Posted on 10/23/2015 7:52:57 AM PDT by george76
If conventional labor and finance capital have lost their scarcity value, then the era in which financialization reaped big profits is ending.
Why is wealth/income inequality soaring? The easy answer is of course the infinite greed of Wall Street fat-cats and the politicos they buy/own.
But greed can't be the only factor, for greed is hardly unknown in the bottom 90%. The only difference between the guy who took out a liar loan to buy a house he couldn't afford so he could flip it for a fat profit and the mortgage broker who instructed him on how to scam the system and the crooked banker dumping toxic mortgage-backed securities on the Widows and Orphans Fund of Norway is the scale of the scam.
The difference isn't greed, it's the ability to avoid the consequences or have the taxpayers eat the losses, i.e. moral hazard
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The too-big-to-fail banks that bought political protection simply shifted the losses to taxpayers
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America's financialized cartel-state system institutionalizes moral hazard.
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Higher education is one example of the declining scarcity value of old models of labor and capital. When college degrees were scarce, college graduates commanded a high scarcity value. Now that tens of millions of people have degrees, the scarcity value is falling dramatically.
In response, people have worked their way up the academic food chain, earning masters degrees and PhDs. But now many of these advanced degrees are also over-abundant, and the scarcity value of MBAs, etc. is declining.
...
We can't wait around hoping the Power Elites relinquish their lock on monetary and political power: we have to individually seek out what's scarce in the emerging economy and learn the skills and make the connections to move up the value creation scale on our own power.
(Excerpt) Read more at oftwominds.com ...
A rising stock market and real estate market is usually a big factor.
Because there are doers and takers.
Simple: the free market is not allowed to reign.
The free market may not be pretty at times but it works all the time. For the betterment of all.
7. It must not be forgotten that the members of the legislative body are to have a deep stake in the game. This is an essential point, and happily is attended with no difficulty. A sufficient number, properly disposed, can alternately legislate and speculate, and speculate and legislate, and buy and sell, and sell and buy, until a due portion of the property of their constituents has passed into their hands…
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/freneau/republic2monarchy.htm
And a lot of QE dollars with nothing to do
Becausenits a political issue and a prybar to get the Left’s goals accomplished. The politicians and their donors are the real 1 %’ers but you won’t hear about any of them giving up any of their money to fix that inequality gap.
Because its a political issue and a prybar to get the Left’s goals accomplished. The politicians and their donors are the real 1 %’ers but you won’t hear about any of them giving up any of their money to fix that inequality gap.
Don’t have to read the article to know the answer — unemployment and out-of-control immigration.
Unemployment is caused by Obama/Republican policies and agendas.
Immigration is caused by Obama/Republican policies and agendas.
When you have kids out of wedlock, you hurt your income potential. And even if the parents live together, they are less likely to save for retirement or kids’ college together than if they are married.
Spending more today and saving and investing less guarantees you won’t be as wealthy.
Because democrats are determined to destroy the white middle class.
The welfare state, also known as trickle up economics, has a lot to do with it.
The welfare state doesn’t transfer “wealth” from the top to the bottom it transfers the actual “wealth” from the middle class to the top.
Bingo. We have polluted capitalism with socialistic policies, lowering opportunity for economic mobility.
Minority business ownership and home ownership is way down under Obama. The avenues to building wealth have narrowed and are concentrated in crony spots where govt interfaces with the private sector.
Govt employees are compensated at a rate much higher than private sector workers. Democrats require a permanent underclass of voters, and they have been very successful at building one.
Welcome to the Big Brother economy.
Because smart people make money in a world dominated by the lazy.
Motivation is the new currency.
Because too many democrats hold office.
Because the wealthy can move their investments, companies, etc. to more profitable (less taxed) vehicles.
Because the government is more worried about Wall St than Main St and seeks to please THAT sector only, in exchange for large cash donations.
Because wealthy companies are outsourcing high paying jobs, or importing non-Americans to sit in their cubicles for far less than Americans.
Because the actual working class is losing ground through extreme taxation, lost salaries, exorbitant health insurance costs, soaring cost of living.
Because regulations on energy, industry, and manufacturing are out of control and all and any associated higher costs land squarely on the shoulders of the end-user.
Because this effing, POS, no-good government has its jackboot on our throats and their hands in our pockets while holding guns to our heads. And that’s BOTH sides of the aisle.
Middle class America cannot breathe, let alone flourish.
What the rich in this country by and large want more than anything else is to keep others out of their class. They have joined forces with government to rig the tax system and keep the boot of government on the necks of anyone that threatens their elitist lifestyle.
Since all of us differ in our complexes of aptitudes and motivations, concern over "income inequality" makes no sense whatsoever. Of course free markets will produce income inequality. Why shouldn't they?
If you are not a Communist or National Socialist, "income inequality," reflects the basic moral principle that people are entitled to the fruits of their own labor.
To understand better, how the preoccupation with leveling is undermining the social fabric, one might consider Jefferson's description of why "Welfare" actually worked in his day: Jefferson on Welfare.
It’s demographic... older people have more money than younger people. The country is getting older so the spread is getting larger.
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