America takes notice of gap in incomes

Houston Chronicle) ^ | December 16, 2006 | MATTHEW BENJAMIN

[GodGunsGuts]

...

The portion of national income earned by the top 20 percent of households grew to 50.4 percent last year, up from 45.6 percent 20 years ago; the bottom 60 percent of U.S. households received 26.6 percent, down from 29.9 percent in 1985, according to the Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, average pay for corporate chief executive officers rose to 369 times that of the average worker last year, according to finance professor Kevin Murphy of the University of Southern California; that compares with 131 times in 1993 and 36 times in 1976.

...

[nopardons]

That Sales VP is more likely to NOT be able to afford Harvard or Duke, or even The University of Michigan, as an out of stater, than the bottom level of the middle class, who has a brilliant child. Why? One word.......SCHOLARSHIPS. That upper middle class VP earns far too much for his kid to get a scholarship, but NOT as much as to be able to really afford tuition, room&board, books, travel, and other expenses for his child, without feeling really pinched.

Life isn't "fair" and it never has been.

[GodGunsGuts]

You act as though we go way back. You have no idea what I support or don't support. And btw, you have already admitted you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about your main bone of contention with me.

PS If you are for trading with Red China, you don't believe in the "free market."

[Toddsterpatriot]

Professor, Intermountain Institute for Science and Applied Mathematics, Missoula, Montana, USA.

LOL!

[nopardons]

You want the "average" American to have to spend more money or not able to afford things that they can now, so that "we" can somehow "HURT" China and bring back menial jobs to America, for which we do NOT have either the populace to take those jobs, nor the companies to supply those jobs?

[KevinDavis]

I like my items cheap.. It allows me to get the bigger bang for my buck so I can have more spending money....

[KevinDavis]

Besides most factory work is done by robots.. So even if factories come back, they will most likely be automated...

[Toddsterpatriot]

Make a point, and back it up, or butt out.

If you don't know what derivatives even are, perhaps you're not qualified to recommend their regulation.

[GodGunsGuts]

That's just your front end price...you forgot about the back end costs, like building up our enemies to save a buck.

[A. Pole]

Class envy - It isn't just for breakfast anymore.

Do you think that high stratification of income and wealth is good for a republic?

[KevinDavis]

So I should be forced to buy union made crap at a high price...

[KevinDavis]

Yes....

[A. Pole]

Income is very different from wealth. Actually if you are wealthy enough (independently wealthy) you do not need income.

"In 2001 top 5% owned 60% of national wealth, while bottom 60% owned 4%"

[Toddsterpatriot]

Income is very different from wealth.

So what?

"In 2001 top 5% owned 60% of national wealth, while bottom 60% owned 4%"

What are the statistics for Poland?

[KevinDavis]

??????????

[GodGunsGuts]

I know what they are Toddster. But I'm not going to play trivia pursuit games just to satisfy your curiosity. I have posted numerous articles on OTCs, some by the professor you so disparage. So I think I am sufficiently knowledgeable about the OTC market to comment on the same.

PS Fekete also points out where Milton Friedman went wrong. Have you read that one? I tend to agree with Fekete on that front as well.

[GodGunsGuts]

Who said anything about unions? And btw, Red China is the Soviet Union of East Asia.

[nopardons]

Go back and read it; the author DIDS slip up and say that it was a weighted poll.

And WHY do those used in this article ( notice how they left out GOOD responses ? ) "FEEL" that things are terrible? Because the Marxist MSM has convinced them.

How come the ONLY figures you ever give any credence to, are the ones with which you agree? Figures, from much more reliable sources, you poo poo and call those who post them names, which is now going to get you in BIG trouble around here...as per the MOD's thread of yesterday.

The "rest" are NOT getting "left behind"! How many of the middle class, today, does without T.V.s, cable, cars, air-conditioning, vacations to spiffy places, new clothes and lots of them, and all of the latest gadgets?

What's "causing" some people's "FEELINGS" about being "left behind? Besides spurious articles and polls, envy, wanting to be able to have and do whatever they see their idols do and have in PEOPLE or on MTV, or the like.

A hundred years ago, those in the lower classes tried to emulate the behavior and taste of their betters. They didn't, for the most part, think that they should be able to be swagged in pearls or eat at Delmonicos.

Whenever you talk about "equal distribution", whether you realize it or not, you are just spewing Marxist cant.

[KevinDavis]

I mean the legal exotration unions we have here in the country...

[GodGunsGuts]

The unions have pretty much been broken (and will hopefully stay that way). But based on what you are saying, it sounds as though you would rather buy from a country-sized, enemy prison camp than to buy from the USA or some other free country. Am I understanding you correctly?

[GodGunsGuts]

Please show me where it says the study is weighted to favor democrats.