Posted on 01/20/2014 1:52:38 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The reality of rising American inequality is stark. Since the late 1970s real wages for the bottom half of the work force have stagnated or fallen, while the incomes of the top 1 percent have nearly quadrupled (and the incomes of the top 0.1 percent have risen even more). While we can and should have a serious debate about what to do about this situation, the simple fact — American capitalism as currently constituted is undermining the foundations of middle-class society — shouldn’t be up for argument.
But it is, of course. Partly this reflects Upton Sinclair’s famous dictum: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. But it also, I think, reflects distaste for the implications of the numbers, which seem almost like an open invitation to class warfare — or, if you prefer, a demonstration that class warfare is already underway, with the plutocrats on offense.
The result has been a determined campaign of statistical obfuscation. At its cruder end this campaign comes close to outright falsification; at its more sophisticated end it involves using fancy footwork to propagate what I think of as the myth of the deserving rich.
For an example of de facto falsification, one need look no further than a recent column by Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal, which first accused President Obama (wrongly) of making a factual error, then proceeded to assert that rising inequality was no big deal, because everyone has been making big gains. Why, incomes for the bottom fifth of the U.S. population have risen 186 percent since 1979!
If this sounds wrong to you, it should: that’s a nominal number, not corrected for inflation....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
[ This coming from a guy who is supporting the crony capitalism and government that is destroying the middle class. ]
Krugman still hasn’t figured out the real danger is the unholy alliance of Big Government and Big Business wanting a monopoly on Political and Monetary power, with both supporting each other to keep the middle class workers and merchants and business owners down...
Are you including Obama and his Nobel Peace Prize?
[ Marx wanted the DESTRUCTION of the middle class. He HATED the middle class. He wanted their blood FLOWING in the streets.
Since that wouldn’t be feasible in a lot of places, he proposed the ideas above. He told his followers: implement high taxes. Push for regulations and labor unions. Fight “income inequality” using the power of the government.
That will destroy the middle class.
So here we sit in 2014. We’ve implemented all this Marxist drivel and Krugman is stunned that the middle class is taking it on the chin? ]
The middle class is the ones that most likely stand up against oppressive control... this is why the marxists have to destroy it before finally seizing power.
Yes, I forgot his. Let me rephrase: There is no one less deserving of their Nobel Prize than Krugman, except for Obama.
I always believed the old saying: If you take all the money away from the rich and destribute it to the poor... in 6 months the rich will have it right back.
Can you say “Illegal Alien”?
The bottom half of the work force is unskilled labor. The encouragement of illegal aliens has flooded the unskilled work force market with illegal aliens that would not otherwise be here and there would be upward pressure on wages.
American capitalism as currently constituted is undermining the foundations of middle-class society — shouldn’t be up for argument.
American capitalism as currently constituted can not be compared to 1970 thanks to the Crony Capitalism that has taken its place. In 1970 the US was much closer to true capitalism than it is today and US dominated the world economy. Trying to compare the US of 1970 to the US of today is a false argument.
What is funny is that Billionaires like Gates, Buffett, Cuban, and others agree w Libs like Krugman and the “ Hate Rich Dude “ crowd.
Earlier today I read the unemployment among black teenagers was something like 35%.
Just maybe if the leftist Democrats stopped illegal workers from entering the USA, there would be good paying jobs for the unemployed blacks.
But the leftist Democrats want it both ways. Open borders and unlimited blacks on the welfare dole.
Smart woman.
I hate turning on heat even on cool days in Florida. Put on more clothes if cold. Also central heat messes up the sinuses
Actually, it’s over 50%, IIRC.
Gov't inflation numbers are bogus.
There are plenty of undeserving rich. They are the ones who used the coersive power of government to get there. Any unionist with a fat pension, any congressman who started middle class and leaves a millionaire, any professor who takes large federal grants to produce the “right research,” and any crony capitalist who lobbies the government to kill competition.
Paul Krudman? Doesn’t he claim to be an economist or something? Has he won the No Bell Prize?
People can't see the Communism of these people, because it's right in our faces, and the perpetrators are masters of squid-ink obfuscation and lying.
E.g. anyone who made money off Solyndra, or is making money from companies that sell LED lamps and bulbs (to replace the economical incandescents the Regime conspirators want to ban).
Nothing wrong with work if it’s honest.
Upton Sinclair was about as Wobbly as they come. His "dictum" means nothing.
Stop importing millions of low skill workers, American workers at the bottom might get a raise.
Stop taxing and regulating American businesses to the point where they close up shop or move overseas, American workers might get a job.
Stop spending hundreds of billions on the education and healthcare of the millions of illegals (and their children) and we could cut taxes on all Americans, including the bottom half.
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