Comments by "coolmodelguy" (@coolmodelguy6304) on "David Pakman Show" channel.

The uncertainty being created by Trump's policies, snap decisions and Twitter rages has already impacted the economy because decision makers at all levels are holding back and not making commitments. Recession is imminent, it has been building for some time and the dam bursting is not too far off.
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@Tornado1994 - Honest republicans need to take back their political party or watch it die.
15
I'm going to add something to your comment. Fully half of our economy now goes to paying the wealthy "unearned income". The mass or "weight" of financial assets has reached such a level that in order to pay interest and dividends on those assets, it is cannibalizing our economy. Most people are simply unaware of this. Capitalism as we understand it, no longer exists. "Investments" no longer produce any product, they are simply a means of extracting wealth from all of us. Just in case anyone is interested, I have examples to show (yet so many people yawn and tune out when math is involved).
9
@carmene626 - Here are some specifics if you would like to follow up. Current numbers are difficult to track down, but even partial numbers paint the picture. As of Q-4 2019, total financial assets of households and non-profit organizations was $95.61 trillion. That number is 4.35 times larger than our national GDP in 2019, and all those financial assets "earn" interest or dividends. I took a look at interest and dividend rates, there is a wide variance from 1.5% to over 9.6% annually, so using an assumed average of 5% interest, that comes out to $4.78 trillion in "unearned income" for these financial asset holders. This is over 20% of our entire economic output for 2019, and that is not the entire bulk of all "financial assets". Final note, I found a Wikipedia reference for 2014 that held the grand total of financial assets in the United States to be $197 trillion. Interest income for $197 trillion at 5% is $9.85 trillion and the 2014 GDP was $17.527 trillion. That "Unearned Income" was over half of the 2014 GDP. https://ycharts.com/indicators/total_financial_assets_assets_balance_sheet_of_households_and_nonprofit_organizations_unadjusted
7
Alfonso G - That was no victim talk, that was a fellow Californian giving the finger to the triggered right wing everywhere. Thumbs up from from another California Snowflake!
6
@saltriverpirate3172 - I'm going to add something to your comment. Fully half of our economy now goes to paying the wealthy "unearned income". The mass or "weight" of financial assets has reached such a level that in order to pay interest and dividends on those assets, it is cannibalizing our economy. Most people are simply unaware of this. Capitalism as we understand it, no longer exists. "Investments" no longer produce any product, they are simply a means of extracting wealth from all of us. Just in case anyone is interested, I have examples to show (yet so many people yawn and tune out when math is involved).
5
@manniefresh3425 - Ignorance? Perhaps you are a fool. What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
4
@javieroliveras344 - What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
4
@Ariels888 Agreed. The single overwhelming threat that we American face right now is the built up critical mass of wealth that is syphoning everything like a Hoover vacuum cleaner. Nothing else comes close, and every reform being chased by our people will be impossible to accomplish because of this huge wealth mass. Every talking point put forward right now by politicians is a diversion, to keep our attention away from the realization of our true peril.
3
@Israel-nb7ip - What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
3
@julesmasseffectmusic - What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
3
The republicans will resort to shenanigans and do something blatantly illegal to keep Trump in power, just look at what they did on September 11th in North Carolina . . . lying to the democrats about not doing any votes on that solemn day, then doing a clearly criminal vote to override a legitimate veto by the governor while the democrats were honoring the dead.
3
@lancehymers4674 - Firefly, I love it. What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
3
Trump actually used the same words and phrases at this Heroin Summit, as he did when he walked away from the podium during the executive Order signing and Pence tried to get him back. There is at least a year between the two events, which means that Trump is on auto pilot during his "episodes".
3
When I was a child growing up in California college was free, but by the time I became an adult this was no longer the case. We have Reagan to thank for that, along with the closing of all the mental hospitals. Combine those two and it accounts for a majority of the explosion of homeless people in our state.
2
@greyhoundTex - That tipping point of printing money only happens when there is a lack of resources. This is the danger posed by industrial capitalists moving all factories out of the USA, eventually that was going to turn around and bite us.
2
What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
2
@WickedRibbon - Very few do. I only found out because I decided to research about what was happening to our economy. Unless you dig, the truth remains hidden from us.
2
Dan G - Pay no more mind to this AslapOF Reality . . . . he is a troll with an empty profile. When you get someone like him doing the kind of rhetoric shown here, be suspicious that you are being trolled.
2
Trump actually used the same words and phrases at this Heroin Summit, as he did when he walked away from the podium during the executive Order signing and Pence tried to get him back. There is at least a year between the two events, which means that Trump is on auto pilot during his "episodes".
2
I'm going to add something to your comment. Fully half of our economy now goes to paying the wealthy "unearned income". The mass or "weight" of financial assets has reached such a level that in order to pay interest and dividends on those assets, it is cannibalizing our economy. Most people are simply unaware of this. Capitalism as we understand it, no longer exists. "Investments" no longer produce any product, they are simply a means of extracting wealth from all of us. Just in case anyone is interested, I have examples to show (yet so many people yawn and tune out when math is involved).
2
I did the math . . . the caller said he got up to $500 extra per month, which equals $6000 for the year. He was getting refunds before of $1000 before this year and his witholdings stayed the same, so adding the $1000 to the $5000 check he cut to the IRS equals $6000. He broke even. So the tax cut game was a scam.
2
No Payroll tax? How is Social Security going to be funded then? If a payroll tax cut is enacted, expect republicans to attempt to gut Social Security based on SS going broke.
2
Why does everyone keep looking through the wrong end of the telescope? You want a healthy capitalism? Fine. Start at the top instead of the bottom of the pyramid. Put a hard cap on accumulated wealth of $10 million per adult individual. That much, no more. This one move will solve so many problems, from ending executive pay excess to the the ending of neoliberalism itself. Wealth must be limited by law in order to wrest control of world governments back from the 1%. Failure to recognize this will mean the end of mankind, as the current leaders will do nothing as long as the 1/10th of 1% control all politics.
1
Yup, and this year Venezuela is the President of OPEC.
1
What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
1
@jameshumphrey9939 - Maybe that is the way some what you to think the economy works, but you should really do the math. What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
1
Dan G - Ok, I take back the troll comment about AslapOF Reality, you nailed it when you called him a Trump boot licker . . . though I think he just likes the smell of living in Trumps underwear.
1
@gwine9087 - You guys are making this so complex, when actually it is quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. So in the end, nothing you with your writing of corporate financial statements or what "Scott W" has to say really matters, because capitalism is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
1
Oh, you can take this to the bank . . . Trumps Department of Labor has skewed the numbers and what we are being told is very far away from being truthful.
1
Robert Jenkins - Finally. I've read about a hundred of these comments and no one has cut right to the core until I read your comment. An island of sanity you are.
1
Mat Broomfield - Well, I don't know about that. Jeff Bezos would not find it easy to convert 150 billion into tangible assets . . . . easily (in short order). I believe that would take so doing, and others would really be curious about what he was up to. Speculation would run rampant and might even start a panic among other billionaires. Furthermore, the nature of the tangible assets would be of some concern, there are a limited number of assets that have a universal exchange value . . . conversion becomes an issue. Wealth is easily quantifiable and transportable, when they are electronic figures in an account. Look what happened with Scrooge McDuck when he converted his wealth to gold . . . massive storage issues, transportation became problematic, worrying about his nephews leaving the vault door open . . . . Converting morbid amounts of wealth to tangible assets is not that easy.
1
John Doe - No spam Dude. It is called spreading the message that people need to understand.
1
What is happening with our economy is actually quite simple. The top 20% own $55 trillion in financial assets, paying anywhere from 2% to over 9% annually. Our economy simply cannot support these interest rates. If you were pick an interest rate in roughly the middle at 5%, the amount needed to pay interest on $55 trillion at 5% is $2.75 trillion. Our GDP for 2019 was $20.49 trillion. That 5% interest comes out to 13.42% of our GDP given over as "FREE MONEY" that these people did not lift a finger to earn any of it. Calculate out over the years, this means that roughly 35 years from now, the entire economy will be dedicated to paying interest to the top 10%, meaning we are all slaves who will never be able to climb this economic ladder. The entire system our economy is based on will collapse. Things would be different if this earths population lived on a Jupiter sized planet. We do not. Capitalism in its current form is in its ending phase. Either capitalism evolves, or we all die.
1
The republicans will resort to shenanigans and do something blatantly illegal to keep Trump in power, just look at what they did on September 11th in North Carolina . . . lying to the democrats about not doing any votes on that solemn day, then doing a clearly criminal vote to override a legitimate veto by the governor while the democrats were honoring the dead.
1
Why does everyone keep looking through the wrong end of the telescope? You want a healthy capitalism? Fine. Start at the top instead of the bottom of the pyramid. Put a hard cap on accumulated wealth of $10 million per adult individual. That much, no more. This one move will solve so many problems, from ending executive pay excess to the the ending of neoliberalism itself. Wealth must be limited by law in order to wrest control of world governments back from the 1%. Failure to recognize this will mean the end of mankind, as the current leaders will do nothing as long as the 1/10th of 1% control all politics.
1
@Dave C - Thanks for the question. Of course we have to acknowledge that a hard wealth cap has never been applied to capitalism, so we are talking about theory. The part that is not theory is that money is both the power source and the lubricant in every modern economy. First we have to look at how the results of economic output are distributed and how that affects overall economic output itself. I'm sure most people know what a water tower is. We have several in our small city. Big tank of water sitting high up in the air with a couple of pipes going from the ground to the tank. One pipe is water being pumped into the holding tank. When that tank is full, it represents our annual GDP. The other pipe is connected to all the surrounding houses and businesses. When the system is operating properly, we all have good water pressure. What happens when there is a break in the main distribution pipe? The water pressure in the surrounding area goes down and everyone gets less water. Using that analogy, convert water into money. We have a big hole in the main distribution pipe which distributes the gains from economic output. The difference here is that unlike the water main break, this was no accident. The main distribution pipeline for our economic output has been tapped and diverted, filling up a huge swimming pool of money for those who tapped into the pipe (the 1%, CEO's executives on corporate boards of directors, etc). The result is there is less money to go around for everyone else. So now lets say we dispatched a economic pipeline repair crew and they found the tapped line. Do you think we should just leave it alone, they asked themselves? Naw, lets hack off that tap line and repair the pipe, restoring normal flow to everyone. The repair is a hard wealth cap. What I am talking about is capping the amount of money anyone can capture and store as wealth. If Jamie Dimon got paid $250,000 per year instead of $18 million, there would be over $17 million per year that J.P. Morgan/Chase could use within the company. Since these high paid CEO's currently employ an army of accountants and tax experts to avoid paying taxes, a wealth cap would eliminate the need for such shenanigans and taxes would normalize somewhat over all personal income tax brackets. Now I'm not saying that a hard wealth cap alone would solve all problems. We need to change our tax structure so that companies are forced to keep their capital inside the USA and not be able to use tax haven countries to hide their profits, that would instantly increase tax revenue. The bigger potential I see for a hard wealth cap is most easily seen in the real estate market. With a wealth cap in place, speculation in the housing market for profit would slim down and no one would be able to buy a $40 million estate unless they got the whole family together to do it. Financialized capitalism would have all the air let out of its sails. We would not be preyed upon for profit nearly as much and perhaps there would not be $30 trillion in 1% idle wealth seeking a 5% or greater annual rate of return on a $20 trillion annual GDP which is only growing at 2.5% per year (which is economic cannibalism).
1
@Dave C - Lets be realistic. There are those among the 1% who do not yet have $10 million in accumulated wealth. That means 99% of working adults have not achieved that level of wealth for sure. So the idea that 99% of working people will lack incentive to work goes away on that basis alone. Also consider that it may be better to have some people move on rather than stay a CEO, with a wealth cap in place we will not be as susceptible to sociopaths having so much power over us. If a company would rather move out than be held to a wealth cap, fine. They lose access to our markets. I never held with the idea that rich people would move if taxed too much, not with uprooting the wife and kids, new schools, new language, far from family, simply not as likely as people would make it out. Same for companies. We have a huge problem no one really talks about. Humanity's ecological footprint is 1.7 earths capacity for renewal. We cannot have ever expanding capitalism, if we keep gong like this, we go extinct. We must create limits especially for those who use the most resources. That means wealthy people must give up their jets and fly first class instead. This means we must have local industry instead of global shipping. Cuts must be made and they are best started at the top.
1
@Dave C - Then let me put this in the simplest possible form. We have a $20 trillion annual GDP. There is a concentration of capital much higher than our annual GDP seeking a rate of return that is greater than GDP growth. This concentration of wealth is comprised of retirement savings and the accumulated wealth of the 1%. We cannot have $30 trillion plus, seeking a rate of return from a $20 trillion economy without cannibalizing the economy. It is simple math. In 22 years all wealth will be owned by the top 10%. There is a critical mass of concentrated wealth, so much so that it is overwhelming the economy. Someone is going to have to give something up, it will be the mass of people or it will be the wealthy. Choose.
1
@Dave C - Because we have gone down this neoliberal path over 40 years, increasing tax rates on high earners will not have the mechanical effect needed to save the economy from cannibalization. You keep arguing the "undesirable effects" clause, but the "undesirable effects" have been here for some time and things are already worse overall than you think. Economic growth is currently a myth. I just don't understand how you can be missing what the math tells us already. Let me try to spell it out very plainly. U.S. GDP = $20 trillion with a growth rate of 2.56% ($560 billion in growth) $30 trillion (minimum) in invested funds seeks a rate of return greater than 5% ($1.5 trillion in interest payments) Subtract $560 billion from $1.5 trillion and you get $940 billion (1,500 - 560 = 940) Just to pay the 5% interest it take all the GDP growth ($560 billion) PLUS $940 billion directly out of the economy. The problem is that to satisfy interest requirements, $940 has to be sucked out of the economy. The way its done to hide its true nature is to raise prices on health care, housing, energy, etc and call the higher prices by a "product" of the economy. This way the extraction gets hidden inside the GDP and the population remains ignorant as to the causes of their distress. We don't have economic growth. What we have is economic contraction so that the wealthy can get paid their free money and they lie to us about it. You really need to get your head wrapped around this. Undesirable effects are already here my friend and I am no longer being fooled. Apparently you ARE still being fooled. Go through the math and tell me where I am wrong. The problem is larger than what I lay out, the 5% interest a low estimate for demonstration purposes only. The real interest rate is 7% to 9%, which is cannibalizing our economy at a much faster rate. If we are going to get out of this, then the 1% is just going to have to sacrifice their wealth and become ordinary.
1
@TheSpartan3669 - No market will be killed when everyone gets cut down to ordinary. Level playing field (or at least more level that what we have now). Besides the professional sports market is a tool of distraction while the 1% pick our pockets.
1
@TheSpartan3669 - Yes. Everyone means everyone, no exceptions. The first Olympics in Greece were also used by the elites of the time as a distraction for the masses. The whole point of economic policy is to build machinery that provides an intended outcome. The wealth cap is necessary, as I stated in my other comments here, the current economic system will see all wealth transferred to the top 10% in 22 years. Tell me, how well do you think that is going to go over with the masses of society?
1
@TheSpartan3669 - Yours is a typical reaction of someone who has not thought this idea through even a few rudimentary levels. Have you read through all of my posts here and taken into account that information in your analysis? I think not. What is it about our current economy that is not economically ruinous or in the slightest politically viable? Your business example is ludicrous. An individual wealth cap has no connection whatsoever to your business and therefor holds no incentive or disincentive value. Yours is what I call a "knee jerk reaction". No actual thought went into your comment, so you cannot be taken seriously.
1
@Dave C - Look up the historical interest rates for the S&P 500 index funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, real estate aggregate gains and average gains since 1995. There is no single source, but the information is easy enough to track down. It requires you to make some lists, write down some numbers and do the math. You can do math, yes? You have not disputed my math so I'm assuming you are able to check this out for yourself. Look, I am a 58 year old late stage boomer with two adult daughters. I am conservative by nature, you have to be to raise some decent kids. Three years ago I began looking into the economy because things are not turning out the way we were taught. Bottom line is that the economy is not its own animal, it is a product of a political story. All economic forms are born, they thrive and then they die. We are in the death throes of capitalism, where capitalism is cannibalizing every economy. You think the GDP will go to shit? News flash, it already went to shit and it in the rotting phase. Let me tell you what is real. Every reform is eroded and destroyed by the wealthy. That is why Medicare for All, free college, the $15/hour minimum wage, all of these reforms are useless unless the tools to dismantle those reforms are removed from the economy and from politics. What most people are doing is what I call "looking in the wrong end of the telescope". Have we learned nothing from FDR and the New Deal? You are correct, I haven't even shown this to be a potential solution to the problem, because it is not all one problem. I pointed out what can be done to solve a great many problems. Have you considered what a wealth cap would do to real estate and housing? Have you considered how salary distribution would be altered in corporations with a wealth cap in place? Have you considered the potential for more worker owned companies once it is understood that a small minority can no longer manipulate company finances to enrich themselves? The list goes on and on. This is a manifold issue. Take for example an engine with fuel injection, how well do you think it would run if #8 cylinder received 20% more fuel than the other seven? It would run, but it would run like shit and break down often. So why treat an economy like that?
1
@Dave C - Interest made on investments is called income. The first pie-chart in the link below shows an income distribution comparison between 1989 and 2016. There is a $5.76 trillion difference between the two sets of numbers, which is a 44.7% over 27 years. In 1988 the top 10% had $2.99 trillion in income. In 2016 the top 10% had $6.44 trillion in income, an income that more than doubled over 27 years. The income of the bottom 90% went from $4.06 trillion in 1988 to $6.44 trillion in 2016, an increase of 63% . . . . yet the bottom 90% lost ground because their share of income decreased from 57% of total income to 50% of total income. That decrease in income represents interest payments that were transferred from the bottom 90% to the top 10% of income earners. When you compare income earnings growth to GDP growth, it is clear that the GDP is being outpaced by the income growth of the the top 10% and more starkly by the income growth of the top 1%. These figures come from the Federal Reserve. If you fail to do the math for yourself, then your head is buried in the sand. https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2019/august/wealth-inequality-in-america-facts-figures
1
Big Red - Do you not understand the BIG LIE you are perpetuating? GDP is up because of extraction economics, wages stagnant while costs have tripled . . . that is profit for the rich taken from the rest of us. Unemployment is down only because the Liar in Chief's Department of Labor is skewing the numbers. The market is up due to stock buy-backs done on our dime through tax breaks for the wealthy, not one bit of the gains is due to productivity. Nothing you wrote constitutes "hard facts", more like convenient lies.
1
Ariel D - That blame on the rich is well placed and exactly where it belongs. The wealthy have been buying politicians who write the laws that benefit the wealthy exclusively. Capital gains taxes and Carried Interest taxes are well below the rate paid on the same level of income earned through actual labor. These are loopholes created exclusively for the wealthy. If I or any ordinary citizen worker were to propose a new law to my Representative or Senators, it would have the same chance of passing into law as does static noise. Not so for the wealthy, who have laws passed to benefit themselves over and over again . . . as in the Republican Tax Scam Law of 2017. Meanwhile, with wages stagnant and costs to live over the past three decades tripling on the bottom end, putting together the means in which individuals can start their own businesses has gotten exponentially more difficult. Not so for the Walton family of WalMart fame, who use our taxpayer money to supplement not only the building of their stores, but also to supplement the bottom feeding wages they pay by putting their workers on food stamps and Medicare. Furthermore, they put all other local small businesses OUT OF BUSINESS by using their unfair advantage of extreme wealth. When are you people going to stop defending the indefensible double dipping that the wealthy create for themselves through the political use of their wealth? Now is the time to tax all wealth to the point where one can live a life of luxury if you have earned it, but one can use wealth to alter votes that do not belong to you. It is time for an Income CAP and a Wealth CAP TAX, enough is enough already. Tax it all so that it puts an end to the pervasive lies, liars, cheats and thieves . . . including liars such as yourself who act as Guardians of the System that gives the wealthy more than they earn or deserve.
1
Big Red - Call me a fool at your own peril. Anyone who does some serious research can see for themselves that costs have tripled over the past 30 years . . . at a minimum. Housing. Childcare. Health care. College education. As for booming economy, you are either lying or ignorant. Booming for the billionaires perhaps, but not for the median wage earner. Where are you getting your information from . . . Fox News perhaps?
1