where our Food Stamps Chart begins.

This chart looks at the national debt from 1900 and projects it to 2020. Please note what happened when the US abandoned the gold standard and sound money principles.

I think the truth of this situation is now becoming clear. What people need to realize is that there is a direct relationship between dollar devaluation, inflation, government, debt and food assistance. Government spending on maintaining this vast overseas empire of 700+ military bases, the gross expansion of social entitlement programs, and the issuance of corporate welfare is completely destroying the US dollar.

This is why so many people are on food stamps. This is why families are finding that their dollars get spent faster and faster. This is why the wealth disparity in this country is growing and growing.

The reason why this is occurring is because the people at the top of the power oligarchy are standing the closest to the printing presses when the new dollars fly off of it. They can use it first to buy what they want and as soon as they do this, the value of those dollars inflate. It's a big scam and nearly everyone in America is getting poorer and poorer from it.

Here is a little video that explains the wealth inequality in the US and gives you some numbers that you might not have expected.

http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/

Here is a video that explain how all of this information ties together and explains it. This is the explanation that neither the power elite in the Left or the Right really want to hear because so many wealthy special interests control them.

I think we really need to stop talking about how the poor are so bad and how this is all just a problem with the lower classes. This is a problem with money and politics itself and we need some serious changes before any of it can be changed for the better.

One thing that I think I can predict with a fair amount of accuracy is that staying the course and arguing about everything but this will only cause this problem to get worse and worse. If 100 million people are standing in electronic breadlines now, it's only a matter of time before you and your family are going to be standing there.

 

[Steve]

I've said before that the most astonishing achievement of the modern GOP is that they have convinced the lower middle class that the rich people are being victimized and need to be defended.

 

[K-man]

The people pulling the strings have done it well. It's called how to transfer the wealth from Middle class to the Wealthy and in the process increase the Poor. The secret is to keep the Middle class happy while they are being fleeced, that way they think they are better of than the Poor. Then the Poor work for almost nothing to compound the wealth of the Wealthy. As the Poor work they get taxed to pay for their services but the Wealthy process their earnings offshore so they get to keep almost everything.

Yep, I think I can get that ... sadly.
:disgust:

 

[Makalakumu]

The people pulling the strings have done it well. It's called how to transfer the wealth from Middle class to the Wealthy and in the process increase the Poor. The secret is to keep the Middle class happy while they are being fleeced, that way they think they are better of than the Poor. Then the Poor work for almost nothing to compound the wealth of the Wealthy. As the Poor work they get taxed to pay for their services but the Wealthy process their earnings offshore so they get to keep almost everything.

Yep, I think I can get that ... sadly.
:disgust:

All of this happens because the wealthy control the government. They have used government power to take other people's money, limit their competition, inflate the currency to pay for things that benefit them, and in some cases outright murder people who oppose their policies.

Some people are convinced that all that needs to happen is for the small people to wake up and use their democratic institutions to take the power back. I am not so sure. I think when you consider the fact that the power of government has always ended up in the hands of elite, you'll realize that no revolution in the power structure can actually change things.

The only thing that could really make a difference, IMO, is to drastically reduce the size and scope of government power, so that elites have far less control over the economy and people's lives.

I realize that this is not the message that Liberals want to hear, but it's probably the only real step we can make in restoring some semblance of balance to the system.

Throw the Ring into the Fire so the powerful cannot use it against you.

 

[Big Don]

My grandfather never finished the eighth grade. He worked in Ventura county in the 1930's driving a team of horses for $1.25 a day, 40 years later, when he retired he was running what was then the largest lemon packing house in the world.
Oprah Winfrey was born to an unwed teenage mother, she went on to become a BILLIONAIRE.
Is luck involved, yeah, but, like the man said, The harder I work, the luckier I get...

 

[Steve]

My grandfather never finished the eighth grade. He worked in Ventura county in the 1930's driving a team of horses for $1.25 a day, 40 years later, when he retired he was running what was then the largest lemon packing house in the world.
Oprah Winfrey was born to an unwed teenage mother, she went on to become a BILLIONAIRE.
Is luck involved, yeah, but, like the man said, The harder I work, the luckier I get...

It's like the lottery, otherwise known as the poor person's pension.

 

[Big Don]

It's like the lottery, otherwise known as the poor person's pension.

You're right, there is absolutely no reason anyone should ever work to better their self or their position in life. They should just accept they are peons and worship those above them, while begging for scraps

 

[Makalakumu]

When I bought my first car, I paid less than a dollar a gallon for gas.

Here is a chart that tracks gasoline prices since I was old enough to drive.



When you compare that to what the price of gas would be if it was measured in gold, something very interesting happens.

View attachment $gas-1995.png

Now you start to see exactly how much inflation has robbed Americans of their wealth. The price of gas measured in gold is actually dropping. This is occurring because the technology getting out of the ground is getting better and better.

The value of the dollar is eroding and that is truly what is driving up the price of gas.

So, what does this do to the average American family?

You can work harder and longer now for dollars that are eroding in value. This pushes American families out of the Middle Class.

 

[Steve]

You're right, there is absolutely no reason anyone should ever work to better their self or their position in life. They should just accept they are peons and worship those above them, while begging for scraps

LOL... project much? Don't give up, Don. You can do it. I'm sure you'll be the next Oprah.

 

[Steve]

When I bought my first car, I paid less than a dollar a gallon for gas.

Here is a chart that tracks gasoline prices since I was old enough to drive.

View attachment 18368

When you compare that to what the price of gas would be if it was measured in gold, something very interesting happens.

View attachment 18369

Now you start to see exactly how much inflation has robbed Americans of their wealth. The price of gas measured in gold is actually dropping. This is occurring because the technology getting out of the ground is getting better and better.

The value of the dollar is eroding and that is truly what is driving up the price of gas.

So, what does this do to the average American family?

You can work harder and longer now for dollars that are eroding in value. This pushes American families out of the Middle Class.

And collusion, price fixing and an intentional lack of modernization in the refineries has nothing to do with the price of gas. Come on...

 

[ballen0351]

I've said before that the most astonishing achievement of the modern GOP is that they have convinced the lower middle class that the rich people are being victimized and need to be defended.

I think everyone needs to be defended the rich the middle class and the poor. You apparently believe we can keep taking more and more from the rich and they will just say "ok"

 

[Big Don]

LOL... project much? Don't give up, Don. You can do it. I'm sure you'll be the next Oprah.

Life was never easy for me. I was born, a poor black child

 

[Big Don]

And collusion, price fixing and an intentional lack of modernization in the refineries has nothing to do with the price of gas. Come on...

Environmental assho, er activists having nothing to do with it at all...

 

[granfire]

Environmental assho, er activists having nothing to do with it at all...

Not really.
If they did, gas would be much higher.

nah,we are being milked by the big oil companies, while they make record profit, they also stash away that government money all while not paying taxes...
Please remember: Before Hurricane Katrina gas was a 1,50....after KAtrina it was 4 bucks. On top of that, the prices did not go down until the market crashed. That was the only time I can remember that the gas prices dropped around Thanksgiving!

let's face it, they got us by the short and curlies...
(BTW: 'green' technologies could be a growth market)

 

[Big Don]

Not really.
If they did, gas would be much higher.

nah,we are being milked by the big oil companies, while they make record profit, they also stash away that government money all while not paying taxes...
Please remember: Before Hurricane Katrina gas was a 1,50....after KAtrina it was 4 bucks. On top of that, the prices did not go down until the market crashed. That was the only time I can remember that the gas prices dropped around Thanksgiving!

let's face it, they got us by the short and curlies...
(BTW: 'green' technologies could be a growth market)

The evil oil companies put in all the effort and government, local, state, federal, take 4 TIMES what those evil oil pumping bastards do...
Yep, the Oil companies are soaking us...

 

[Makalakumu]

And collusion, price fixing and an intentional lack of modernization in the refineries has nothing to do with the price of gas. Come on...

What's interesting about this, when I really looked into it, is that technology has been getting better. Oil companies are getting out of the ground for less energy despite the difficulty in finding new supplies. This will be a problem later, but that's a subject for another thread. So, why are people getting soaked for over 4.5 times the price gas was twenty years ago when the "real" price of oil has actually gone down?

The dollar has been tanking in value. If you look at the debt chart I posted above and consider all of the spending the government is doing off the books, those new dollars are stripping away the value of every existing dollar. The inflation has hit commodities and the stock market, because that's where the big banks on Wall Street can make their real money betting. This is one of the major factors driving the inequality of wealth in America.

Big corporations control the government and control the printing presses. They steal everyone else's wealth by inflating the value of money. In essence, this is exactly like a tax, but this one goes straight to the banksters.