Posted on 10/28/2011 11:28:34 PM PDT by Olog-hai
… Inequality in America is greater than it has been in almost a century. Those fortunate enough to belong to the 1 percent, made up of the super-rich, stand on one side of the divide; the remaining 99 percent on the other. Even for a country that has always accepted opposite extremes as part of its identity, the chasm has simply grown too vast. Those who succeed in the US are congratulated rather than berated. Resenting other people's wealth is viewed as supporting class struggle, which is something very frowned upon.
Still, statistics indicate that the growing disparity is genuinely overwhelming. In fact, the 400 wealthiest Americans now own more than the "lower" 150 million Americans put together.
Nearly two-thirds of net private assets are concentrated in the hands of 5 percent of Americans. In comparison, the upper 5 percent of Germany hold less than half of net assets. In 2009 alone, at the same time as the US was being convulsed by mass layoffs, the number of millionaires in the country skyrocketed. Indeed, if you look at the reports it compiles on every country in the world, even the CIA has concluded that wealth disparity is greater in the US than in Tunisia or Egypt. …
Economists and political scientists believe the US has entered a new Gilded Age, a period of systematic inequality dominated by a new class of super-rich. The only difference is that, this time around, the super-rich are hedge fund managers and financial magnates instead of oil and rail barons. The academics fear this change could have serious consequences for the country's economic future. As they see it, this extreme inequality threatens to dramatically slow growth in the world's largest economy. …
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
but is NOT happening....
"skills" are not being rewarded...the political class has seen to it that the unqualified, the underqualified, the "selected" are sought after, NOT the most qualified...
and the other thing that capitalism presupposed is that the market is brutal to everyone...not just American goods and services...but to everyone's ....that laws are not enacted to put foreigners at huge advantages....
crony capitalism is what we have now...
and with that, YES the rich do amass great wealth at the expense of the legitimate workers...
that is ecomonics...period...
a big mistake is thinking that because some extremely lucky few...like Oprah....who btw has no significant talent except she was a black woman at the right time....that just anybody can do it...
I love it when I get a thoughtful reply like yours on here. That is how FR is supposed to be, the way it used to be all the time. Thanks.
“The question is, have we created such a disparity that we have picked off the middle class, “
Just like during the Gilded Age. to survive and regenerate, the middle class will have to learn solid skills and then live according to their means. Businesses that used to employ laborers at a solid wage/salary to fund a lifestyle have been used as bank accoutns for lawsuits and a lot of people have forced companies to pay for vanity procedures. Back to learning the value of the dollar through hard work, not through a degree or a cushy position in an office. Back to working if you have to and time for people to stop living like the leisure class if they can’t afford to.
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