The U.S. Is the Richest Country as Well as the Most Unequal: 8 Consequences of American Greed

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/consequences-american-greed

America is the richest country in all of history. We have the largest economy and the largest number of millionaires and billionaires. At the same time, we lead the developed world in economic inequality. In 1965, CEOs received $20 for every dollar earned by the average worker. Today the gap is $354 to $1.




1. We are among the leaders in child poverty. In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty. We lost the war. Today, of all the developed nations in the world, America is near the top when it comes to the percentage of our children living in poverty.



2. We lead the developed world in homelessness. One of the most crushing outcomes of runaway inequality is homelessness. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, homelessness has multiple causes including foreclosures, poverty, decline of work opportunities, reductions in public assistance, lack of affordable healthcare, mental illness, addiction and domestic violence. Many of these causes are directly related to and exacerbated by rising inequality.



3. We lead the world in student debt. We can't find data comparing our country to others when it comes to student debt. That's because in most countries higher education is free. In fact, higher education once was virtually free here as well. After WWII, the GI Bill of Rights paid for more than 3 million veterans to return to school, tuition-free. The bill also provided stipends for living costs as well. California and then New York also developed tuition-free state wide university systems. However as runaway inequality set in, state and federal support for higher education did not keep up with tuition costs. The breach was filled by Wall Street which profits mightily from the trillion-dollar student debt market.

[RiverLover]

1. Our homelessness numbers are embarassing. They all are, but that comparison surprised me.

Really great post. Thanks for the link.

[raouldukelives]

2. Makes you wonder what our military & police are defending. Hint: It ain't the general welfare. nt

[xchrom]

16. +1

[dawg]

3. Conservative economists will argue that we owe our prosperity ...

to the same elements of our system that create the massive inequality.

I think that is bunk.

I don't think we have to choose between increasing the size of the pie, and slicing it up into fairer pieces. We can do both. (As long as some idiot doesn't come along to make the pie higher. Then, we might not even be able to reach it at all.)

[TBF]

4. As I just said in another thread

the way you deal with that is to tax and regulate appropriately. If you fail to do so you will end up with revolution. That is where we're headed now - you can only take so much from people until they have nothing left to lose.

[dawg]

5. I used to agree with you, but now I don't.

They'll take the scraps their "betters" give them, and they'll be happy. If they feel deprived at all, they will *know* it is the somehow the fault of the blacks, the gays, and the Mexicans.

[TBF]

6. I dunno -

talked to a poor white family member over the holidays who used to be middle class. Driving truck now. Over 40, can't get back into the game.

That's what happens to real people with the layoffs. He's ready to fight.

Granted he's not a FAUX news watcher so maybe that's the difference.

[RiverLover]

8. Great post! I've met similar people.

[dawg]

9. Right now, we can't get most folks to even vote.

Much less be willing to make any of the real sacrifices that it would take in order to really shake things up.

[TBF]

32. When people feel their vote

Doesn't matter - and many feel that way - you've already lost them. They don't believe in the system. They are much more likely to fight against it. Unlike us older folks who may still have a little skin in the game with a bit of savings or pension ... they don't even have that. They have nothing to lose.

[dawg]

36. Much more likely to fight against it?

Much more likely to not do shit, I say.

And so far, the last 40 years of our history is bearing me out.

Supreme court steals an election? The people don't do shit.
President authorizes torture? The people don't do shit.
Wall Street steals billions and gets away with it? The people don't do shit.

I don't think the American people have it in us anymore. As long as we can afford Hot Pockets, and the TV and internet still works, I think we'll pretty much lay down for anything.

[Boreal]

41. Right here, my friend

...governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

It's true. Because of the degree of comfort, complacency, apathy, fatigue, whatever, nothing is going to happen until it becomes unbearable. The US might even just collapse before that happens. We may go out like Rome. We're certainly just as debauched and corrupt.

Wanted to say, too, that the OPs link is wrong. Wealth of the people is usually measured per capita and by that I believe that Switzerland is the "richest". One in eight is a millionaire so it's sure a lot more equal, as well!

[TBF]

42. Going out like Rome -

maybe so. There sure seems to be a decay going on around us. Perhaps it will be less of a bang and more of a whimper

[NewDeal_Dem]

29. don't you mean he was upper middle class before and now is driving truck? truck driving -is- a

middle class income now, especially if there's a second income too.

[TBF]

30. yeah maybe upper -

But no second income (no spouse)

But why would you assume a second income? Anything to downplay what has happened to people. Why would you do that?

[NewDeal_Dem]

33. because second incomes are what's happened to keep the middle class afloat more than anything.

since the 70s.

[TBF]

43. The family member I mentioned

happens to be white male, college degree, never married. It's hard to find good stats but I did find one article from research at Bowling Green (good family studies program there) indicating that single earner families are on the rise now (who knows if this is by choice - could simply be due to so many layoffs):

More wives earning more than their spouse
Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY 7:57 p.m. EST March 1, 2013

More wives out-earned husbands in 2011 than in 2006
Incomes of couples in which both spouses work fell slightly
Professor: More couples rely on two incomes for insurance against challenges

Wives in dual-earner couples are contributing more to total household income than in the past, and a growing percentage of wives are out-earning their husbands, shows a new analysis of family finances from 2006 to 2011.

In 2011, the percentage of households with married couples earning two incomes fell, compared with 2006, and those with a single earner rose, according to a report published online Thursday by the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

The analysis of Census data from the American Community Survey suggests some of the Great Recession's fallout on family finances. Couples in which both partners are employed declined from 69% to 65%, while those with one breadwinner rose from 27% to 30%, it says ...

more here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/01/dual-earner-couples-recession/1957621/

[WillTwain]

11. Blacks, gays and Mexicans are our only hope. Dumb whites are a lost cause

My experience with millenials has been they have no fight in them. They just slouch around, retreat to their bedrooms at their parent's house and stare at glowing screens. No clue that life is a war against the rich. They are generally a sad lot.

[dawg]

13. Millennials tend to be very cynical.

They came of age at a time of severely limited opportunity. I can't say that any other generation would have taken it any better.

[WillTwain]

17. I have met many millenials and that is what is most important, the percentage that have fire in

their bellies is close to zero. Previous generations had passion. From the labor movement to the civil rights movement they took it to the streets and died at times. The Millenials just shrug. I have heard them say they do not want to think about it it is to depressing. I do not think I have met one warrior among them.

[BlindTiresias]

21. Maybe they realize

That all the normal avenues for change are essentially closed? It does tend to be the younger generations that pick up on emerging truths in society while the older gens are stuck in older paradigms.

[starroute]

22. You mean millennials like Edward Snowden? Or Aaron Swartz?

Or Jeremy Hammond? Or Barrett Brown? Or Tim DeChristopher?

The country is full of millennial who are not only impassioned but willing to put their lives and their futures on the line for their beliefs. If you're not meeting any, you're looking in the wrong places.

[WillTwain]

23. I just spent four years in college.

Is that a good place to get the pulse of a generation? This is typically where it all begins. Maybe things have changed. Colleges are often filled with the comfortable.

[TBF]

44. I doubt any revolution is going to be fueled

with college kids. You're looking in the wrong place.

Numbers from wiki from 2005 (already 10 years old but so it goes with data): In 2005, the proportion of the population having finished high school and the percentage of those having earned bachelor's degrees remained at an all-time high, while the growth in both categories has slowed down over the past two decades. The vast majority of the population, 85.2%, had finished high school and nearly a quarter, 22%, had earned a Bachelor's degree

So what are the other 78% doing?

[WillTwain]

54. I also work with the working poor.

I force the conversation at times to see where the millenials are on their sad situations. There are a few Ayn Rand types that have anger in them. This is obviously naive and is the absolutely the wrong approach - less government so we can fix corporatism. What?

The rest of them are just dead inside - no fight at all they just slump and shuffle away. I know many blue-collar people that are typically the fighters on this planet. Most of them are anti-government, also. They may want to fight but it is liberals they want to drill.

About college, the civil rights movement and anti-war movement both grew out of colleges.

[TBF]

56. They are anti-government because

they can't see how it's helping them. And they're basically correct because currently the government is being run by millionaires who don't give a damn about people (with a few exceptions).

Movements are different from revolutions ... there were definitely college students involved in both civil rights and anti-war efforts. Whether a revolution will be sparked is dependent upon conditions. We may have more to lose before we get to that place.

[WillTwain]

57. Government is definitely not doing the right things but the they are the solution.

There is good government and bad government . People cannot trash all government. Progressive govt is the only chance. Conservatism is hell for all but the rich and religious zealots.

We may go down more, though we are near the bottom compared to most developed nations and even compared to our own history. I cannot believe we have not had a big movement. Obama completely blew it. His lack of aggressive bill pushing and passing gave the thugs time to regroup. If he was strong from nimute one, he could have buried them.

[TBF]

58. I'm a bit of an anarchist so I

likely don't have the faith you do, but I'm also older (I'm assuming you're young since you mentioned just being in college - I am closer to 50 than I'd like to admit) ... this "representative" government is killing us. They are pretending to give us a choice between 2 pretty conservative parties while the billionaires run everything.

Now that we have technology with things like smart phones which are widely accessible I'd love to see actual voting from the people. Send a message to all of our phones asking if we want social security. I bet we'd get a "yes" on that.

Mainly I've come to the conclusion that unregulated capitalism is killing us, and with that 1% running everything (including the media) we are getting killed with misinformation as well.

I dunno - I really hope your generation has some good ideas because mine (high school & college in the 80s) voted in Reagan.

It's almost overwhelming at times to see the way out.

[WillTwain]

59. There is nothing else we can change but our government

We have been through this before and it was government that put Wall Street in a cage and pushed unions, minimum wage and social programs. This is going to take belief in good government . This is all we have.

[jwirr]

26. I think that many of them are using their computers to fight - Owes and annonamous come to mind.

[WillTwain]

28. That won't cut it.

It will take tens of millions on the streets to get their attention. I may be foolish but this cannot go on forever.

[The2ndWheel]

45. It's a finite planet

There's a downside to everything we do. We can't have the best of both worlds, bigger pie, bigger slices, and not have to deal with the consequences.

[dawg]

46. It's not that simple.

For example, although we are on a finite planet, we sit next to a star that dumps vast untapped quantities of energy on us every day. If we ever got serious about harnessing that resource, it would be transformative.

Likewise, technological advances can create win-win situations where we are able to do more with less. All that is needed is the political will to make certain the benefits of new technologies are shared across society, and not just hoarded by those at the top.

[The2ndWheel]

52. And that isn't that simple either

If we ever got serious about harnessing vast untapped quantities of energy, there's still going to be a downside. Just because we define it as green and renewable doesn't mean it is. Look what humans do with the greatest amount of concentrated energy in history. The problem isn't just carbon or pollution.

We use more today than we've ever used before, and that's with advances in technology. You could say we might be using even more without the technological advances, but why would we advance the technology if the point wasn't so that more people could use more? We don't take centuries to make a better arrowhead anymore. A new and better product has to come out every year now. Technological advancement is an end to itself today. We do it even if we don't really need to.

1)More people using more
2)More people using less
3)Fewer people using more
4)Fewer people using less

Those are pretty much the only way we can go. Option 1 is what we've come to base society on. More consumers, more tax payers. That's how the system is maintained and functions. Every institution we've built is done with option 1 in mind. It's also how we've found ourselves in our current environmental predicament.

Option 4 isn't an option obviously, since society would crumble. Options 2 and 3 are a difficult balance, and require harder choices to be made.

[dawg]

53. We're probably going to need to stabilize our population, at least ...

until we have the technology to provide for good off-world quality of life.

But eventually, we can get to more people doing more with less. The only thing limiting us is our own folly in allowing the greedy to make most of our decisions for us.

[TBF]

48. That doesn't mean the 1% controls

the entire thing and the rest suffer quietly. It can be different if we organize.

[The2ndWheel]

49. No, it's just difficult to do that

The resource concentration mechanism that we call civilization, concentrates resources. Civilized humanity is the 1% of life on Earth. Think of what we do to keep control the wealth of the planet. We try to privatize the profits and socialize the costs on a global scale as much as any corporation does in relation to human society.

It should be an interesting century as things unfold. So many variables in the equation. You don't know what or when it will change. History is far from over.

[ProfessorGAC]

50. You Think It's Bunk

Good, because it is. There is not one credible econometric model that suggests that greed driven business policies are any better for the economy, or for corporate viability, than the somewhat more enlightened policies of the middle 75% of the 20th century.

They will argue their 2 dimensional contructs until their blue in the face, or until i pop a blood vessel, and yet they still cannot answer one simple question: "What proof is there that that has ever been true?"

Kind of ready for attack, because that idiot Steve Moore was on CSPAN WJ this weekend. What a moron.

[WillTwain]

7. I saw these charts on Hannity and Limbaugh mentioned them, too.

Seriously, they are still selling trickle-down economics to poor people and the food stamp crowd cannot get enough of the bullshit.

[jwirr]

27. Do you have any proof of that statement? Many of us are on Food Stamps and we are not stupid. We

are for the most part the working poor and those laid off from jobs due to trickle down bull. And of course the majority are children.

[WillTwain]

31. I know many, many working poor on assistance that are hardcore tea baggers.

That is the general composition of the baggers - working poor whites. I meet them everywhere, everywhere. By no means are all poor people stupid, not by a long shot. If folks are poor and vote republican you need to wonder.

Many smart, talented people are poor. I am not speaking for the entire group just the poor that voted for Romney.

[jwirr]

35. I have never met a teabagger who is willing to admit they are on any kind of assistance let alone

food stamps. Most of the teabaggers I see at the rallies etc. are elderly. And yes they may also get food stamps.

[WillTwain]

37. They do not brag about it.

The numbers speak loudly. Red states, filled with baggers, take loads of federal money. Blue states, filled with liberals, give to the federal government.

I have met many baggers that slip and admit they are on food stamps of fuel assistance or the ACA. They are everywhere.

[Triana]

10. "It will take a massive new movement...."

Hell we can't even get the majority of people to VOTE.

Most too, are too busy just surviving to have time or energy to get involved in any movement - and the constant begging for money - even during non-election time, is insidious.

At the same time, these people can ill afford their own laziness and complacency - content to give their gov't and country away to the wealthiest who of course are rigging it for themselves.

It's not just that the Kochs, Wall St. et al TOOK control of our gov't and most of our money and livlihoods away -- we GAVE it to them. Too many Americans just stood back and let them have it.

And now we're all stuck with what's left - which isn't much and will be less and less as time goes on.

[WillTwain]

12. It will start with a flicker and rage within weeks. Cannot say when but it is coming.

[dawg]

14. And once the police violently put it down, all the "good" people will rejoice.

And go back to their McJobs. (And keep on voting Republican. Because .... family values!)

[WillTwain]

18. Cops are waiting for the riots.

Many have geared up already.

[Triana]

20. Cops and militias/Teabaggers are waiting.

This is why IMO they are hellbent on having as many guns as they can get their hands on and want all their friends and their kids' schools to have them too. There's a war coming. They know it and want to be sure they're armed and ready.

[WillTwain]

24. I have heard police stations are receiving tons of gear.

This is all anecdotal but people that work in stations are saying this. Ferguson may be one example.

[Triana]

25. Rinky-dink towns all over america with tanks

It's ridiculous!

[dawg]

47. To be fair, Doraville isn't that rinky-dink of a town.

New York's fine, but it ain't Doraville.

[JHB]

15. Two more: All progressivity in the income tax for very high incomes was eliminated under Reagan...

...and has never been restored.

This is a separate issue than the tax rates themselves; this is about how the levels at which income is taxed at different rates have -- through erosion by inflation and deliberate cutting -- been pushed downward.

A few years ago there was a lot of debate over adding another tax bracket, "is $250,000 a year 'rich'". Nobody in Washington brough up what it used to look like.

At the time there were 6 tax brackets, 1 of which kicked in on taxable income over $250K for a married couple. One more was added in the time since.

Compare that to 1955: there were 24 tax brackets. Adjusting for inflation:
16 kicked in at levels above $250K. Two thirds!
11 of them kicked in at levels above a half million. (~45%)
The top marginal rate became effective for taxable income over the equivalent of $3.4 million.

[dawg]

19. There is still a little progressivity in federal income tax rates, but ...

when you factor in regressive state taxes, sales taxes, and FICA, the tax system as a whole is pretty flat. (Or at least flat-ish.)

[daleanime]

34. K&R....

[JEB]

38. K&R for the original post and subsequent informative posts and links.

Important stuff. Thanks for posting.

[daredtowork]

39. "They are all drug addicts and alcoholics"

I'm in hot debate mode right now with some wingnut who is propagating this idea and probably makes it his day job to propagate it on forums across the Internet. I've wasted of hours on this jackass, and he won't budge. Either he's a brainwashed Stepford Bagger or he's paid to shovel this crap.

U.S. Laws Criminalizing Homelessness Mount, Even As Courts Strike Them Down

http://www.mintpressnews.com/u-s-laws-criminalizing-homelessness-mount-even-courts-strike/200134/

[Ramses]

40. Feeedom isnt free

I am ashamed of the povery inequality homelessness, racism, propaganda, militarization,etc etc etc fucking cetera that this so called great nation is.

Fucking shameful.

1\3rd... 33% of American children live in poverty

Fucking shameful

[Turbineguy]

51. Greed is human nature.

The Republicans like it when predators make the rules.

[calimary]

55. Good info to have - the next time one of your knuckle-dragger friends starts up with

"USA! USA! We're Number ONE!" Or that crap about "American Exceptionalism." You can answer back with "yeah, we're exceptional, alright." Number ONE in poverty. Number ONE in homelessness. And the list of "superlatives" goes on.

[hifiguy]

60. The twin plagues of humanity are greed and

an absurd clinging to Iron Age superstitions in the name of "religion." When the two are both turned loose at the same time, as they have been in the US over the last 35 years, disaster is seeing the red carpet rolled out for it and the doors flung open in welcome.

We must uproot these twin plagues, root and branch, from society if the human race is to survive for another 100 years.

[TrollBuster9090]

61. And The Reason For This Can Be Explained In One Picture...