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Trouble ahead for the American middle class
Free Republic | may 16, 2006 | jim shirreffs

Posted on 05/16/2006 9:05:47 AM PDT by jpsb

I have for many years now, been warning of the age old battle between the super rich and the middle class. Only in the usa during the 19th and 20th century, did the middle class win that battle. During the 19th and 20th century in the usa the power of the super wealthy was curtailed. Government enacted laws that protected the middle class and encouraged exspandsion of the middle class.

Anti-trust laws prevented the super rich from gaining control over entire industries. Today these laws are ignored. Labor laws enabled workers to bargain for a living wage. Today these laws are ignored. Trade laws protected American manurfacturs and labor from unfair foreign competition. Today these laws are ignored.

The super wealthy gained control of the government via lobbyists arguing corporate interests over middle class interests.

Also interesting to note that the poor class always sides with the super rich, since the super rich give the poor bread and circus.

Why do the super always fear the middle class? Because a middle class can threaten the interests of the rich. A middle class that has it own means of generating wealth is not dependent on the rich, it's a wild card that might very well sack the rich.

Ever wonder why the wealth generating machines of the usa (manufacturing) are being moved overseas? Wonder no more, the rich want to break the back of the American middle class by taking away the middle classes ability to generate wealth. Ever wonder why the rich want to flood the usa with uneducated poor from totarian nations? Wonder one more, these people will be the hammer that will enforce the policies the rich (government) want enforced. Publicly objects to government policies like bilingualism or immigration or entitlements for the poor and you will get your ass kicked by the "new" Americans.

This is what is happening, the global monied elites do not give a damn about the usa or it citizens. The global monied elite in control of our government see the uppity American middle class and it quaint Constitution as a threat. We that believe in the Constitution, G*d and the rule of Constitutional law are about to be made extinct so that the world will be a safe place for the elite families of the world and thier coporate/government servants.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: classwarfare; communism; comrade; democratplaybook; envy; jealousy; karlmarx; populistidiocy; stupidvanity; votebolshevik; workersunite; yerdrunk; zot
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To: lucysmom
How did neoliberal economic policies work out for Argentina?

Are you saying protectionism didn't turn them into an economic powerhouse?

101 posted on 05/16/2006 5:56:33 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists so bad at math?)
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To: jpsb

I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about a global economy. Technological advances over the past 50 years have allowed the global marketplace to evolve beyond borders.

Capitalism means we all benefit from free trade- it is not a zero-sum game. Comparative advantage means both parties benefit from trade. When we outsource labor to a cheaper market, it allows us to use valuable resources to produce products in which we have an advantage.


102 posted on 05/16/2006 6:03:23 PM PDT by Lunatic Fringe (http://ntxsolutions.com)
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To: Toddsterpatriot
Those who say there is a monopoly/no competition are almost too stupid for words.

Really?

If you wish to maintain a level of credibility, first read and respond accurately. Second, do a bit of research. Third, "Keep your words sweet because in the end, you may have to eat them" is good advice

The General Accounting Office, an arm of Congress, looked at eight major oil industry mergers between 1994 and 2000 and found that six of them led to higher gasoline prices.

Some 2,600 mergers swept the oil industry since 1990, as firms sought to cut costs through economies of scale.

103 posted on 05/16/2006 6:10:35 PM PDT by lucysmom
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To: Centurion2000

Way too much of the money extracted by force from decent people in the abuse of the taxing power by government gets spent on bum & deviate programs. One reason it isn't easy to cut bum & deviate programs is that people who exploit/ripoff the bums & deviates contribute to both parties...


104 posted on 05/16/2006 6:13:00 PM PDT by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: Toddsterpatriot
Are you saying protectionism didn't turn them into an economic powerhouse?

Sorry. I must have misunderstood your point.

105 posted on 05/16/2006 6:23:51 PM PDT by lucysmom
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To: jpsb
I was responding to this "I don't see a link between manufacturing and the middle class" by pointing out that manufacturing was creating wealth (and a middle class) in Asia. Maybe not for the line workers but for supervisors, managers, engineers etc.

Jobs and income create a middle class, unless I'm mistaken. So why does it matter whether those jobs and that wealth come at the hands of the manufacturing sector?

I don't get it. Pat Buchanon and many rave about manufacturing jobs, but this is largely a service world these days, often servicing what's been manufactured or providing services for those things: Cars, computers, just about every major appliance out there, the service industry in general which is run on manufactured things. The entire cruise industry exists b/c someone's manufacturing cruise ships. The rest, virtually the entire income structure of the industry is predicated on decades of services off the back of one ship built for instance. That's just one industry. There are many middle class auto repair shop owners that thrive in fixing what someone else has built be it Japanese or American. Etc., etc., etc.

Why anyone has conniption over "manufacturing jobs leaving America" is beyond me. And some Freeper posted to me a few months ago some hard data showing that there's still plenty of manufacturing in this country as well.

How many Americans do you see producing many of the "trinkets" that get produced for pennies over in SE Asia? Talk about jobs that Americans don't want to do.

106 posted on 05/16/2006 6:24:03 PM PDT by Fruitbat
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To: thejokker
I do heartily suggest that you learn some factual history, before you post again and prove that your tenuous grasp of things historical, is neither broad or deep.

In the late 1800s and most of the first 1/2 of the 20th century, CEOs etc., made far more money than their employees. For example, Marshall Field made $600.00 an HOUR, whilst his shop girls made $3.00 to $5.00 a WEEK! Wanna guess what such men as Pullman and Aster and Morgan and Rockefeller and Armour and Carnegie were making?

107 posted on 05/16/2006 6:53:57 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: jpsb
You wrote this Marxist garbage and are proud of it; proud enough to happily post it to FR, imagining that everyone would fall all over themselves, telling you great you and this tripe is?

Today's middle class includes multimillionaires. Most people, in the Middle class, own stock; even if its just in their pension portfolios, managed by their unions. And, they, just as the billionaires do, also donate to political parties and to their favorite candidates.

Your emotional, factless, wee tirade proves that you not only don't know what you're talking about, but are a closet Liberal, who has fallen, hook, line, and sinker for the class warfare propaganda of a bygone era.

108 posted on 05/16/2006 7:06:22 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Clemenza

Spot on!


109 posted on 05/16/2006 7:07:13 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Lunatic Fringe

:-)


110 posted on 05/16/2006 7:08:36 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: 1rudeboy

Lovely graph and thanks for the ping.


111 posted on 05/16/2006 7:10:59 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Proud_USA_Republican
well the immigration bill they are pushing would have 100 million immigrants come to the US over the next 20 years.

This won't just destroy the middle class, this will destroy America. English will no longer be a majority language. Our political process will sink to depths of corruption it has never before seen as third world civic virtues come to define it. The concept of upward fiscal and social mobility will be replaced by the sort of class distinction that defines life in many Spanish-speaking countries to our south.
112 posted on 05/16/2006 7:13:23 PM PDT by Old_Mil (http://www.constitutionparty.org - Forging a Rebirth of Freedom.)
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To: jpsb

That's just plain old untrue; not to mention spurious.


113 posted on 05/16/2006 7:14:07 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Toddsterpatriot

LOL


114 posted on 05/16/2006 7:14:50 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: jpsb

I smell ozone....


115 posted on 05/16/2006 7:19:47 PM PDT by darkangel82
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To: lucysmom
Really?

Truly.

Who Sells Gasoline in the United States?

Convenience stores sell the majority of the gasoline purchased in the United States, and despite canopies that promote a specific brand of gasoline, very few of these stores – less than 3 percent – are owned an operated by one of the integrated, major oil companies.

It is much more likely that the business is owned by an independent entrepreneur who lives in the community.Of the 110,895 convenience stores selling gasoline in the United States in 2004, a whopping 55 percent (61,148 stores) were one-store operations, compared to only 13 percent (14,612 stores) that were operated by a company having 500 or more stores.

More here.

Third, "Keep your words sweet because in the end, you may have to eat them" is good advice

That is good advice. So are you saying there is a monopoly/no competition?

116 posted on 05/16/2006 7:20:53 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists so bad at math?)
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To: jpl

What...you don't have a dishwasher?


117 posted on 05/16/2006 7:21:21 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons
"You wrote this Marxist garbage and are proud of it"

This "Marxist" garbage was American policy for over 200 years.

The great irony is the revisionist of the 21 first century, rewriting American history and redefining terms like liberal and conservative to suit their globalist, fascist, unconstitutional agenda. Nopardons being a master propagandist.

118 posted on 05/16/2006 7:45:29 PM PDT by jpsb
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To: nopardons
Care to offer a rebuttal?
119 posted on 05/16/2006 7:46:48 PM PDT by jpsb
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To: darkangel82
Could be, I have survived more then a few purges at FR. I am an old time conservative. I sword an oath to the US constitution and I take that oath seriously. I offer my opinion and I debate honestly. If that gets me zotted, oh well life goes on.
120 posted on 05/16/2006 7:52:06 PM PDT by jpsb
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