The wealthiest 1% of Americans own 33% of the nations wealth, while the wealthiest 10% own 70% of the nation's wealth. (But I'm sure these are the hardest workers in America and none of them were born into the upper crust of society, all rags to riches stories I tell you)
the numbers are even worse on a global scale, with the top 1% of wealthiest adults in the world owning 40% of the world's wealth while the top 10% own 85% of the world's wealth...
the American Dream died a long time ago...takes money to make money nowadays and the rich and powerful like to keep it all to themselves...
Reread the first two paragraphs, think about those statistics, and tell me in which country someone is most likely to be a rags-to-riches story.
The American Dream isn’t dead yet, but it is being strangled to death by regulations.
And, by the way, what percentage of those you mock as the upper crust of society didn’t earn their way, and what percentage of those who may have been well-born do not use their money for good purposes?
the numbers i listed on inequality are approaching the levels they were at prior to the great depression... income and wealth are so skewed right now that the mass majority of Americans have no chance at upward mobility and a study last year showed the USA is now 10th in upward mobility compared to other countries, thats right... 10th in the American Dream...
and Im somewhat mixed when it comes to the GOP talking point of "regulation" and I would love some specifics as some regulations are needed... things like inspection and safety regulations for food and drugs to ensure chicken, beef, veggies and viagra are clean and safe for consumption. I also like regulations on pollution to try and maintain safe drinking water and air quality...
Many people contribute to their own disadvantaged status by being content to let the taxpayer support them entirely or in part, and we’ve made it easy for them to do so. Even before the recession the number of people and the amount being spent for government handouts was increasing.
The index of dependence on government has increased in value from 100 in 1980, to 179 in 2000, to 272 in 2009 to 294 in 2010.
If you don’t have to work to eat, you might not feel like working to the same degree you would if you had to work to eat.
In summary, people are less wedded to the idea of working for a living now than when I was young. That accounts for some degree of the inequality. Back then not having a job was a reason for embarrassment, and taking charity to help you get by was humiliating. You did what you had to do to make your own way.
RE: regulation, 1) how much water your toilet can use in a flush, 2) replacing incandescent light bulbs with “newer, better,” more expensive ones containing toxic mercury, 3) regulating the amount of dust on farms, 4) setting water quality standards with allowable sediment quantities so small that apple juice, Gatorade and Evian and Perrier bottled water are harmful by EPA standards. To name a few convenient ones.
It’s not a matter of regulation vs no regulation; it’s a matter of how much regulation, and we have way too much. Regulations on business are a major factor in the dearth of job creation, and Obamacare is a major regulatory enemy of jobs.
People aren’t stupid, despite government’s attitude that they are incapable of acting rationally without government’s all-knowing assistance. A business that makes an inferior or dangerous product won’t be around long. A business that hikes prices to increase profit likewise won’t survive long. The market regulates itself to a substantial degree.
when you were younger, you could still get a job that paid a living wage with just a high school diploma. today, you are lucky to even sniff an entry level job with a college degree.we lost jobs as technology improved and business looked for ways to increase efficiency and reduce salaries to maximize profit...
I bet $7.25 per hour at minimum wage sure doesnt feel like youre working for a living and many of the folks who work their 40hrs per week still qualify for benefits on top of their meager salary, they are called the working poor. Just do the math and see how dire a situation these folks are in...
and yes, there are folks who do live off nothing but handouts but also many who commit fraud... and I know one person in princeton who makes close to 80k per year yet doesnt want to marry his baby momma because she and the child will lose Medicaid and they'll have to be added to his insurance at work... and he's a tried and true republican who hates Obama...
and i agree with high prices destroying a business and supply/demand controlling prices... but this tends to be more so with things like TVs and cell phones... in which a large abundance will lower prices for competition... but i dont see the laws applying to oil as they are the only game in town...
people arent drilling more oil to lower the prices, they are drilling more oil because prices are so high and the profits so great...i think in one breath you talk about how greedy the poor are, not wanting to work for a living and accept handouts, yet in the next breath you do not see the rich and corporations or "job creators" as acting on their own greedy impulses and desires...
You can still get a job with a “living wage,” but you have to be smart about it. My son-in-law has an engineering degree and a good job right out of college. Part of the problem is that we’ve been foolishly trying to get everyone to go to college, and now there aren’t enough jobs for them, especially in some of the liberal arts fields, like Child & family studies, Elementary education, Social work, Culinary arts, Public health, Art history, and Multimedia/Web design.
These may be popular and attractive, and it might be "cool" to have one of those degrees, but the market for them is weak. If you have one of those degrees and have to work in a fast food job, you have no one to blame but yourself.
However, employers can’t find enough people to fill trade jobs that pay pretty well like carpentry, plumbing, electrician, welder, etc.
Labor union excesses have contributed to pricing Americans out of work by foolishly raising the cost of domestic labor beyond what the market will bear through stupid work rules, high salaries and unrealistic pension plans. If you actually look at business profitability, you’ll see than profits high enough to be called “excessive” are rare.
Minimum wage is for people with limited or no skills, and occasionally those just starting out. It is not and never was intended to be a wage level to raise a family on. It’s a pretty simple formula: If you want a good paying job, have some skills that employers are willing to pay for.
And, by the way, a high minimum wage, like $7.25 an hour, discourages the hiring of people with limited skills, keeping them unemployed. If you're a high school kid who wants to work and earn a little money, but have no skills, chances are good that you won't find a job, whereas if the employer could pay say $4.50 an hour, you might.
Your Princeton acquaintance demonstrates the foolishness of our handout mentality. If we didn’t make it easy for people to mooch off the taxpayers, they wouldn’t mooch off the taxpayers.
So, you believe that the laws of economics do not apply to oil? Really?
You really are badly confused about the economics of oil, as well as the economics of business. Please provide an example of one industry or even one corporation that is “greedy.” And by that I mean show some data that supports that claim.
Anyone that talks about earning a 'living wage' is full of shit :)
You earn what they pay and if that's not good enough, you do better. The living wage idea is why unemployment for youths is higher than ever. If it costs more to hire the untried, you don't hire them.
14 comments:
Great cartoon. That about sums up #ows!
The wealthiest 1% of Americans own 33% of the nations wealth, while the wealthiest 10% own 70% of the nation's wealth. (But I'm sure these are the hardest workers in America and none of them were born into the upper crust of society, all rags to riches stories I tell you)
the numbers are even worse on a global scale, with the top 1% of wealthiest adults in the world owning 40% of the world's wealth while the top 10% own 85% of the world's wealth...
the American Dream died a long time ago...takes money to make money nowadays and the rich and powerful like to keep it all to themselves...
Reread the first two paragraphs, think about those statistics, and tell me in which country someone is most likely to be a rags-to-riches story.
The American Dream isn’t dead yet, but it is being strangled to death by regulations.
And, by the way, what percentage of those you mock as the upper crust of society didn’t earn their way, and what percentage of those who may have been well-born do not use their money for good purposes?
I thought as much ... you have no idea.
the numbers i listed on inequality are approaching the levels they were at prior to the great depression... income and wealth are so skewed right now that the mass majority of Americans have no chance at upward mobility and a study last year showed the USA is now 10th in upward mobility compared to other countries, thats right... 10th in the American Dream...
and Im somewhat mixed when it comes to the GOP talking point of "regulation" and I would love some specifics as some regulations are needed... things like inspection and safety regulations for food and drugs to ensure chicken, beef, veggies and viagra are clean and safe for consumption. I also like regulations on pollution to try and maintain safe drinking water and air quality...
what are some bad regulations out there?
Many people contribute to their own disadvantaged status by being content to let the taxpayer support them entirely or in part, and we’ve made it easy for them to do so. Even before the recession the number of people and the amount being spent for government handouts was increasing.
The index of dependence on government has increased in value from 100 in 1980, to 179 in 2000, to 272 in 2009 to 294 in 2010.
If you don’t have to work to eat, you might not feel like working to the same degree you would if you had to work to eat.
In summary, people are less wedded to the idea of working for a living now than when I was young. That accounts for some degree of the inequality. Back then not having a job was a reason for embarrassment, and taking charity to help you get by was humiliating. You did what you had to do to make your own way.
RE: regulation, 1) how much water your toilet can use in a flush, 2) replacing incandescent light bulbs with “newer, better,” more expensive ones containing toxic mercury, 3) regulating the amount of dust on farms, 4) setting water quality standards with allowable sediment quantities so small that apple juice, Gatorade and Evian and Perrier bottled water are harmful by EPA standards. To name a few convenient ones.
It’s not a matter of regulation vs no regulation; it’s a matter of how much regulation, and we have way too much. Regulations on business are a major factor in the dearth of job creation, and Obamacare is a major regulatory enemy of jobs.
People aren’t stupid, despite government’s attitude that they are incapable of acting rationally without government’s all-knowing assistance. A business that makes an inferior or dangerous product won’t be around long. A business that hikes prices to increase profit likewise won’t survive long. The market regulates itself to a substantial degree.
when you were younger, you could still get a job that paid a living wage with just a high school diploma. today, you are lucky to even sniff an entry level job with a college degree.we lost jobs as technology improved and business looked for ways to increase efficiency and reduce salaries to maximize profit...
I bet $7.25 per hour at minimum wage sure doesnt feel like youre working for a living and many of the folks who work their 40hrs per week still qualify for benefits on top of their meager salary, they are called the working poor. Just do the math and see how dire a situation these folks are in...
and yes, there are folks who do live off nothing but handouts but also many who commit fraud... and I know one person in princeton who makes close to 80k per year yet doesnt want to marry his baby momma because she and the child will lose Medicaid and they'll have to be added to his insurance at work... and he's a tried and true republican who hates Obama...
and i agree with high prices destroying a business and supply/demand controlling prices... but this tends to be more so with things like TVs and cell phones... in which a large abundance will lower prices for competition... but i dont see the laws applying to oil as they are the only game in town...
people arent drilling more oil to lower the prices, they are drilling more oil because prices are so high and the profits so great...i think in one breath you talk about how greedy the poor are, not wanting to work for a living and accept handouts, yet in the next breath you do not see the rich and corporations or "job creators" as acting on their own greedy impulses and desires...
You can still get a job with a “living wage,” but you have to be smart about it. My son-in-law has an engineering degree and a good job right out of college. Part of the problem is that we’ve been foolishly trying to get everyone to go to college, and now there aren’t enough jobs for them, especially in some of the liberal arts fields, like Child & family studies, Elementary education, Social work, Culinary arts, Public health, Art history, and Multimedia/Web design.
These may be popular and attractive, and it might be "cool" to have one of those degrees, but the market for them is weak. If you have one of those degrees and have to work in a fast food job, you have no one to blame but yourself.
However, employers can’t find enough people to fill trade jobs that pay pretty well like carpentry, plumbing, electrician, welder, etc.
Labor union excesses have contributed to pricing Americans out of work by foolishly raising the cost of domestic labor beyond what the market will bear through stupid work rules, high salaries and unrealistic pension plans. If you actually look at business profitability, you’ll see than profits high enough to be called “excessive” are rare.
Minimum wage is for people with limited or no skills, and occasionally those just starting out. It is not and never was intended to be a wage level to raise a family on. It’s a pretty simple formula: If you want a good paying job, have some skills that employers are willing to pay for.
And, by the way, a high minimum wage, like $7.25 an hour, discourages the hiring of people with limited skills, keeping them unemployed. If you're a high school kid who wants to work and earn a little money, but have no skills, chances are good that you won't find a job, whereas if the employer could pay say $4.50 an hour, you might.
Your Princeton acquaintance demonstrates the foolishness of our handout mentality. If we didn’t make it easy for people to mooch off the taxpayers, they wouldn’t mooch off the taxpayers.
So, you believe that the laws of economics do not apply to oil? Really?
You really are badly confused about the economics of oil, as well as the economics of business. Please provide an example of one industry or even one corporation that is “greedy.” And by that I mean show some data that supports that claim.
I knew I shouldnt have majored in 17th Century French Literature...
Why do I not believe you?
I enjoy the comments as much as I enjoy your posts. There's always something new to learn or a different slant on things.
Anyone that talks about earning a 'living wage' is full of shit :)
You earn what they pay and if that's not good enough, you do better. The living wage idea is why unemployment for youths is higher than ever. If it costs more to hire the untried, you don't hire them.
LN!
Where have you been?
HOW have you been?
work mostly :) and good, you?
I've been busy, too, but things are generally good.
I visited your site and will add it to my list.
Good to connect with you again.
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