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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica's Economy Is Rigged From Top to Bottom
Leo Gerard / Independent Media Institute MAR 15, 2019
The lesson is that no matter how hard you work, no matter how smart or talented you are, a dumb, lazy rich kid is going to beat you.
It’s crucial that everyone who is not a wealthy movie star, hedge fund executive, or corporate CEO—that is, 99 percent of all Americans—sees this college admissions scandal for what it really is: a microcosm of the larger, corrupt system that works against working people, squashing their chances for advancement.
This system is the reason that rich people and corporations got massive tax breaks last year while the 99 percent got paltry ones. It is the reason the federal minimum wage and the overtime threshold are stuck at poverty levels. It is the reason labor unions have dwindled over the past four decades.
This system is the reason we cannot have nice things. Despite all that land-of-equal-opportunity crap, the rich ensure that only they can have nice things, starting with what they can buy legally and illegally for their children and rising through what they can buy legally and illegally from politicians who make the rules that withdraw money from the pockets of working people and deposit it into the bulging bank accounts of the fabulously rich.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/americas-economy-is-rigged-from-top-to-bottom/
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Yavin4
(35,437 posts)Multiple corrupt systems exist to ensure that a certain class always wins. We're talking about everything from Finance to Healthcare to Education, etc.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)The perfect example of this rigged for the rich system in America are the spawn of Trump.
I rest my case.
Farmer-Rick
(10,154 posts)Our economic system...capitalism. In the future, it will be looked at as a backwards and cruel system much like we look at slavery and feudalism today.
SWBTATTReg
(22,112 posts)better. The 1%ers already own already over 1/2 of all assets in this country. What happens when there is nothing left for them (1%ers) to fight over?
I wonder about this, when they are all demanding increasing higher and higher returns on their money and the only way that they are going to get it is rip off other 1%ers.
I'd say, just wait. I'd say put them into a corral, take bets (the lower 99%ers) and watch, as they tear themselves into pieces.
You may think I'm kidding but seriously, what does happen when there is nothing else left?
Farmer-Rick
(10,154 posts)He said that the drive for profits would lead companies to mechanize their workplaces, producing more and more goods while squeezing workers’ wages until they could no longer purchase the products they created.
And it will burrow into every corner of the world. The need for a constantly expanding market to continue making profits is globalism, He wrote, “It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.”
Marx termed “fictitious capital” – financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps. We produce and produce until there is simply no one left to purchase goods, no new markets, no new debts. The cycle is still playing out. Eventually there will be a market crash. Decades of deepening inequality, reduced incomes, imaginary capital and fewer jobs, will cause the whole facade to fall apart, just as Marx knew it would. And it will be a bigger crash than in 2008.
What happens after the crash is unknown. During the last crash, governments bailed out the uber rich with our tax dollars and let everyone else suffer. We got austerity and belt tightening and the rich bankers who caused the crash with their fictitious capital got saved from their own avarice.
I converted my small property into a farm to survive. People will find ways to survive. But it will be harder this time around because the middle class is no longer the largest class in America. The poor are now the largest class in America. We ate a lot of the middle class to feed the rich. I guess they finish eating the middle class this time around and start making slaves out of the poor. Or the people finally say they have had enough and rise up and take over.
handmade34
(22,756 posts)most important part of the article... "Until working people change that..."
and that is why we are here... everyday people scared, busy, threatened, ignorant, misled, uneducated, lazy, oppressed, disenfranchised, stuck, voiceless, etc., etc...… whatever the reason, we could change it and we don't 
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)The propaganda arm of the 1%ers works fabulously for them
Dividing the 99% by race, gender, sexual orientation and religion.
It's been working great for them since the fairness doctrine was destroyed.
BamaRefugee
(3,483 posts)the argument is futile
safeinOhio
(32,673 posts)when slow cooked and served hot.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,328 posts)Just curious.
Season to taste -- some garlic, onions, a little pepper. mmmm.
Johnny2X2X
(19,038 posts)This is the major issue of our time in this country. The general public doesn't understand how rigged the system is for people like Trump and Kushner. Failure is literally not a risk for that class.
Trump is the poster boy for this type of system. His rich daddy fixed every step of the way for him so that no matter how much he failed, he'd never face consequences. Sent him to private school and paid off people when he faced expulsion for violently attacking a female teacher. Bought his way into college where he paid people to do his work for him. Gave him a $30 Million line of credit while in college. And most importantly, he taught him the ways of real estate scams where you never put up a dime of your own money. Trump has literally never had to work for anything and has never faced risk.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)and they and the system that made them are killing America.
Johnny2X2X
(19,038 posts)The big story that never gets talked about is how easy the rich have it. It's a club that you'll never be in, and in this club they teach each other how to exploit the rigged system.
And afterwards they have brandy and cigars on the terrace and congratulate each other for being Kings.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)That's a fact.
I still don't understand though why these people get so much pleasure over strangling the working class.
They have every advantage in life and aren't happy unless there is misery all around them.
Take the Walton family for just one example.
Jim Walton....$48.4 billion, S. Robson Walton...$48.2 billion, Alice Walton...$48.1 billion, Lukas Walton...$15.6 billion, Ann Walton Kroenke...$6.6 billion, Christy Walton...$6.7 billion, Nancy Walton Laurie...$5.7 billion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_family
They could pay every Walmart worker in the country 15 bucks an hour with the best health care and benefits money can buy and not even make a tiny dent in their vast obscene wealth but oh hell no they will never ever do that.
Their workers are forced to go to public assist programs and struggle to survive every day of their lives.
It's sickening and evil as far as I'm concerned and again, I just do not get the mentality behind it.
robbob
(3,527 posts)Everything is about profit. Shareholders want to see the biggest possible return on their investments. A business is only considered “successful” if it’s growing by x% EVERY YEAR!!! I read somewhere that MacDonalds needed to grow (as in literally adding more franchises) by 20% every year. Hence the need for expansion into India and China. That’s insane! How can any corporation be constantly expanding? When will the resources run out?
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)It still doesn't explain why these people that have amassed billions and billions and billions of dollars of personal wealth will not use one stinking penny of it to help their fellow man.
I guess a lifetime of treating people who work for you as slaves or cattle just hardens their shriveled husk of a heart to all compassion.
The dumb bastards don't seem to realize that their billions aren't going with them when they die.
DemocracyMouse
(2,275 posts)(They don't). The younger employees are curious and often ask "what's a union again?"
Wow 😮... We MUST reboot the union movement across the land. There's a new generation that is so ready for unions. Unions must do their part and modernize at every level: communications, quality improvement, member involvement, etc.
- Wikipedia
OMGWTF
(3,951 posts)I asked a young man where the potting soil was and he responded by bursting into tears saying that he had worked there for three awful years. I tried to comfort him and have never been back. Srsly, fk that place and the entire Walton family. It's Costco for me!
DemocracyMouse
(2,275 posts)...it still wouldn't hurt to ask if the workers have, to THEIR satisfaction, resolved the following.
For many years, Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) has stood out in the retail industry for its strong employee relations. Politicians -- especially Democrats -- have repeatedly praised Costco for
paying better wages than other mass retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT).
Yet it appears that even one of the most employee-friendly businesses in America is not immune to criticism. Costco is facing rising discontent over retirement benefits among its relatively small unionized workforce. The company will have to make tough choices in the near future as it tries to balance protecting the bottom line against maintaining its reputation as a labor-friendly employer.
The average employee at a Costco store makes more than $20/hour before overtime and benefits. Meanwhile, even after two major pay increases at Wal-Mart since the beginning of 2015, the average hourly wage for full-time workers there is $13.38/hour. And Costco just raised its starting wages earlier this month to ensure that it stays ahead of the pack.
THE AVERAGE WAGE AT WAL-MART IS $13.38/HOUR.
Costco's generous pay won the company effusive praise from President Obama in his 2014 State of the Union address. High wages help to keep employees happy. On Glassdoor.com, which allows workers to rate their employers, Costco receives 3.9 out of five stars, whereas Wal-Mart gets just 3.1 out of five stars.
Johnny2X2X
(19,038 posts)People think rich, and often times they think of someone who saved their whole life and retired with $2 Million. That's not really rich. Or they think of the small business owner who has 2 homes and 3 cars, that's not really rich either.
I've known trust fund babies that are RICH! Kids that will never have to work a day in their lives unless they get bored and want to help run some corporation their family owns. The lack of responsibility they have is foreign to most people. People do not understand that there are kids who have credit cards that they never see the statements to, they just get to use for anything they want and the bill never comes due.
Had a friend in college who got $10,000 deposited into his personal account each month for spending money. This was after everything in his life was completely paid for. He was an idiot and spent a lot of it on drugs and strippers, ended up getting arrested several times, each case led to nothing because of who his parents were, he barely graduated in 6 years and needed highly paid tutors for every class to do that. Now he's a VP at one of his families companies making probably near 7 figures and working 20 hours a week 26 weeks a year. Again, no consequences, he screwed 100 different ways in his life that each would have had long lasting or permanent consequences for you or I, for him, it meant nothing. This same dipshit, who I was 10 times smarter than and 1 times more disciplined than complains endlessly on Facebook about the lazy poor.
People worship the rich, as someone who's spent time with them, you'd be shocked at how unremarkable they are.
mwooldri
(10,303 posts)They may pay their retail workers peanuts, but in the trucking industry they pay their drivers very well (my understanding it is upwards of $80k/yr). Or maybe not so weird after all... Walmart isn't exactly known for stellar customer service, but is known for having the right stuff where it matters and when it matters.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,328 posts)
Wall Street banks doled out $31.4 billion in bonuses to their 176,900 New York-based employees in 2017, which amounts to more than two and a half times the combined earnings of all 884,000 Americans who work full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The Wall Street bonuses come on top of salaries, which averaged $422,500 in 2017. Shifting resources into the pockets of low-wage workers would give the economy a bigger bang for the buck than increases in Wall Street bonuses. To meet basic needs, low-wage workers have to spend nearly every dollar they earn, creating beneficial economic ripple effects. The wealthy, by contrast, can afford to squirrel away more of their earnings.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)
Power 2 the People
(2,437 posts)
dhill926
(16,337 posts)but we all know why it isn't...
mn9driver
(4,423 posts)Moving upward in income and status is less likely in the US than in many other countries:
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/02/14/americans-overestimate-social-mobility-in-their-country
geardaddy
(24,926 posts)It has been since the beginning. Just read Howard Zinn's book.
zentrum
(9,865 posts)