Very disturbing charts on the wealth imbalance in USA

I don't know if you all saw this, but it was on yahoo about a week ago. I kept putting it off, but I finally decided to post the charts here. All I know is that they disturbed me a bit, and they ARE from reliable sources - Harvard, Yale, University of California, Congress' budget office and US Treasury department, amongst other sources (link is at the end of this post to the website blog where they were posted at). All of the sources for every single one of those graphs are listed towards the bottom of that blog post. I believe majority of the data is from before 2009 so I don't know where it is today in 2011.

Before I start, I want to say that this is extremely disturbing data. It made me sick to my stomach when I first saw it... This is exactly when capitalism stops working successfully.. One of the clauses (or points or whatever it is called) of capitalism says that capitalism is most successfully when money/capital/wealth is cycling between public/private/other sectors. As soon as that cycling stops or starts to slow down, capitalism starts to fall apart and destabilize. These graphs show exactly where that destabilization process is at right now in this country...

I don't want this to turn into a war of democrats vs republicans or liberals vs conservatives or whatever else that exists because the blame lies on everyone in this country from liberals to conservatives to democrats to republicans to federal governments to state governments to country governments to school teachers to businessmen to cops, everyone is involved in some way. The issue lies with greed and selfishness not specific groups of people. Once again, most of the graphs are from before 2007 (couple from 2010) so I don't know where it is today in 2011.

There are a couple other graphs that I cannot post here because the limit is 10 images..



[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-page25_1.png[/IMG]


[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-page25_therichest280.png[/IMG]


[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-p25_averagehouseholdincom.png[/IMG]


[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-page25_actualdistribwithlegend.png[/IMG]


[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality_mediannetworth_1.png[/IMG]


[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-who%27swinning_3.png[/IMG]


[IMG]http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-taxrate_3.png[/IMG]


[IMG]https://motherjones.com/files/images/lossgain_0.jpg[/IMG]






[url]http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph[/url]

Explain yourself, Vapid!

:lol

:oldlol: :oldlol:

homie this is why you gotta get to da wall street son.

[QUOTE=bladefd]Try to keep heated political fights out of this thread if possible. [/QUOTE]Is it possible for this thread not to turn political? You yourself couldn't even keep politics out of the OP, that chart showing tax rates and Presidents is an unavoidable political statement in and of itself.

[QUOTE=Real Men Wear Green]Is it possible for this thread not to turn political? You yourself couldn't even keep politics out of the OP, that chart showing tax rates and Presidents is an unavoidable political statement in and of itself.[/QUOTE]
Agree with this, but the distribution of wealth in the US has gotten completely out-of-hand. There really should be outrage, but -- for some reason -- a good portion of the country doesn't seem to care.

:confusedshrug:

[QUOTE=Real Men Wear Green]Is it possible for this thread not to turn political? You yourself couldn't even keep politics out of the OP, that chart showing tax rates and Presidents is an unavoidable political statement in and of itself.[/QUOTE]

You can talk about politics, but just not fight like an immature 8yr old. I know for sure that there are tons of immature posters on these forums so I probably shouldn't have even mentioned that. I just said it because I don't want this to turn into a political war, but it probably will like it usually does. I wish the OPs had control over the posts in their own thread so they could delete anything that is garbage trolling.

In fact, I will remove that part right now. Thanks for reminding me of the trolls. I keep forgetting that no matter what you say to try to keep trolls out, trolls will always show up within minutes.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]Agree with this, but the distribution of wealth in the US has gotten completely out-of-hand. There really should be outrage, but -- for some reason -- a good portion of the country doesn't seem to care.

:confusedshrug:[/QUOTE]

moderators are always communists/ wealth distribution has never been succesful. The people in the highest tax bracket already pay for the vast majority of public services through taxation but it ain't never enough. Fat, high school drop out, Billy Cobb definitely deserve a bigger piece of the pie :facepalm

I don't know what the f*ck you guys are talking about...10% of our households make $164k a year?

that is VERY GOOD!!!

10% is A LOT OF PEOPLE!!!


hell the BOTTOM 10% makes $30k...that is pretty poor, but they are living, and that is our "dirt"...


these charts are good IMO...not bad

this country is well off!

[QUOTE=STATUTORY]moderators are always communists/ wealth distribution has never been succesful. The people in the highest tax bracket already pay for the vast majority of public services through taxation but it ain't never enough. Fat, high school drop out, Billy Cobb definitely deserve a bigger piece of the pie :facepalm[/QUOTE]
Read-up on the fall of the Middle Class, dipsh!t. Read-up on the contrast of CEO wealth to average worker and it has skyrocketed in the last couple of decades.

Why am I even responding to an obvious troll?

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]I don't know what the f*ck you guys are talking about...10% of our households make $164k a year?

that is VERY GOOD!!!

10% is A LOT OF PEOPLE!!!


hell the BOTTOM 10% makes $30k...that is pretty poor, but they are living, and that is our "dirt"...


these charts are good IMO...not bad

this country is well off![/QUOTE]

The problem isn't with the top 10%... The problem is with the middle... Or a lack of a middle in our current system.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]The problem isn't with the top 10%... The problem is with the middle... Or a lack of a middle in our current system.[/QUOTE]
wouldn't it be around $80k...:confusedshrug:

you can't tell me this country doesn't have a middle class...the entire nation is a giant strip mall...our middle class is enormous

it is just that the rich are just VERY VERY RICH

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]Agree with this, but the distribution of wealth in the US has gotten completely out-of-hand. There really should be outrage, but -- for some reason -- a good portion of the country doesn't seem to care.

:confusedshrug:[/QUOTE]

Yet to most Americans, a Russian is a "commie" and should be looked down upon because their political structure wasn't up to par.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]Read-up on the fall of the Middle Class, dipsh!t. Read-up on the contrast of CEO wealth to average worker and it has skyrocketed in the last couple of decades.

Why am I even responding to an obvious troll?[/QUOTE]

the value of a service is determined by the market. Sorry if you work on an assembly line at an auto plant you don't deserve 30dollars per hour no matter what the union says.

globalization and increased competition has doomed the american middle class.

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]I don't know what the f*ck you guys are talking about...10% of our households make $164k a year?

that is VERY GOOD!!!

10% is A LOT OF PEOPLE!!!


hell the BOTTOM 10% makes $30k...that is pretty poor, but they are living, and that is our "dirt"...


these charts are good IMO...not bad

this country is well off![/QUOTE]

How is it good that less than 1% of the country controls more wealth than nearly the entire population?

The 1st chart shows the top 10% and then the bottom 90% which is probably very misleading because the very low numbers from the lowest 10-20% is pulling the number lower. I'd be more interested in seeing the middle 50% or the 40-60% category because that would be indicative of the middle class.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]The problem isn't with the top 10%... The problem is with the middle... Or a lack of a middle in our current system.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. The lower to middle class is continuously growing (middle down to lower borderline), all the while many more Americans are becoming millionaires. The middle class is definitely shrinking and has been for a little while now. Without a stable middle class, the economy will eventually fold and everyone loses (except for the ones that purposely set all this up to begin with).

I just realized that I posted a couple of the graphs twice. editing... :facepalm

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]wouldn't it be around $80k...:confusedshrug:

you can't tell me this country doesn't have a middle class...the entire nation is a giant strip mall...our middle class is enormous

it is just that the rich are just VERY VERY RICH[/QUOTE]
That wealth came from somewhere... It didn't just magically appear in a rich person's wallet. For as much as Republicans talked about 'class warfare' in the last election, there is real class welfare in this country, but it isn't coming from the bottom or the middle...

In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to 1.

How in the hell can that be defended?

The bottom 50% of earners in the US now collectively own less than 1% of the nation’s wealth.

THE BOTTOM 50 PERCENT! That large of a segment isn't 'the poor.' That is the middle class.

There has been a massive shift of wealth in this country over the last few decades to the very, very rich and it has come from the middle class. You don't need many statistics to literally SEE it.

The question is, how do we fix it? This isn't about communism or any other 'ism' that alarmists want to throw at me to make it seem as though I'm an extremist. The reality is, we need a strong middle class for the economy to be healthy.

[QUOTE=PHX_Phan]How is it good that less than 1% of the country controls more wealth than nearly the entire population?[/QUOTE]
well, I am not saying that is a good thing, but that chart shows that the rest of us are well off...we are far from a poor country

10% of us are borderline "rich"

it is just that top 1% that is REALLY REALLY REALLY RICH...Bill Gates and company



IDK, that is the "American Dream" right?...are we supposed to force the success stories to give their money to all the losers?

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]That wealth came from somewhere... It didn't just magically appear in a rich person's wallet. For as much as Republicans talked about 'class warfare' in the last election, there is real class welfare in this country, but it isn't coming from the bottom or the middle...

In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to 1.

How in the hell can that be defended?

The bottom 50% of earners in the US now collectively own less than 1% of the nation

people are so clueless without any semblance of perspective. the american middle class came about with the destruction of international production following something called world war II. Only due to the utter lack of foreign production was american companies able to sustain the high salaries that were payed to americans for rather menial jobs from 1944 to 1975. As soon as capital mobility reemerged, the american "middle class" was doomed.

I've been on this planet longer than most of you.
Voted and supported the poor and middle class , and wish a balance would be struck for the betterment of human life in America for all.

Not to bash the OP - fact is that those elite wealthy are in fact all Republicans.

After this last election I will never vote again.
This is sad , because I was quite proud of our country , where my grandfather came from , where my father and step father fought in WWII for our freedom and was lucky enought when the first 18 year olds were able to vote , I did and voted for a president.

Now I succumb to the realization that it is not only our goverment that is fcuked up , but the people that vote for the people that represent them.
remember the majority vote is the ruling body.
---------
Look at my state , those same voters that wanted change are now in Madison by the thousands protesting their rights... WHAT A FCUKING JOKE.

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]our middle class is f*cking enormous...just cause the top 1% are billionares doesn't mean we don't have a middle class...


F*CK we are the only country on the planet where the poor people are fat asses and the rich people are skinny...everywhere else it is the opposite

our country is loaded...and our citzens are spoiled

don't let the charts fool you into thinking you are getting ripped off...[/QUOTE]
I don't need the charts to 'fool' me. I'm living it, man. Yeah, our country is 'loaded,' but that money is going straight to the top.

Seriously... Get the f#ck out of here with this 'spoiled' sh!t. I better leave this thread now before things get ugly.

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]our middle class is f*cking enormous...just cause the top 1% are billionares doesn't mean we don't have a middle class...


F*CK we are the only country on the planet where the poor people are fat asses and the rich people are skinny...everywhere else it is the opposite

our country is loaded...and our citzens are spoiled

don't let the charts fool you into thinking you are getting ripped off...

[/QUOTE]

If you are right , then I am clueless why the country went into the toilet , and it takes now two full time incomes in a household to keep a household afloat.
I struggled as a single home owner for 6+ years and realized the issues and if it was not for my recent refiniancing - I would of lost my home.
Unlike most , all of my equity has gone into my properties..
Many without jobs as well as lost their homes and many were MIDDLE CLASS.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]I don't need the charts to 'fool' me. I'm living it, man. Yeah, our country is 'loaded,' but that money is going straight to the top.

Seriously... Get the f#ck out of here with this 'spoiled' sh!t. I better leave this thread now before things get ugly.[/QUOTE]

thank you.

[QUOTE]I better leave this thread now before things get ugly.[/QUOTE]
no, don't. stay a while.


the American Dream is rigged. tax loopholes, inheritance, opportunity imbalance, regional discrepancies, corporate collusion with gov't, the whole schpeel.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]I don't need the charts to 'fool' me. I'm living it, man. Yeah, our country is 'loaded,' but that money is going straight to the top.

Seriously... Get the f#ck out of here with this 'spoiled' sh!t. I better leave this thread now before things get ugly.[/QUOTE]
hmm...well I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, not sure why it would really, but this country is spoiled...no question about it...

everyone is at the mall with an iphone shoved up thier ass facebooking each other while in line at Starbucks...yet I am supposed to beleive we have no middle class?....naw, we are fine.....for now anyway

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]hmm...well I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, not sure why it would really, but this country is spoiled...no question about it...

everyone is at the mall with an iphone shoved up thier ass facebooking each other while in line at Starbucks...yet I am supposed to beleive we have no middle class?....naw, we are fine.....for now anyway[/QUOTE]
In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to 1.



The bottom 50% of earners in the US now collectively own less than 1% of the nation

[QUOTE=STATUTORY]people are so clueless without any semblance of perspective. the american middle class came about with the destruction of international production following something called world war II. Only due to the utter lack of foreign production was american companies able to sustain the high salaries that were payed to americans for rather menial jobs from 1944 to 1975. As soon as capital mobility reemerged, the american "middle class" was doomed.[/QUOTE]

The same people that love the free-market are the same people who hate it; [I]when they fail to make [B]money.[/B][/I]

The idea sounds intriguing, primarily to people with aspirations, but to the lazy people, they'll blame the system. The wealth distribution is a problem sure, but that's the structure we live in; that's our "American Dream."

It's the same dream that turns into a nightmare for so many Americans.

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]That wealth came from somewhere... It didn't just magically appear in a rich person's wallet. For as much as Republicans talked about 'class warfare' in the last election, there is real class welfare in this country, but it isn't coming from the bottom or the middle...

In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to 1.

How in the hell can that be defended?

The bottom 50% of earners in the US now collectively own less than 1% of the nation

[QUOTE=Jasper]If you are right , then I am clueless why the country went into the toilet , and it takes now two full time incomes in a household to keep a household afloat.
I struggled as a single home owner for 6+ years and realized the issues and if it was not for my recent refiniancing - I would of lost my home.
Unlike most , all of my equity has gone into my properties..
Many without jobs as well as lost their homes and many were MIDDLE CLASS.[/QUOTE]

bingo.

the recent financial crisis had a double pronged negative effect on the middle class because one many people lost jobs. Second the collapse of the housing market destroyed much of home equity which is a huge part of middle class wealth.

and yea the women's liberation movement only made it easier for firms to suppress wages.

[QUOTE=crosso√er]The same people that love the free-market are the same people who hate it; [I]when they fail to make [B]money.[/B][/I]

The idea sounds intriguing, primarily to people with aspirations, but to the lazy people, they'll blame the system. The wealth distribution is a problem sure, but that's the structure we live in; that's our "American Dream."

It's the same dream that turns into a nightmare for so many Americans.[/QUOTE]


what this thread is about is entitlement. Americans feel this deep embedded sense of entitlement and privilege to wealth and options that's just alien to most people living else where. People want to be ill educated and be rewarded for it. :facepalm

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to 1.



The bottom 50% of earners in the US now collectively own less than 1% of the nation’s wealth.



Explain those two facts and why they make for a strong, healthy country. I'll be waiting.[/QUOTE]
sigh, I am not saying that is a good thing...I am saying that it isn't proof that we are "unhealthy"...

you are acting like we are all doomed or something...

I am betting those numbers are misleading due to the internet boom anyway...people like Gates make 1,000,000,000X more than the average Microsoft worker, so that offsets the rest....stuff like that

Correlation =/= Causation

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]our middle class is f*cking enormous...just cause the top 1% are billionares doesn't mean we don't have a middle class...


F*CK we are the only country on the planet where the poor people are fat asses and the rich people are skinny...everywhere else it is the opposite

our country is loaded...and our citzens are spoiled

don't let the charts fool you into thinking you are getting ripped off...[/QUOTE]

The numbers don't lie dude. I see what you're getting at, but truth be told, people are suffering and having to 'cut back' more than ever just to keep afloat. You're stuck in the Dallas never been anywhere else mind-set so of course you have no clue. 'Just sayin...

[QUOTE=STATUTORY]what this thread is about is entitlement. Americans feel this deep embedded sense of entitlement and privilege to wealth and options that's just alien to most people living else where. People want to be ill educated and be rewarded for it. :facepalm[/QUOTE]
It isn't about entitlement. You are talking about getting things for free. I'm talking about people being paid a livable income for jobs that were once able to support the middle class and now -- with CEOs taking 10 times the money that they used to out of the pot (literally, 10-20 times) -- those jobs cannot support a single person, let alone an entire family.

Why do CEOs need to earn 500x what an average worker in a company makes? Weren't they satisfied with *only* taking 30x the income?

[QUOTE=Legend of Josh]The numbers don't lie dude. I see what you're getting at, but truth be told, people are suffering and having to 'cut back' more than ever just to keep afloat. You're stuck in the Dallas never been anywhere else mind-set so of course you have no clue. 'Just sayin...[/QUOTE]
I've been to almost every major city in this country...

[QUOTE=RedBlackAttack]It isn't about entitlement. You are talking about getting things for free. I'm talking about people being paid a livable income for jobs that were once able to support the middle class and now -- with CEOs taking 10 times the money that they used to out of the pot (literally, 10-20 times) -- those jobs cannot support a single person, let alone an entire family.

Why do CEOs need to earn 500x what an average worker in a company makes? Weren't they satisfied with *only* taking 30x the income?[/QUOTE]

More CEOs need to be on that show called, "Undercover Boss." Most of those guys can't even do the grunt work that those workers get paid to do...like fixing cable boxes and what not.

If the big cigars had to go to a process where they had to be a "worker" for 6 months, maybe they'd appreciate those workers a little more and raise their salary. I think that's what it comes down to. Having a business degree doesn't mean s[COLOR="Black"]h[/COLOR]it.

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]hmm...well I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, not sure why it would really, but this country is spoiled...no question about it...

everyone is at the mall with an iphone shoved up thier ass facebooking each other while in line at Starbucks...yet I am supposed to beleive we have no middle class?....naw, we are fine.....for now anyway[/QUOTE]

You're mistaking shit that a lot of people buy on credit with actual assets. You can pick out a person at random who has a decent house, nice car and valuables and chances are barely any of it is paid for.

[QUOTE=-playmaker-]sigh, I am not saying that is a good thing...I am saying that it isn't proof that we are "unhealthy"...

you are acting like we are all doomed or something...

I am betting those numbers are misleading due to the internet boom anyway...people like Gates make 1,000,000,000X more than the average Microsoft worker, so that offsets the rest....stuff like that[/QUOTE]
Not sure if you've noticed, but the country isn't in the best shape. Our deficits are through the roof, the unemployment rate is through the roof, the under-employed rate is through the roof....

And, all the while, CEOs are bringing in record profits. Do you not see something *happening* to the nation's wealth?

Come to Ohio if you think that everything is fine and people spend $1,000 at strip malls every weekend. People are struggling in this country... Really struggling. I'm not just talking about the poor. I'm talking about people with college degrees, that worked their @sses off for an education and are thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt with school loans and there are literally no good paying jobs available.

If you don't see it, it isn't me that is living in a fantasy world... it's you.