What a shrinking middle class portends for our future
It’s easy to get fixated on the day-to-day give-and-take of politics and lose sight of the underlying realities that drive a campaign. So let’s take a step or two back and try to refocus on the big picture, shall we?
The dominant reality driving the campaign of 2012 — and probably 2016 and 2020 as well — is this, as laid out in a new Pew report on the American middle class:
As the 2012 presidential candidates prepare their closing arguments to America’s middle class, they are courting a group that has endured a lost decade for economic well-being. Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some — but by no means all — of its characteristic faith in the future….
Fully 85% of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living. Of those who feel this way, 62% say “a lot” of the blame lies with Congress, while 54% say the same about banks and financial institutions, 47% about large corporations, 44% about the Bush administration, 39% about foreign competition and 34% about the Obama administration. Just 8% blame the middle class itself a lot.
The easy inclination is to blame the problems of the middle class on the economic crisis of 2008 and its continuing aftermath. And as one of the charts above documents, that calamity has indeed devastated the net worth of America’s middle class. Wealth that was tied up in the stock market has more than recovered what was lost in 2007 and 2008; wealth that was tied up largely in housing has not recovered and will not recover at any point in the foreseeable future. And many in the middle class had leveraged that now-vanished wealth to support themselves in a style which they will never enjoy again.
However, the other chart demonstrates the real problem. Income for the middle-class — defined by Pew as adults with an income of two-thirds to twice the national median income — had stagnated for a decade, long before the Wall Street crisis. In 1971, 61 percent of Americans fell into the middle class as it is defined by Pew. Today it has shrunk to 51 percent, and shows every sign of continuing to shrink.
As Pew puts it:
The hollowing of the middle has been accompanied by a dispersion of the population into the economic tiers both above and below. The upper-income tier rose to 20% of adults in 2011, up from 14% in 1971; the lower-income tier rose to 29%, up from 25%.
However, over the same period, only the upper-income tier increased its share in the nation’s household income pie. It now takes in 46%, up from 29% four decades ago. The middle tier now takes in 45%, down from 62% four decades ago. The lower tier takes in 9%, down from 10% four decades ago.
The 2012 campaign poses several important questions to American voters. Although cast as policy choices such as how to handle entitlements and how to change tax policy, they are really just symptoms of more fundamental questions:
Are these changes caused or merely exacerbated by government policy, which would suggest that a change of policy could reverse them? Or are they instead driven by larger tectonic shifts in which government plays a very small role?
Should government attempt in any way to compensate for these profound changes, such as the massive upward shift of income and the loss of economic security for those below? Or does government have no legitimate role to play?
How does the shrinking of the middle class and the ongoing shift of both wealth and power alter our understanding of America? For those who can attain it, the American dream is more rewarding than it has ever been. But the number of winning tickets is getting smaller and smaller.
In politics, questions are rarely if ever posed to the public in such as fashion. But these are the things that we’re really debating in this campaign, and the answers matter a great deal.
– Jay Bookman
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281 comments Add your comment
Adam
August 24th, 2012
9:39 am
EJ Moosa: Year over year profit growth has continued to deteriorate. Yet somehow folks continue to watch the job numbers each month, expecting a miracle or divine intervention(and that’s just not going to happen).
Yeah I suppose 164k new jobs was “not good news” last month, huh? (cue the unemployment number poutrage)
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
9:41 am
Ben – I agree with you on Glass Steagall – although, I disagree on the division in economists (I’d love to see those who disagree – god knows, I don’t know any who do)
I lay a lot of it at the feet of Alan Greenspan – interest rates too low, encouragement of “creative” mortgage packages, blind eye to the building hurricane that is the derivatives market
Doggone/GA
August 24th, 2012
9:42 am
” Why do you think almost 50% of American pay 0 in federal taxes?”
Because Reagan said it was a good thing
Adam
August 24th, 2012
9:42 am
ty: “Koch Bros.”! Drink!…can we get a “fox news” now.
You know, I have to give you guys some credit, as I haven’t seen these in a while:
-57 states
-wealth envy
-teleprompter
-corpseman
-”doing just fine” (Romney said the same thing recently lol)
-”you didn’t build that”
-”if we keep talking about the economy we’re going to lose”
-Muslim
-Kenyan
-MSNBC
-”liberal media”
etc etc
Adam
August 24th, 2012
9:42 am
Why do you think almost 50% of American pay 0 in federal taxes?
Damn, I KNEW I forgot one.
DRINK!
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
9:43 am
wow …
so now even Mittens thinks that big business is doing fine … so I guess you guys can drop that little talking point …
and, oh, hey … TAX HAVENS …
“Big business is doing fine in many places,” he said at a fundraiser. “They get the loans they need, they can deal with all the regulation. They know how to find ways to get through the tax code, save money by putting various things in the places where there are low tax havens around the world for their businesses.”
larry
August 24th, 2012
9:43 am
If real productivity is about the same as it has always been, why would workers expect to be making any more than they did 30-40 years ago?
In what few manufacturing jobs that are left in this country, productivity is up. And while the workers have benefited from safety, health and evironmental regulations, business has too. How productive is a business that has sick workers? And how much money has that pushing paper has made a company?
And who heard of, outside of tax attorneys and accountants , of 401(k)’s , which has taken the place of pensions in this country?
ty webb
August 24th, 2012
9:43 am
“I have to give you guys some credit, as I haven’t seen these in a while:”
precisely.
Adam
August 24th, 2012
9:43 am
I also forgot the “race card” overused and nonsense conservative poutrage…. That one gets you TWO drinks!
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 24th, 2012
9:44 am
Well, all those millions of people that fell out of the middle class have got to take Personal Responsibility for the Bad Choices they made.
That’s the Republican line and it’s my line. Don’t go blaming guvmint or somebody else. People needed to stay in school instead of dropping out, stop doing you-know-what instead of having a bunch of babies they can’t feed, and go and work two or three jobs instead of setting on their duff and expecting free money that’s robbed from me and all the other hard-working Americans.
And if the jobs are overseas, then that’s where these people need to move. There’s no law that says they have to stay here. Just look at US in UK. No one would hire a radical like her here so she moved overseas. You can do the same and give us a break on all the welfare.
Have a good Friday everybody. I’m hauling and lugging and trying to get you
drunksfine folks ready to swap weird music tonight. I’ll check in with you later—if you’re still sober, that is.USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
9:44 am
“” Why do you think almost 50% of American pay 0 in federal taxes?””
oh, crap …
are you guys going to make me bust a little Ronnie on your butts???
didn’t you get enough yesterday?
Adam
August 24th, 2012
9:44 am
Big business is doing fine – Mitt Romney
OH
MY
GOD
HOW DARE HE
ByteMe - Political thug
August 24th, 2012
9:45 am
First, I wonder about the productivity numbers. How do you measure productivity in jobs that involve shoving papers around? By hours at the desk? With so many jobs now not related to production of real products, how accurate are the productivity estimates?
Productivity is a measure of what’s being produced vs. the labor being used to produce it. It’s not stagnant and tends to grow strongly during the latter part of recessions and early part of recoveries (when fewer people get used to create more products). You don’t measure it on a person-by-person basis, it’s an aggregate of results vs. labor input to create the results.
Replacing a person with a robot increases productivity, because it’s a lower-cost asset vs. the human (over the lifetime of the results being produced with the robot).
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
9:45 am
adam – 9:42 – you forgot sociamalist
Mick
August 24th, 2012
9:46 am
If you can get beyone all the talking points, I think louis armstrong sang it best – what a wonderful world – enjoy it…
weetamoe
August 24th, 2012
9:47 am
Ferguson in Newsweek pointed out the irrefutable facts that the total number of jobs are still well below the 2008 peak; since 2008 3.6 million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program; Obama predicted a 4% growth in 2011 but it was 1.8% only; he also had predicted 6% unemployment without the stimulus, but a magical 5.6% with his stimulus. The *official* unemployment figure is 8.3%.Unemployment in Georgia??? In response, his fellow Harvard profs, instead of suggesting some solutions, demanded that he be fired. And Mr Bookman’s discourse is elevated to the usual *here come the righties–and *wait for it–3-2-1* and so it goes….
ty webb
August 24th, 2012
9:47 am
I also drink every time “adam’ makes a cogent, valid point…damn I’m thirsty.
EJ Moosa
August 24th, 2012
9:48 am
‘What’s your point?”
First, it’s nice that we have “record” profits. But that is not the key to job growth. Just as the record GDP is not the key to job growth.
The rate of year over year profit growth needs to be a at certain threshold to stimulate hiring the following twelve months. Currently the correlation between the two is higher than .91. And at the present time, we will be adding few, if any jobs over the next twelve months. Certainly not enough to expand the middle class.
So we can have record profits every quarter going forward, but the if the rate of profit growth is not high enough, there will be no significant job growth. No job growth equals declining middle class.
Once you understand what actually drives hiring, then an administration can focus on what needs to be done to improve the profit potential for businesses (that is IF they are serious about an improving jobs picture and improving middle class).
On the other hand, continue to put pressures on businesses with endless regulatory and compliance costs, and if the rate of profit growth falls below the threshold, and you can watch the jobs and the middle class continue to disappear.
Thomas Heyward Jr
August 24th, 2012
9:48 am
If the middle-class looks to Washington klepto-sociepathes for answers……………then the middle-class deserves what they get.
.
But on the bright side…….thanks to Ron Paul..more and more people are putting the rotton collectivist mentality behind them.
.
The liberty movement is growing.
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
9:49 am
Adam – “Big business is doing fine – Mitt Romney
OH
MY
GOD
HOW DARE HE”
I just want the wingnuttynutnuts here to start bitching and moaning about unemployment to THAT statement …
(not holding my breath)
Thomas
August 24th, 2012
9:50 am
Sorry for the righties but Romey/Bain is going to continue to be hard to over come. Like Warren Buffett and his estate planning and Gates Foundation billion + tax avoidance, Romney and Bain decided it better to pay high attorneys to structure their business in a way to avoid/defer taxes. Sure legal, but why is tax the dog and not the tail? The writers choice of “mind-numbing” is so appropriate.
Gawker has obtained and published more than 950 pages of internal financial documents for 21 cryptically named entities in which Mitt Romney had invested—at minimum—more than $10 million as of 2011. Almost all of them are affiliated with Bain Capital, the secretive private equity firm Romney co-founded in 1984 and ran until his departure in 1999; many of them are offshore funds based in the Cayman Islands. Together, they reveal the mind-numbing, maze-like, and deeply opaque complexity with which Romney has handled his $250 million fortune.
larry
August 24th, 2012
9:51 am
And of course there’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Bush (and McCain) tried to rein in, but got deflected by Democrats.
Oh yeah, i forgot how much power the Democratic party had from Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2007.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 24th, 2012
9:52 am
wingnuttynutnuts
Dang it… you forgot a nut in there. It’s wingnuttynutnutnuts.
Of course, Mitt says big business is doing just fine but hey, we’ll give them a tax cut anyway. Just for giggles.
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
August 24th, 2012
9:53 am
USinUK
I lay a lot of it at the feet of Alan Greenspan – interest rates too low, encouragement of “creative” mortgage packages, blind eye to the building hurricane that is the derivatives market
Greenspan, another Ayn Rand acolyte
In his 2008 memoir, The Age of Turbulence, he writes, “[o]f all my teachers, Arthur Burns and Ayn Rand had the greatest impact on my life… Ayn Rand expanded my intellectual horizons, challenging me to look beyond economics to understand the behavior of individuals and societies.” He speaks warmly of her throughout the book, even knowing all that he did about her skeleton-packed closet; his loyalty elicits both sympathy and exasperation.
~the awl
weetamoe
August 24th, 2012
9:53 am
Ummm Romney was talking about big business, you know GE, Buffett’s group, Apple. They are the guys who can afford to legally avoid taxes and maintain legal offshore accounts. He was not talking about middle class *you didn’t build that* business.
EJ Moosa
August 24th, 2012
9:53 am
Adam,
It’s hard to take both sides of an argument, but you do try. If the jobs number was that good, then we would have an improving middle class wouldn’t we? Now just how many jobs per county per day does that work out to that were created? I’ll let you do the math.
And if the jobs number was that good, then we would have declining unemployment, a strengthening economy, and all of the positives associated with that.
The reality of our situation speaks for itself.
ty webb
August 24th, 2012
9:55 am
“…and ran until his departure in 1999…”
a “Bainer” conceding one false meme to carry on with another…nice.
Adam
August 24th, 2012
9:57 am
adam – 9:42 – you forgot sociamalist
*sigh* – I guess only the crazy can be expected to remember EVERY one of them.
larry
August 24th, 2012
9:58 am
Once you understand what actually drives hiring, then an administration can focus on what needs to be done to improve the profit potential for businesses (that is IF they are serious about an improving jobs picture and improving middle class).
We have record profits now, which has gone mostly to higher CEO pay instead of hiring workers , or hiring workers that are paid less and have their health care subsidized by the government overseas.
getalife
August 24th, 2012
9:59 am
congress should focus on the middle class but they will not.
They take the easy lazy way out and fight for the billionaires that are richer than ever.
Until they do, the middle class only have our President fighting for them.
RB from Gwinnett
August 24th, 2012
9:59 am
You “cap the CEO pay morons are missing a very important point. The Feds are NOT going to tell a private company owner how to run their business and if you want to just address public companies, companies will stop going public. What do you think is goin to happen to your 401K when you have no place to invest it??
Employers might start sharing more of their profits with employees if employees start sharing the risk with them too.
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
10:00 am
“Oh yeah, i forgot how much power the Democratic party had from Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2007.”
Mick
August 24th, 2012
10:00 am
Larry reusrrects the fannie/freddie conservative myth as the root cause of our economic mess. Keep searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s yours for the taking…
ByteMe - Political thug
August 24th, 2012
10:00 am
Until they do, the middle class only have our President fighting for them.
With one hand tied behind his back.
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
10:01 am
“if you want to just address public companies, companies will stop going public”
ohsweetjeebus, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
right.
companies are going to look at the TRILLIONS of dollars that are invested in the world markets and say “nope, not for us! we’ll put up with all the other regulations for public companies, but we draw the line with that one”
you’re a laugh frickin riot sometimes, RB
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:01 am
Moosa — “First, it’s nice that we have “record” profits. But that is not the key to job growth. Just as the record GDP is not the key to job growth.”
They are, however, evidence that businesses *are not* suffering from over-regulation.
“The rate of year over year profit growth needs to be a at certain threshold to stimulate hiring the following twelve months. Currently the correlation between the two is higher than .91. And at the present time, we will be adding few, if any jobs over the next twelve months. Certainly not enough to expand the middle class.”
However, that correlation could be *increased* — thereby stimulating hiring — by the simple expedient of adjusting executive and senior management compensation levels slightly downwards, and into tighter salary bands. That correlation can *easily* be manipulated above or below 1.00.
“So we can have record profits every quarter going forward, but the if the rate of profit growth is not high enough, there will be no significant job growth. No job growth equals declining middle class.”
Declining middle class also means declining levels of demand for consumer goods and services. Not a winning prescription for businesses that want to inmprove their sales picture.
“Once you understand what actually drives hiring, then an administration can focus on what needs to be done to improve the profit potential for businesses (that is IF they are serious about an improving jobs picture and improving middle class).”
Demand drives hiring. I can guarantee you that if a company’s got a correlation like you noted above, but their sales jumped 25% in a month (and weren’t attributable to seasonal factors), they’d start hiring. Companies that move at a glacial pace and aren’t nimble enough to take quick advantage of opportunities when they arise — well, they just don’t do as well as those that can.
“On the other hand, continue to put pressures on businesses with endless regulatory and compliance costs, and if the rate of profit growth falls below the threshold, and you can watch the jobs and the middle class continue to disappear.”
Those costs have always been with American business and always will be. And so will the whining of businesses that want to avoid them. There’s nothing new about that dynamic; it’s simply that regulation is, once again, business’ excuse for slack job creation.
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
August 24th, 2012
10:01 am
another shooting…..at the Empire State Building
ByteMe - Political thug
August 24th, 2012
10:02 am
Employers might start sharing more of their profits with employees if employees start sharing the risk with them too.
let us know what “risk” CEOs of public companies are taking that employees are not? The risk of getting fired and having a multi-million dollar parachute to help you land your next gig? That risk?
Thomas Heyward Jr
August 24th, 2012
10:02 am
“congress should focus on the middle class but they will not.”
.
Oh..they’re “focused” on them alright.
Hence the devastation.
larry
August 24th, 2012
10:02 am
And of course there’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Bush (and McCain) tried to rein in, but got deflected by Democrats.
Oh yeah, i forgot how much power the Democratic party had from Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2007.
Mick, please read the whole post. I was being sarcastic.
N-GA
August 24th, 2012
10:02 am
Ben – The Bill that gutted the Glass -Steagall Act was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. “Respective versions of the legislation were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001.” Unfortunately Clinton signed it instead of vetoing it. His veto would have been overridden since the Senate vote was 90-8 in favor. While this wasn’t the only cause of our current economic situation, it certainly contributed. The prolonged downward pressure on interest rates fueled a leveraged economy that would collapse under the burden of debt. But (IMO) the financial industry really did the most damage.
In order to keep the bubble expanding, the financial industry dropped all credit standards…for everything from credit cards to construction loans to mortgage loans. Instead of 20% down, the industry went to 10% down, then 5%, then 0%! People refinanced and rolled their revolving debt into their mortgages, or took out a second mortgage! Cars were financed beyond their useful lives! 7 years! People were “upside down” with automobile loans long before the housing bubble burst. The ultimate mortgage product was the “Interest Only” loan. What a joke!
Meanwhile the financial markets were packaging mortgage backed securities and selling them as “investment” grade. Of course they then sold “insurance” called Credit Default Swaps (CDS’s) to protect the MB Securities holders. Since it wasn’t really insurance, there were no requirements to maintain any “reserves” to back up those CDS’s. The biggest holder of CDS’s was….Lehman Brothers! And you know what happened to them.
So I tend to place most of the blame on the greed of the financial industry with a lot of help from politicians too eager to play with the lobbyists. That is why we will never really see any (serious) prosecutions.
Adam
August 24th, 2012
10:02 am
ty: Try this:
Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” reflect a belief in the idea that women who get raped cannot get pregnant if they didn’t want to be raped. This belief is not new. It is, in fact, an old belief that goes back decades. It is now in the minds of people who were children when this first was mentioned to them, and still believe it into adulthood.
The belief is important because it allows one to feel ok about banning abortion even in cases of rape. After all, if you cannot get pregnant from a rape you didn’t want, then that must mean that if you did get pregnant, it wasn’t a “real” rape. Todd Akin and Paul Ryan have long supported abortion bans with no exceptions, it was made part of the Republican platform mere days after Akin’s comments, and Paul Ryan admits he is only going along with an abortion ban with exceptions because it’s “a step in the right direction.”
Now, not everyone actually believes the biological lie, but the Republican platform is abortion bans – no exceptions.
If you dare, ty, why don’t you speak to that. I have citations for every point I made if you need them.
Moderate Line
August 24th, 2012
10:03 am
There are many things that affect the drop in household income. From my perspective the left wants to focus on the economic changes and the right wants to focus on the social changes. From my perspective they are both contributing factors so to deny one and not the other is wrong.
Economic affects are mainly due to the decline of manufacturing in the United States. There are two basic job markets one for low skill workers and the one for high skill jobs. We do not compete any area very well. Low skill is basically based on the cost of labor and and our labor market is more expensive than China, etc. Our educational system is not strong enough to compete with the likes of the Scandinavian countries and Germany.
One can’t close your eyes to the social changes which have contributed to this change.
A voluminous body of social science research shows that marriage is associated with a variety of benefits for adults. In the words of one researcher: “For well over a century, researchers have known that married people are generally better off than their unmarried counterparts” (Nock, 2005). Yet in recent decades marriage rates have declined-particularly among less educated adults-as cohabitation rates have increased.
The irony of the study is marriage benefits the less educated the most but they are also more likely to be unmarried.
We are moving more to a libitarian society which means that people can do what they want socially which benefits the highly education (ie higher income groups) and people are less likely to support education because that means they will have to pay more taxes which also helps those in the higher income groups.
In other words as long as the left pushes for greater social freedom and the right pushes for greater economic freedom and both succeed on those fronts the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2034/cohabitation-rate-doubled-since-mid-90s-only-more-educated-benefit-economically
EJ Moosa
August 24th, 2012
10:03 am
Larry,
You can say what you want. The evidence says otherwise. I have analyzed more than 35 years of profit and jobs data to back me up.
Over the last 12 years, the correlation between the rate of profit growth and job growth has grown even stronger than it was 30 years ago.
Most of the efforts we see today to stimulate jobs growth are feel good efforts with little if nothing to show for the results.
While there are companies that pay their CEO’s too much, that is their business. Their company earned the profits and it is their right to distribute how they desire.
But for all the mom and pop businesses that my research includes( and there are a million times more of them than the overpaid CEO you reference), the rate of profit growth matters.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 24th, 2012
10:03 am
if you want to just address public companies, companies will stop going public
Really? Are you are that clueless? Companies go public for a variety of reasons: to cash out for the intitial investors and to raise capital are likely 2 top contenders.
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
10:04 am
” If the jobs number was that good, then we would have an improving middle class wouldn’t we? ”
no.
you can have more jobs, but (much like the housing market), there is still more inventory, which is driving prices down.
in other words, it’s an employer’s market – they can hire for stupid-low wages.
which, in turn, keeps the middle class standard of living down
skydog
August 24th, 2012
10:04 am
Redneck -Have a good Friday everybody. I’m hauling and lugging and trying to get you drunks fine folks ready to swap weird music tonight. I’ll check in with you later—if you’re still sober, that is.
+++++++++++++++
Come on by(or don`t) Neck….We`ll put some David Allen Coe on for you. He`s got music where you can understand the words.
Or are you David Allen Coe?
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:04 am
RB — “Employers might start sharing more of their profits with employees if employees start sharing the risk with them too.”
Oh, sure. Employees bear no risk whatsoever if their employer should happen to go under.
Adam
August 24th, 2012
10:04 am
RB: if employees start sharing the risk with them too.
What do you propose?
Mick
August 24th, 2012
10:05 am
larry
Yes, I’m losing it lately…think I’ll just sit back and read the banter…
Jay
August 24th, 2012
10:06 am
Not only must corporate profits rise every year, but the RATE at which they rise must increase every year?
EJ does not understand the mathematical impossibility of what he preaches.
Mary Elizabeth
August 24th, 2012
10:07 am
“Are these changes caused or merely exacerbated by government policy, which would suggest that a change of policy could reverse them?”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
Yes, these changes were definitely caused by government policy and, yes, a change of policy could reverse them.
—————————————————————-
“How does the shrinking of the middle class and the ongoing shift of both wealth and power alter our understanding of America?”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
The ongoing shift of wealth and power in America means that America is becoming the land of the few of wealth and power, the very opposite of Jefferson’s, Washington’s, and Adams’s vision for America.
The below is part of my response yesterday to a poster on another blog who had said that she
doesn’t “share the ‘conspiracy theory’ mentality of many of the posters to this blog. I don’t believe that there is a nefarious Republican plot to dismantle the public school system in this country and replace it with a privatized system.”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
“I believe you are speakfully truthfully about what you believe, but I also believe that you are either naive as to what is happening politically in this nation and state, or you must work so closely with the powers-that-be in your line of work that you simply have decided not to see what is happening.
I would urge you, and other readers, to read about ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) in depth. This organization was formed in the mid-1970s and has a significant number of Georgia’s Republican polticians among its members. State Sen. Chip Rogers is the National Treasurer for ALEC. Sen. Rogers, of course, is Georgia’s Senate Majority Leader. Observe carefully who has funded ALEC over the decades. The great majority of its funders have not been Democrats. The Koch Brothers have been among its major funders.
I would also urge you – and others – to read about the national, and state Republican ideological agenda not only to privatize public education, but also to privatize Social Security, and Medicare. I am sure that you must have heard of the phrase ’starving the beast of government,’ the philosophy of which many Republicans have endorsed. (The efforts by Republicans to dismantle Social Security have been attempted by Republicans since FDR, with whom most Republicans have fervertly disagreed in political philosophy. Franklin Roosevelt, of course, established Social Security so that all Americans never, again, would have to undergo the severe hardships which they endured during the Great Depression. As late as a few years ago, President George W. Bush pursued a committed campaign to privatize Social Security, but his efforts were not supported by the majority of the American people.
Read the work of Common Cause, Media Matters, Nobel Prize Winner of Economics, Dr. Paul Krugman, in his columns for the New York Times, the blog of Katrina vanden Heuvel of the politcal magazine “The Nation,” at the link, http://www.thenation.com/blogs/katrina-vanden-heuvel, and specifically, read lengthy article entitled, “Covert Operations:The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama” by Jane Mayer in “The New Yorker” magazine, August 30, 2010, to become more savvy into what has, in fact, has been happening for decades in America to turn our nation into one which embraces a more “Ayn Randian,” libertarian, business model, within its policies and institutions, including those within education. That article mentions the political group, Americans for Prosperity, of which I think you and others should also be made aware.”
getalife
August 24th, 2012
10:07 am
Thomas,
If you are middle class and vote gop you are voting for your own destruction.
Mary Elizabeth
August 24th, 2012
10:08 am
Please listen to Sen. Bernie Sanders, on greed in America:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWM6XguDgzA&feature=related
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
10:09 am
“If you are middle class and vote gop you are voting for your own destruction.”
same goes if you are a woman.
Project Dreamz
August 24th, 2012
10:09 am
Are YOU registered to vote?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP6Mcvgdrtg
Adam
August 24th, 2012
10:09 am
I get the feeling RB would love it if people had to sign a contract that if they get fired or the company goes under, they are not allowed to be hired by anyone else for any reason for 5 years.
Surely, that amount of risk would “motivate” them to do better work. And surely, that kind of contract would have no inclusion of benefits they would get from such an arrangement, but MAYBE the company will decide to reward them…. MAYBE.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:09 am
Moosa — “While there are companies that pay their CEO’s too much, that is their business. Their company earned the profits and it is their right to distribute how they desire.”
And it’s that desire — to do what they want, to pay what they want, to bypass or flout laws how they want, to get involved in politics how they want — that feeds directly into the growing public demand for greater regulation on those businesses.
Have a care, sir. It’s your sort of mindset that’s directly fueling discontent with American businesses.
Adam
August 24th, 2012
10:10 am
Jay: EJ does not understand the mathematical impossibility of what he preaches.
Noticed that did ya? It happens to be applicable to a few other things he preaches as well.
USMC
August 24th, 2012
10:10 am
“…encouragement of “creative” mortgage packages…”–USinUK
Specifically ARM’s for the Subprime borrower and all of the other garbage such as “Option” ARM’s, stated loans for the W-2 borrower, stated/Interest only, No Doc, 100% Stated/non-owner occupied loans, etc., etc., etc.
She is really on her game this morning; must be that strong “spot” of tea…
Aquagirl
August 24th, 2012
10:10 am
let us know what “risk” CEOs of public companies are taking that employees are not?
I heard Arthur Blank stubbed a toe lobbying for his new skybox nirvana.
Proud to be me
August 24th, 2012
10:11 am
The President, Congress and “We the people” are to blame for the economic situation. As far as banks and Wallstreet goes there are regulations (a multitude of regulations!) . . who writes these regulations (the government officials) where has the oversite been (from the government officials)? Isn’t it a fact that what drives the banks and Wallstreet are the government officials. Aren’t they the ones who insisted on making sure everyone live the American Dream by owning a house? Aren’t “We the people” to blame for demanding more and more from the government? Having said this then the question becomes how can we rectify the situation? Spend our way out? Create a division between classes? Pitting one another against each other? Or, cutting services and reset goverment? Create a division between classes? And, Pitting one another against each other?
skydog
August 24th, 2012
10:12 am
“RD, You “cap the CEO pay morons”
Defend the CEO of my insurance carrier, United Health Care, making $102,000,000 last year. He has made $820,000,000 in the last 10 years.
This man did not put on one band aid.
Put your Toga on, get the girls to feed you some grapes and spout on.
USMC
August 24th, 2012
10:12 am
WOW! Talk about playing politics…
Barack Obama asks eurozone to keep Greece in until after election day…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/barack-obama-asks-eurozone-to-keep-greece-in-until-after-election-day-8076852.html
USinUK - pro-gay-marriage thug and former Girl Scout
August 24th, 2012
10:13 am
USMC – 10:10 – AND encouraging them when interest rates were at an all-time low (for the time) – with nowhere to go but up.
getalife
August 24th, 2012
10:13 am
“same goes if you are a woman.”
And Latino, gay, Senior, etc….
ty webb
August 24th, 2012
10:13 am
adam,
easy, I don’t agree with Akin at all, or Ryan, with respect to abortion…perhaps, due to your constant sycophantic Obama flag-waving, you have missed where I’ve written here many times that I am “pro-abortion”…meaning that it should be kept legal, and it’s an option that should always be offered to women.
larry
August 24th, 2012
10:13 am
Over the last 12 years, the correlation between the rate of profit growth and job growth has grown even stronger than it was 30 years ago.
So just never mind the fact that after the recession of 2001 job growth was anemic and now that we have record profits and job growth is still anemic.
Adam
August 24th, 2012
10:15 am
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/24/shooting-reported-outside-empire-state-building/comment-page-12/
I’m not going to read this story until later, but tell me how right I am:
This is just another “isolated incident” by a “lone gunman” who was “just crazy.” “Now is not the time to talk about gun control.” “Respect the victims.”
How’d I do? Did I basically tell the whole story and its general public response?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
August 24th, 2012
10:15 am
What’s going on here ? Both of these places are “GUN FREE ZONES” !
Headline (AJC): “13 shot in 30 minutes in rising Chicago violence”
Headline (Yahoo): “Multiple people shot outside NYC landmark”
Adam
August 24th, 2012
10:16 am
ty: Then you agree that I made a cogent and valid point and that you should take a drink
Moderate Line
August 24th, 2012
10:17 am
N-GA
August 24th, 2012
10:02 am
Ben – The Bill that gutted the Glass -Steagall Act was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. “Respective versions of the legislation were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001.” Unfortunately Clinton signed it instead of vetoing it. His veto would have been overridden since the Senate vote was 90-8 in favor.
+++++++
I think it is worth pointing out the bill passed 90-8 in the Senate which means it had bipartisan support.
Jay
August 24th, 2012
10:17 am
No Adam, as the next poster demonstrates, you clearly underestimated their ingenuity and shamelessness.
bluecoat
August 24th, 2012
10:18 am
we need cut further corporate taxes,allowing them to pay the officers a much higher salary,and perks,at the expense of the middle class taxes.Continue to blame the poor,and excuse the rich.
TaxPayer
August 24th, 2012
10:18 am
EJ does not understand the mathematical impossibility of what he preaches.
At least the executives at the company I worked for had enough sense to only ask for a fixed rate of return–20% YOY. They tried all the usual incentives in hopes of achieving that too including, stock options, raises, layoffs, outscourcing, etc. No matter what tactic the executives chose, it was always the correct one since they always got hefty raises and bonuses YOY. They had a well conceived formula for determining their performance awards and even when times were tough, their formula showed that they were doing just plain wunnerful. If there were problems, it was not with their efforts because if so much as one of them messed up, they got tossed out of the plane wearing nothing but a golden parachute and we all know how fast those things plummet to the ground.
RB from Gwinnett
August 24th, 2012
10:21 am
Byte, you missed the point. Nobody is going to take their company public if it means they have to listen to some idiot in Washingon tell the how much they’re allowed to make.
How many of you socialists are willing to risk your life savings and work for a year with no paycheck as most start up business owners have done or are doing? You people are idiots and have no idea what it takes to build a business, but you sit here all day every day pretending you have a clue. You don’t!!
getalife
August 24th, 2012
10:22 am
If you check their voting records for this do nothing congress, one party votes consistently against the middle class.
The gop even voted no on the middle class tax cut.
Why?
Because it was not their precious billionaires getting the tax cut.
Half our country vote gop for self destruction.
ty webb
August 24th, 2012
10:22 am
“13 shot in 30 minutes in rising Chicago violence”
but, but, but at least they’re trying to crackdown down on all those “hateful” chicken sandwiches.
jms
August 24th, 2012
10:22 am
It’s called readjusting your expectations. The party last night was fun. Now in the cold light of day it’s time to grab the mop and clean up.
skydog
August 24th, 2012
10:23 am
larry – Job growth is anemic because the Skull and Crossbones crowd is not investing. They are awaiting the election. They can`t wait much longer no matter who is elected because their oil refineries are about to fall down due to lack of spending money on upgrades.
I know because I recently worked in Texas City and Beaumont trying to patch these things together until the Big Boss Man decides to spend.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:24 am
RB — “You people are idiots and have no idea what it takes to build a business, but you sit here all day every day pretending you have a clue. You don’t!!”
You presume much. And you presume incorrectly.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
August 24th, 2012
10:24 am
ty webb:
Excellent point …………… and don’t forget:
“Either you side with ‘Chick-fil-A’or you don’t; but, one thing is certain. If you want to continue eating chicken you need a hen and a rooster.”
Jefferson
August 24th, 2012
10:24 am
RB : Everyone is an idiot but me. If you know it all why bother ?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
August 24th, 2012
10:25 am
Whatever business it is, Joe Hussein Mama “didn’t build it” !!!
TaxPayer
August 24th, 2012
10:25 am
Someone send RB some business. He’s obviously got too much free time. Before ya know it, he’ll be sittin’ around complaining about how tough it is to make a living what with all the leeches out there that he has to support and we know where that will end up.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:26 am
T. Webb — “but, but, but at least they’re trying to crackdown down on all those “hateful” chicken sandwiches.”
I’m sure jebus will remember those who went and bought chicken sammiches instead of those who gave their lunch money to help feed poor, hungry people.
ByteMe - Political thug
August 24th, 2012
10:26 am
Byte, you missed the point. Nobody is going to take their company public if it means they have to listen to some idiot in Washingon tell the how much they’re allowed to make.
Of course they will. They already listen to idiots in Washington over a whole host of issues related to being a public company. And idiots in Europe if they have overseas operations. And so on.
You assume and presume opinions with no basis in reality.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:26 am
0311 — “Whatever business it is, Joe Hussein Mama “didn’t build it” !!!”
Breaks my heart to see a Marine lying about what the President said.
Compromise
August 24th, 2012
10:27 am
What Romney said:
“I’m going to champion small business. We’ve got to make it easier for small businesses. Big business is doing fine in many places -– they get the loans they need, they can deal with all the regulation. They know how to find ways to get through the tax code, save money by putting various things in the places where there are low tax havens around the world for their businesses. But small business is getting crushed.”
What Adam heard:
Big business is doing fine – Mitt Romney
OH
MY
GOD
HOW DARE HE
Project Dreamz
August 24th, 2012
10:27 am
YOU can register “right now”!!
http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/how_to_register.htm
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
August 24th, 2012
10:27 am
“13 shot in 30 minutes in rising Chicago violence”
It’s gotta be the pizza. Chicago pizza always made me want to rape and kill….
getalife
August 24th, 2012
10:27 am
How many of you cons are middle class and voted for your own destruction?
All of them.
ty webb
August 24th, 2012
10:27 am
0311/8541/58111811/1801,
good one.
EJ Moosa
August 24th, 2012
10:27 am
“Not only must corporate profits rise every year, but the RATE at which they rise must increase every year?
EJ does not understand the mathematical impossibility of what he preaches.”
Preaches…funny. I think you need to comprehend just a bit more carefully.
So the rate of year over year profit growth has fallen from 13.86% year over year to 8.22%. Which part of that are you not understanding?
I have maintained that the rate of profit growth year over year must be at a certain threshold. Not that it be 8% this year, 9% next year….nor have I ever stated that.
Thomas
August 24th, 2012
10:30 am
let us know what “risk” CEOs of public companies are taking that employees are not?
There is a major difference between CEO/founder and the “tenth CEO” of Coke.
Aquagirl- go start a business, take on debt, hire folks, provide them benefits, and report back. Otherwise you are like a man mouthing off about pro life.
getalife
August 24th, 2012
10:31 am
willie robme is lying about helping the middle class.
He can’t unless he acts along like our President.
The gop will never vote to help the middle class.
getalife
August 24th, 2012
10:31 am
Alone.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
August 24th, 2012
10:32 am
Does anyone remember the president saying something about Joe Hussein Mama building something?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
August 24th, 2012
10:32 am
Maybe he’s confused.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 24th, 2012
10:32 am
0311 — “Does anyone remember the president saying something about Joe Hussein Mama building something?”
It’s sad when Marines resort to lying.