http://www.census.gov/
This started the voice in my head that sounds an awful lot like the whiny old curmudgeon – Andy Rooney, or at least, that’s what I think the voice sounds like. Although inevitably the voice morphs into a variant of Christopher Walken as all my voices do. My wife thinks my eyebrows look like Andy Rooney’s and but thinks I always sound like Walken.
Why are the numbers of U.S. millionaires expected to double before end of decade I whine, feeling the accelerated growth of my left eyebrow as I begin to morph into Andy.
Why are income trends among 90% of Americans relatively unchanged over the last decade. I ask with a sneer, as the Rooney metamorphosis accelerates - my right eyebrow extends to touch my left one.
Whoa - I quickly shake my head as I realize I am actually changing into Mickey Rooney and I can’t afford to get any shorter (for those who have no idea who the 170yr old former child actor is, substitute Andy Dick into the punch line – that should work).
So back to the matter at hand – the number of people who are rich and the number who are poor are both increasing? Not that one causes the other but it would seem if things are going well for a number of people then at least things shouldn’t get so much worse for so many? I understand that is a simplistic statement but clearly y’all have heard about the issue of the redistribution of wealth. Why is only one segment of the population (and a small one at that) doing so well?
And another point - now the rich have an additional burden – the Republicans in an effort to justify not increasing their taxes refer to the rich as the “job creators”. But as the number of “job creators” have increased (the number of U.S. millionaires increased by 8.3% in 2010, according to a report by Spectrem Group) the number of jobs have decreased causing as discussed early –increased poverty and lower average incomes.
That's a far cry from the 1950s, when the suburban American dream ruled: the bottom 90% of Americans controlled about 68% of the economy. http://money.cnn.com
These are complicated issues and I am not even sure how much they have to do with each other – certainly there is no single cause or solution for that matter. I just find it worth sharing and I find the trends extremely disturbing………….
And when that happens the Christopher Walken voice in the role of Vincenzo Coccotti starts playing in my head and no amount of cowbell can stop it.
Now, I don't know if Tommy Jefferson's eyebrows can rival Andy's, but I do believe he was pretty keen on the idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of property (changed to "happiness" so Washington wouldn't punish him for plagerism because he went Biden on Locke). I am also pretty sure that he wasn't a socialist, but I gotta think that he didn't mean 90% of the property should be in the hands of 10% of the people. Henry Ford wasn't a socialist either,but he knew enough that you had to pay people, so they could afford the stuff to make the rich richer. For crying out loud - at least give the people the illusion of the possibility of the likelihood of a decent life. Maybe the rich can pay some new age Horatio Alger, so he/she can create 21st century rags to riches stories that have savior like titles that don't sound anything like NAFTA. And they better not shrink the middle class too much further, because they are the human shield that will be the necessary buffer when they run out of new suburban rings to hide from the disenfranchised who will some day embrace Mr. Jefferson's other quote - "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tryants". Vincenzo himself won't be able to save them if they go much further.
ReplyDeleteThis link is long but I think it has some cowbell in it
ReplyDeletehttp://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779
You're not implying that the wealthy are to blame for the poor remaining poor, are you? If so, I guess this will be one of your "..slightly researched.." issues, although I do enjoy your enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the divide between the wealthy and the poor is increasing is because of immigration. There are other reasons, but this is the big one. It has a fundamental impact on the supply-side of workforce economics.
Immigrants are 3 1/2 times more likely (~30%) than their native counterpart to NOT have a High School level education, and only 28% are likely to have a college degree. So they contribute much more to the low wage earner workforce than the high wage earner workforce. As a result, wages in the low earner group have decreased by an estimate of 4 to 7.4% (numbers provided by http://www.mnforsustain.org/cis_immg_immigration_labor_supply_vs_native-born_borjas_0504.htm) while according to this report "..weekly wages grew fastest for workers in those skill groups that were the least affected by immigration".
You can easily find similar reports and numbers elsewhere.
Now ... that report covers from 1980 to 2000 but goes on to say there is a 7% wage decrease for a 10% (per skill area) increase. I don't know how the math breaks down exactly, but with 1 million legal immigrants and estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants each year - mostly contributing to the low wage workforce, it's not hard to see how wages in low paying jobs would have remained stagnant after 2000.
Add to that, low wage jobs tend to require very little specialized skills - including the ability to speak English which is optional in the US - so they are (some of) the first to go during layoffs. When companies start hiring again, it's not hard to find qualified "enough" individuals that are willing to take a lower wage.
So now that you've complained about how rich the rich are - which I'm sure felt good - I would look at legal and illegal immigration from a US economic perspective in order to try to understand this situation a bit deeper. Just be prepared that the answer (if we are an "open country") may be that some in the US have to accept a lower standard of living. Or, the government could just take everyone's earnings and wealth and redistribute it as they see fit.
JF – thanks for the comment – I by no means, meant to imply that the wealthy are to blame for the poor remaining poor. What I pointed out was, over the last decade things are getting worse for a 90% of the people in this country while for the remaining 10% things are getting better.
ReplyDeleteAre the wealthy responsible? No, not directly, being rich in of itself does not cause someone to be poor but the current environment with its tax laws, deregulated financial institutions, and trade agreements etc. do have a direct impact. Are people getting rich as a result as a result of these conditions - sure.
I do not think immigration is even in the top 3 reasons we have had these diverging trends for the rich and poor. If it were true then the number of available jobs would have remained the same but just filled with cheaper labor.
I agree immigration is a contributing factor but really we are talking education (my wife did not make me say that).
Instead we have U.S. jobs leaving the country – the U.S. has 2 million fewer jobs than a decade ago. The job base is changing from manufacturing to the lower paying service and health care industry.
Companies are reducing the available hours for each job creating more part-time jobs to avoid requirements to provide health care insurance, retirement or other benefits.
One example of the job drain is that companies have been “encouraged’ by existing laws to take their jobs overseas – making them more profitable for CEO’s and stockholders.
There are a lot of contributing factors to our current situation – too long for this reply but it is the lack of jobs above all else and the resulting depression of wages as the nature of jobs have shifted. Are the CEOs getting well compensated for moving their operations overseas – sure. Are lobbyists and attorneys getting well paid to see that the laws are changed to support that move – sure. Are the politicians getting their compensation somewhere (whether it is after their “service” when they join the very company’s board of directors who benefited from the law change) – sure.
anon - thanks for the cowbell
ReplyDeleteSince all of us in Buffalo Bills land are basking in what is likely to be a short-lived state of euphoria, I thought I would throw some more suprficial crap out there for some of the deep thinkers to parry and thrust with. Our beloved old coach, and Harvard grad, Marv Levy, used to like to say "it's simple - but it ain't easy".
ReplyDeleteMust be true, because this stuff seems like a no brainer on our way back to solvency:
1. Would CEOs/CFOs/etc really be less likely to create jobs if they were paid a paltry 16 million per year instead of 18 million?
2. Unions - you can be your own worst enemy - stop protecting ineptitude and labor fakes
3. Golden parachutes are even more discusting than golden showers - both should be banned
4. How about we invest money in vocational ed, and then when we have a trained labor force, I don't know - maybe we can MAKE SOMETHING HERE IN THE GOOD OLD USA.
5. Put the dome of truth on some of the Wall St. gang and ask them if they manipulate the market to develop fluctuations and chaos designed to separate middle class fools from the last of their money. Upon confirmation of the scumbag moves - trade the dome of truth in for the dome that Michael Clark Duncan wore in his last scene of the Green Mile.
6. Term limits. Need I say more?
7. Does capitalism really mean that I have to look at 2 megadrugstores in spitting distance of two vacant drugstores all on the same corner, just so corporate America can maximize profits with the depreciation game?
8. Is the trade-off for my not having to wait 18 months to get my cutoff hand sewed back on like my socialized neighbors to the north mean that I get to pay far more for pharmaceuticals that may cause diahrea, cramping, two-day erections, blindness and death?
9. Tell me again why politicians get to be lobbyist scumbags and the like when they leave office?
10. Novel idea for the working man and women - WORK. This means provide goods and services like you would want them to be provided for you. It does not mean cop a 'tude dude when Joe customer interupts your latest text/twit/social media adventure. The world can wait until you punch out of work before they find out that the 300 count sheets your parents bought for your 28 year old bedroom at home are shit.
Well, I have no doubt exposed the depths of my ignorance - but at least I did it to the best of my ability - not on the public dime - and I didn't pee on anybody. Go Bills!
I can't debate a response "I don't think that immigration is even in the top 3 reasons..." after I provided statistical data taken from several reports and a link to just one (of many) of those reports. I'll even provide on more report done recently - May 2011. I forget the link I got it from and can't attach it here, but you can search for it: "Immigration, Poverty and Low-Wage Earners (The Harmful Effect of Unskilled Immigrants on American Workers)". All reports I've seen show a fairly large impact on the lower income bracket due to immigration, but yes - there are other factors.
ReplyDeleteShipping jobs overseas is huge, in particular for manufacuring. Of course, with an average corporate tax in other countries: ~18% and corporate tax rate in US ~36%, can you really blame anyone for operating overseas if they can find the talent?
There are several reasons in generaly why the rich get richer, but over the past decade in particular you only need to look at technology and 4 counties in two areas: Silicon Valley and NY City. The report on this is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/business/21scene.html, which as you can see shows almost no significant gap increase since 2000 if you remove this small population.
Anon - your research and links regarding the impact of immigration were certainly convincing arguments. I am merely stating that in my limited research that other factors have been identified as key reasons for the shift in job opportunities and compensation other than immigration. After investigating your position I agreed with you that immigration does have an impact - which frankly surprises me to the degree that it does. I still have trouble accepting that it is the leading cause for the jobs condition.
ReplyDeleteI read the NY Times link you provided which was interesting - unfortunately the link within the story to the cited data from the Bureau Economic Analysis did not work. From a perspective here in Buffalo NY there is not the concentration of wealth to have much of a national impact but the loss of good paying blue collar jobs (like Bethlehem Steel closing down due foreign competition and non-competitive union practices) was devastating here (you did watch the movie - Buffalo 66) Smaller cities or towns losing their industrial base will not add up to the impact of a Silicon Valley or NYC but has its impact locally. I hope this exchange is enlightening for both of us and continues.
To Anon who lives in the land of the Buffalo Bills (not to be confused with the other Anon who has posted here - you two are like fraternal twins - I can easily tell you apart).
ReplyDeleteLike Captain Renault in the movie Casablanca - who was shocked to find out that gambling was going on in Rick’s Cabaret only to have that followed by the croupier handing him his winnings - I am shocked to find your post was filtered into my spam folder. Luckily I was able to recover it and set if free – I think the combination of the phrases; Marv Levy (formerly beloved coach of the Bills before he grew a brain and thought he would make a great GM), something about showers and a general rant may have caught the filters’ eye. I will keep an eye on my spam folder so your future creative riffs won’t go unpublished.
Knowing that we have one less follower on my blog then we did yesterday (from 11 to 10 - which by percentage points is dramatic) I may hold you responsible and ask that you step up and replace whoever was that left.
Keep it flying my friend and always drink Dos Equis.
I completely agree with the anonymous comment above about term limits, and people needing to WORK. U have no idea how many people I see thru my work in a medical office saying that they "are riding the unemployment train" for a while. Or they quit a job because they don't like it. What happened to staying at a job, even if u don't like it, finding a new job and THEN putting in your 2 weeks notice? Or woking a more menial job to bring in some income until a better one comes along? And there r so many people on disability that were never intended to be. One woman I treated had hand pain from swinging a sledge hammer to break up a concrete slab, but was on disability for chronic back pain. It seems like people don't have the pride they used to have in being employed in any capacity and there is no longer any stigma being on government programs. I think this is a big part of thepeoblem. People are getting lazier.
ReplyDeleteAndy boy
ReplyDelete