Income gap widens as American factories shut down

Associated Press ^ | Jun 15, 2014 10:14 PM EDT | Michael Rubinkam

[Olog-hai]

… The downfall of manufacturing in the U.S. has done more than displace workers and leave communities searching for ways to rebuild devastated economies. In Reading and other American factory towns, manufacturing’s decline is a key factor in the widening income gap between the rich and everyone else […]

“A loss of manufacturing has contributed to the decline of the middle class,” said Howard Wial, an economist with the Brookings Institution and the University of Illinois at Chicago. “People who are displaced from high-paying manufacturing jobs spend a long time unemployed, and when they take other jobs, those jobs generally pay substantially less.”

Globalization, automation and recession destroyed nearly 6 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2009. …

[TurboZamboni]

Obama Bagged $18 Million In Corporate, Special Interest Cash For Second Inauguration

Obama’s big money corporate donors included:

AT&T—$4.6 million Microsoft—$2.1 million Boeing—$1 million Chevron—$1 million Genentech—$750,000 Deloitte—$500,000 FedEx—$500,000 Coca Cola—$430,000 Bank of America—$300,000 Xerox—$250,000 ExxonMobil—$250,000 Northrup Grumman—$100,000 Verizon—$100,000

Obama also hauled in $250,000 checks from each of the following unions: The International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the National Education Association.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/23/Obama-Bagged-18-Million-In-Corporate-Special-Interest-Cash-For-Second-Inauguration

party of the ‘workin’ man’ and the ‘little guy’, yep, un-huh.

Wall Street Responsible For One-Third Of Obama’s Campaign Funds (from July 22, 2011)

One-third of the Obama re-election campaign’s record-breaking second-quarter fundraising came from sources associated with the financial sector, the Washington Post reports.

That percentage is up from the 20% of donations that came from Wall Street donors in 2008, and contradicts reports that a growing Wall Street animosity towards the Obama administration may jeopardize his re-election bid.

Obama’s $86 million haul set a record for incumbent fundraising at this point in an election campaign. While the campaign has downplayed the larger donations by emphasizing that the average donation was $69, it also released a list of contributions by “bundlers;” those who can “bundle” more than $50,000 in contributions from friends, relatives and business associates.

(Excerpt)

http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-responsible-for-one-third-of-obamas-campaign-funds-2011-7