The Top 1% of The Wealthiest Americans hold ONE-THIRD of the Wealth

[tuku747]

https://jacobin.com/2022/10/bernie-sanders-wealth-concentration-oligarchy-democracy

• The top 1% of the wealthiest americans hold 33% of the wealth
• The top 10% of the wealthiest americans hold 72% of the wealth
• The bottom 50% of the poorest americans hold 2% of the wealth
• ^^ Yes, you read that right!! ^^ ✅️ ? ? 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by tuku747

[Leo Gura]

Trickle down economics, baby!

[Hardkill]

17 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Trickle down economics, baby!

Hopefully Bidenomics will finally put an end to the zombie Reagonomics that has already had too much of an influence on our country for far too long. I don't even think that Reaganomics is really popular anymore in America.

Considering that Neoliberalism/Reaganism has lasted for over 4 decades now, and the failures of that economic philosophy have now become apparent to enough people in America, do you think we are now on our way to going back to the kind of regimented capitalism or social democracy we had throughout the entire extended New Deal era during the mid 1900s?

Edited July 14, 2023 by Hardkill

[ryandesreu]

Trickle down just looks like a con plan for the rich at this point. It is encouraging to see someone trying to correct this. I only see a Dem fixing it, if anyone, but we'll see.

[Hardkill]

21 minutes ago, ryandesreu said:

Trickle down just looks like a con plan for the rich at this point. It is encouraging to see someone trying to correct this. I only see a Dem fixing it, if anyone, but we'll see.

You know, according to history, the trickle down economics idea is actually such an old idea that it goes way back to around the 1920s. During the "roaring 20s" America was run by Republican fools including Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, and they were really the originals one that promoted the same kind of laissez faire economics that Reagan and the GOP brought in the 1980s and onwards. The trickle down economics in the 1920s was largely responsible for causing the Great Depression.

[Tanz]

The people on the right never had a problem with it until the people on the left had more of it.  Now they are crying about censorship and the decaying of society while the people on the left are becoming obliviously ignorant.  This is quite amusing to see this because people haven't realized the problem was never a system or even an ideological one.  Rather a problem within.  

Kyle is unable to realize this and he keeps talking about "policy"

[ryandesreu]

@Tanz Are you saying that the people need to change to fit the system?

A problem within what?

[Tanz]

@ryandesreu All of us need to change from the inside out til most people get the point it's not the external environment that makes people, it is more conscious people taking action.  

There isn't a church, government body, or any political ideology that can save people.  The very nature of organizations is to justify power.  

[ryandesreu]

@Tanz I get what you're saying. Many of the world's problems aren't solved, they're outgrown, and in order to outgrow them, it requires a new level of consciousness. At the same time I can't stop believing that there is a way, at this level, of putting into practice a better system for all. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by ryandesreu

[sholomar]

Another problem is modern monetary theory (quantitative easing) ... there are now talks of bailing out the commercial real estate industry, all these incessant bailouts and printing of money act to prop up the status quo, further concentrating the wealth up the economic ladder. What would be healthy is allowing highly leveraged entities to go bankrupt instead... allow some deflation, allow recessions, so we can cool off asset prices. "Too big to fail" corporations is silly. Bailing out banks beyond the FDIC $250,000 is silly. The rich basically are allowed to take risks and then if it doesn't pan out for them, they get a bailout. Horrible policy.

The price of real estate is the highest inflation adjusted it's ever been because all this liquidity printed into thin air and spent ultimately ends up in the hands of the top 10%, and because there's so much liquidity in the system, they bid up the price of homes, start to invest in homes, and price the middle class out of the system. Realtors should be banned from investing in homes in the towns they live in. Corporations should be banned from investing in residential real estate. Individuals should be banned from owning large numbers of R-1 zoned residential real estate.  Wealth concentration of what is occurring ultimately is going to cause the west to decay if not mitigated with checks and balances.

Edited July 20, 2023 by sholomar

[Tanz]

18 hours ago, ryandesreu said:

@Tanz I get what you're saying. Many of the world's problems aren't solved, they're outgrown, and in order to outgrow them, it requires a new level of consciousness. At the same time I can't stop believing that there is a way, at this level, of putting into practice a better system for all. 

I surmise if a group of people or a government were to successfully implement changes that actually work, the mainstream media and the US government will first slander, block trade, and then go to war with that country in fear of inspiring a movement that can spread.  

[BojackHorseman]

I hate to say that but I don't see how it could be otherwise for long.
If you're smarter (society smarts, not smart smart), you just control the others and get more energy/money from them.

If it's not smart then it's strong. Whatever is used to rule just puts you above other people and you benefit about it so you'll be more rich/have more goods than them.

 

Now maybe we could evolve to a selfless/collective mind...but I don't think that's how humans work. Sometimes we think too highly of ourselves. Who says we have the will and energy to ascend and maintain a mental status where we help each other? Some people don't want to evolve. Those some people will probably always be the norm.