Inequality in America is getting worse according to top economists

[Wolfman31]

For a democratic nation, America hasn't had enough revolutions. That's one thing we didn't borrow from the French. We must not really have it that bad if we're content to just sit on the couch watching TV while stuffing our fat faces with junk food instead of grabbing pitchforks and storming the castle. Or maybe our oligarchical overlords have found the exact formula for keeping the masses placated and just comfortable enough to not do anything about how much they're getting fleeced.

[Thepersona]

Have and Have nots?

More like Not Lazy and Lazy.

more like, i was born into a family or i wasnt...
this system is fucking luck based, from the get go, the conservative argument that the problem is laziness irates me, say that to the face of a man that has to work 2 shifts a day to make ends meet, and he will break your nose

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Maybe not in your country of Canada, but in the US it's been demonstrated many times. Also, people in the US move in and out of different economic "tiers" all the time. Most people who qualify as "poor" don't stay in the "poor" tier very long.

no, it hasnt. since Reagan put the system in work, the income inequality has increased, the gap between productivity and wages has increased, the overall working conditions (hours, vacations etc) has decreased. the only people that are better overall, are the top 1%

Edit: Do these people understand how economics works? or are they so blinded by propaganda that facts can't penetrate their skulls?

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Liberals: "Let's expand immigration and ignore illegal immigration for the sake of diversity! Let's flood our labor pool with unskilled to educated immigrants willing to work far below market value for their work."

Business Owners/Corporations: "Thanks liberals!"

Liberals: "WTF, why is there so much income inequality? I don't understand!"

Business Owners/Corporations: "You can't be this fucking stupid?"

oh, ffs, you know that inmigration doesnt affect wages in a significant way, and even then, wages have been stagnant for the last 30 years, before any "mass inmigration wave" came around?
why these people are so stupid?

[Macaquerie]

For a democratic nation, America hasn't had enough revolutions. That's one thing we didn't borrow from the French. We must not really have it that bad if we're content to just sit on the couch watching TV while stuffing our fat faces with junk food instead of grabbing pitchforks and storming the castle. Or maybe our oligarchical overlords have found the exact formula for keeping the masses placated and just comfortable enough to not do anything about how much they're getting fleeced.

The real genius of the American system is that it's very good at quarantining societal problems into spaces that mainstream society rarely bothers interacting with, like inner cities and trailer parks. That way the average middle class American can go on believing that life is hunky dory and that all the undesirables could enjoy the same kind of comfort if only they were also willing to "bust their ass" working at some pointless 9-5 office job.

But that is just the way that the middle class always is. The elites give them a taste of luxury and status, and all of a sudden they think they are hot shit and can't wait to point their fingers at the poor for being lazy and irresponsible, all the while conveniently ignoring that their lifestyles are built on debt and unsustainable levels of consumption. You would have thought that the recession would have taught these people a lesson, but it seems like they've gone right back to their old ways.

[Elba]

Oh no! What should we do????

Murder the rich. Install full communism.

[Chrno]

Thats fine, I'll just get one of the other 3 billion people to do that.
Everyone can clean a toilet, not everyone can run a successful company.
You get paid for what you do and how many people can do what you do.

Yes, and thus there is a inequality.
The entire idea behind caputalism is having inequality
Input =/= output.

tl;dr: F. the bottom 50%

[Deleted]

Yes, and thus there is a inequality.
The entire idea behind caputalism is having inequality
Input =/= output.

tl;dr: F. the bottom 50%

How is it my fault that people can't do more then flip a premade burger on a premade bun at McDonalds or clean the toilets?
Why should I be looking out for random people I don't know, will never know and will probably not even meet once in my life?

In Capitalism there is equality, in where you start. There is a place for everyone if you work for it. My dad isn't a smart man but worked all his life and owns a pretty decent business now (construction) that makes a decent amount of money. Took him 7 tries before he got it right and my childhood wasn't one were we had much but at least he made it.

tl;dr the bottom 50% is fucking them selfs by not improving and growing.

[Priestiality]

If your only defense is "But Hillary" you should probably accept that your position is indefensible. The middle class became what it was in post-WW2 America due to high corporate tax rates as well as any personal income over $400k being taxed at roughly 78% until Reaganomics came along. While high income taxes on the wealthiest certainly helped in keeping taxes low for lower income workers, the loopholes allowing corporations to pay very little, or in some cases zero and even negative tax rates (cough General Electric cough), is directly responsible for the gap between blue-collar workers and executives. In the 1950's CEOs made roughly 4x what the average American worker made. In modern times they make 20x, 50x, 100x, even 1000x more than the average worker in their companies. Prior to the invention of "trickle-down economics" it benefited companies to re-invest by expanding their businesses. Capital used to build another location and hire more workers was not subject to taxation, which allowed companies to report less profit and thus pay less taxes. In the 1980's Reagan and his ilk decided it was better to just cut out the middle man and tell them they didn't have to pay such high taxes anymore, and created loopholes allowing them to store profits off-shore so they no longer had to pay their already lower taxes on large percentages of their profits.

On the subject of personal income tax, the rich seem to get caught up on the raw numbers, while ignoring percentages. The poorest of Americans pay anywhere from 21%-28% when combined with state taxes. The rich, after abusing loopholes in investment laws and the like, pay AT MOST 30%, but often quite a bit less. It is much more detrimental to a person making $30k/yr to lose $7500 of it to taxes than it is for someone making $4.2m/yr to lose $300k.

I swear most of you that don't realize this aren't even old enough to vote. The historical data is all there and freely available on the internet, and anyone that lived it can tell you it's true.

[Deleted]

tl;dr the bottom 50% is fucking them selfs by not improving and growing.

And its this fukking dumb attitude that helps to perpetuate the problem... these kind of blinkered, narrowminded assholes who ignore facts and reality.

Are you seriusly telling me that a child born into a rich family has exactly the same life opportunities than a child born on a trailer park?

Why do i bother to ask!?!? Because narrowminded fukkwits like you truly believe they do.

[Shadowferal]

This isn't inequality. Output = income. You earn what you're worth in a free market.

A free market is a myth and a joke.
A myth perpetuated by the wealthy to keep the joke of "income equality" running.

[Macaquerie]

Yes, and thus there is a inequality.
The entire idea behind caputalism is having inequality
Input =/= output.

tl;dr: F. the bottom 50%

Well from a purely free market standpoint, the economy does much better when wealth is more evenly distributed because it allows money to circulate which creates more value, as opposed to being unproductively hoarded. However, humans are often concerned more about status, so I'd rather we'd all be poorer as long as I can be on top of the mountain, regardless of how much smaller that mountain actually is.

[Deleted]

A free market is a myth and a joke.
A myth perpetuated by the wealthy to keep the joke of "income equality" running.

Exactly true... as EVERY study proves.

The truth is that fewer and fewer people are escaping the poverty trap. Every study and every academical analysis has come to this conclusion over the past 20 years. Personally i find it hilarious that dumb Americans stick to the old fashioned anecdote that theres an "American dream" that everyone can achieve if you put enough work in. This was true around 100 years ago... but definitely doesnt exist now.

[petej0]

Except you've been doing that for close to 40 years.

None of that has happened.

Actually it has. Problem is, it has diminishing returns. So both sides are wrong.

[Chrno]

And its this fukking dumb attitude that helps to perpetuate the problem... these kind of blinkered, narrowminded assholes who ignore facts and reality.

Are you seriusly telling me that a child born into a rich family has exactly the same life opportunities than a child born on a trailer park?

Why do i bother to ask!?!? Because narrowminded fukkwits like you truly believe they do.

Edit: post deleted

[Shadowferal]

Maybe not in your country of Canada, but in the US it's been demonstrated many times. Also, people in the US move in and out of different economic "tiers" all the time. Most people who qualify as "poor" don't stay in the "poor" tier very long.

When has "trickle down theory" ever worked?
Yet you seemed to have been spoonfed this shitty belief so please tell us when has this worked?
We've already seen that making that giving tax money to the wealthy increases inequality...and it's still ongoing..but you want us to believe that the OP is wrong and that it's working...?
Maybe it's just "working as intended" to keep everyone "in their place."

Wealth does not trickle down from the rich to the poor. Period.

In fact, researchers found that when the top earners in society make more money, it actually slows down economic growth. On the other hand, when poorer people earn more, society as a whole benefits.

The researchers calculated that when the richest 20% of society increase their income by one percentage point, the annual rate of growth shrinks by nearly 0.1% within five years.

This shows that "the benefits do not trickle down," the researchers wrote in their report, which analyzed over 150 countries.

By contrast, when the lowest 20% of earners see their income grow by one percentage point, the rate of growth increases by nearly 0.4% over the same period.

[petej0]

oh, ffs, you know that inmigration doesnt affect wages in a significant way, and even then, wages have been stagnant for the last 30 years, before any "mass inmigration wave" came around?
why these people are so stupid?

What is considered significant?

Even a half percent difference in wages annually after 30 years could be almost $2 an hour in wage difference.

Illegal immigrants have been coming for decades. Reagan's illegal amnesty effected 4 million immigrants. We have a steady stream of people entering this country working illegally, taking lower wage (unskilled) jobs that low skilled citizens could take, and you dont think it would have any effect on wages?

[Tennis]

And u think Establishment Hillary would have done any different?

LMAO

Hillary isn't going to massively cut taxes on the rich like cheetoh.

[Deleted]

Hillary isn't going to massively cut taxes on the rich like cheetoh.

No intelligent person is going to believe that Establishment Hillary was not going to be hard on the rich... you gotta be a special kind of dumb to believe that crap.

[Thepersona]

No intelligent person is going to believe that Establishment Hillary was not going to be hard on the rich... you gotta be a special kind of dumb to believe that crap.

Sorry but hillary at most would maintain the statu quo, which is better in the grand scheme of things than pushing for massive tax breaks

[Martymark]

When you cut taxes on the "rich" (this includes big corporations) it allows them the capital to hire more employees and raise wages for their employees. This is also called reinvesting in the business to make the business grow. It helps everyone, including the stakeholders of the business.

Also lowering taxes on small businesses and reducing red tape allows them to do the same, just on a smaller scale.

Simple economic sense. Hence, the "bottom 50%" see their wages increase and increased jobs.

Wow, I didn't know that. We shouldn't tax the rich and corporations at all! We should only tax the poor and make up the difference by taxing the poor extra hard.

[Exeris]

Isn't it at least 30-40 years since any U.S. politician cared about the income of the middle and lower class? Judging from their actions I mean, words are cheap.