YES, IT'S CLASS WAR: The Rich Are Getting Richer, The Poor Are Getting Poorer

[Panaconda]

Socialism? The Rich Are Winning the US Class War: Facts Show Rich Getting Richer, Everyone Else Poorer

by Bill Quigley

The rich and their paid false prophets are doing a bang up job deceiving the poor and middle class. They have convinced many that an evil socialism is alive in the land and it is taking their fair share. But the deception cannot last – facts say otherwise. Yes, there is a class war – the war of the rich on the poor and the middle class – and the rich are winning. That war has been going on for years. Look at the facts – facts the rich and their false paid prophets do not want people to know.

The truth is that for the several decades the rich in the US have been getting richer and the poor and middle class have been getting poorer. Look at the facts then make up your own mind.

Poor Getting Poorer: Facts

The official US poverty numbers show we now have the highest number of poor people in 51 years. The official US poverty rate is 14.3 percent or 43.6 million people in poverty. One in five children in the US is poor; one in ten senior citizens is poor. Source: US Census Bureau.

One of every six workers, 26.8 million people, is unemployed or underemployed. This “real” unemployment rate is over 17%. There are 14.8 million people designated as “officially” unemployed by the government, a rate of 9.6 percent. Unemployment is worse for African American workers of whom 16.1 percent are unemployed. Another 9.5 million people who are working only part-time while they are seeking full-time work but have had their hours cut back or are so far only able to find work part-time are not counted in the official unemployment numbers. Also, an additional 2.5 million are reported unemployed but not counted because they are classified as discouraged workers in part because they have been out of work for more than 12 months. Source: US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics October 2010 report.

...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/25-0

[w4rma]

1. The rich are getting richer by taking from the poor who are getting poorer. (nt)

[Panaconda]

2. A matter of life and death

Rich people live an average of about five years longer than poor people in the US. Naturally, gross inequality has consequences in terms of health, exposure to unhealthy working conditions, nutrition and lifestyle. In 1980, the most well off in the US had a life expectancy of 2.8 years over the least well-off. As the inequality gap widens, so does the life expectancy gap. In 1990, the gap was a little less than 4 years. In 2000, the least well-off could expect to live to age of 74.7 while the most well off had a life expectancy of 79.2 years. Source: Elise Gould, “Growing disparities in life expectancy,” Economic Policy Institute.

http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/webfeatures_snapshots_20080716/

[blindpig]

10. There's the quantity, and then there's the quality....

The lives of the working class are markedly different from those of the rich. The rich are the only people who are free and their fantastic freedom is only possible by taking away ours. We exist only to work and consume, those are our only purpose, to make their freedom possible. Every day the robbery continues, insatiable, we work longer for less just to make it, that they may profit more. Our lives are circumscribed by their needs, they leave us no time to behave in a normal human manner, what little leisure have is reduced to another money making scheme. Family, sociability, culture, appreciation of nature, these things which the rich take for granted are things we must struggle to have even a taste of, our servitude is so complete. They take the hours of our lives, the only thing we really got.

[Panaconda]

46. So true brother

All of it.

:toast: to that day.

[truedelphi]

41. Not only do the rich outlive us, they also benefit from our

subsidizing them.

We have to pay such high costs for insurance premiums, for co pays and deductibles, that we don't even consider getting needed medical treatment. While they don't think twice about it.

We pay into Social Security, but stats show that we don't necessarily live long enough to benefit.
And if you are a black make growing up in a bad neighborhood, you have almost the same shot at winning a major lottery as getting out of that ghetto to a better, non-prison style place, and living to see your sixty seventh birthday.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. HELL, yeah, it is! But they'll try to redirect our anger to generations and races.

[txaslftist]

20. ... and Republicans, and fundamentalists, and tea partiers

and our neighbors, and white people and black people and illegal immigrants and people who don't like illegal immigration and pro choicers and prolifers and feminazis and traditionalists ...

[Starry Messenger]

4. B-but David Geffen just got a bigger yacht than Larry Ellison's

:cry: Well, he bought Larry's and Larry had to settle for a smaller one. Oh the humanity! The little one probably doesn't even *have* a helipad. How can the man hold his head up?



http://www.luxist.com/2010/10/25/geffen-buys-out-ellison-to-seize-control-of-worlds-sixth-larges/

Geffen Edges Out Ellison to Seize Control of World's Sixth Largest Yacht

Music mogul David Geffen is now the sole owner of Rising Sun (above), the world's sixth largest yacht, having seized control from co-owner Larry Ellison. Originally commissioned by the Oracle billionaire from Germany's Lürssen shipyard in 2004, the 456 ft. megayacht cost about $250 million to build. After gaining possession of the craft – the terms of the deal have not been disclosed – Geffen has sent the boat back to Lurssen for some much-needed modifications while Ellison prepares to take delivery of a much smaller 298-ft. superyacht. Considerably bigger than other billionaire boats like Paul Allen's Octopus, the Rising Sun features luxe accommodations for 12 people in addition to 30 crew members and boasts a total of 82 rooms on five decks. Onyx countertops, a gymnasium, spa, sauna, wine cellar, private cinema and basketball court that converts to a helipad are some of the over-the-top touches onboard. Four MTU 20V 8000 M90 diesel engines with a combined output of 50,000 hp move the massive yacht along at up to 28 knots.

[Panaconda]

9. Did you check out

that website. Lots of grotesque creatures out there. Those people are drowning in the filthy lucre.

[Starry Messenger]

11. I have to ration myself.

Looking at it too much induces high blood pressure. When a person finds they "need" a diamond encrusted iPod case, don't you think that would be a head's up that you have too much fucking money?

[MedicalAdmin]

32. That's 36 feet a guest.

456 feet and the freaking thing only sleeps 12. Holy shit.

I only have 3 words for that. Ex. O. Cet.

[roguevalley]

5. someone on ed show said boehner wants to end the mortgage

deduction. that would make me find my rifle and give it a good cleaning.

[Romulox]

14. The mortgage interest deduction is a subsidy to banks, realtors, and the well off

at the expense of everyone else. It should be eliminated.

[DesertFlower]

26. if it were not for the mortgage deduction

many people would not be able to stay in their houses.

are you angry at the middle class?

[MedicalAdmin]

33. Look at it this way.

Canada doesn't have a mortgage deduction in their tax code and yet home ownership is higher in Canada and they don't have our subprime mess. Maybe we should take a lesson from them.

[DesertFlower]

49. the only thing i want from canada is

there health care.

if the mortgage deduction were to be taken away now, more people will lose their houses. is that what you want? things are bad enough.

[Romulox]

38. Because of the mortgage deduction, housing prices were inflated well past what wages could support

I know that an artificially created bubble is fun, but we see the consequences before us--a recked housing market. :hi:

[DesertFlower]

50. the mortgage deduction has been

around for as long as i can remember. as far as i know this is the first time we've had a mess like this.

[Romulox]

52. No--the growth in home prices has far out-paced the growth in wages for decades. nt

[DesertFlower]

53. so did the price of cars. back around

'89 car prices started to go up a lot.

we bought our first house in '89 in phoenix. it was a new semi-custom 2400 sq. ft. on 1/2 acre complete with swimming pool and spa. the price was $164,000. we sold it 13 years later for $250,000. the people we sold it to sold it in "06 for $470,000. it went into foreclosure and sold last year for $206,000.

the house we're living in now was custom built on 2-1/2 acres with all the bells and whistles. the property was $48,000 and the cost of building the house was $270,000. when we closed the bank appraised it at $385,000. we put another $40-50,000 into landscaping, shutters, etc. this was in '02. 2 years later the house was worth $860,000. quite a jump. of course, it's way down now. it seems it was in '04 to '06 that the prices went up really fast.

hubby's salary continued to go up until '02. now his raises are 1% and that's because he's a top performer. most people get nothing. from '89 until now his salary doubled.

[roguevalley]

56. it has and it keeps me from being taxed out the wazoo. getting

rid of it is a call to arms. literally. bullshit on the argument posed that it is a bubble outcome or a boon to banks.

[DesertFlower]

57. glad someone agrees with me.

we paid a ridiculous amount of tax when we lived in new york and didn't own a house. our accountant kept saying "you've got to buy something". if our apartment had gone co-op we would have bought it.

[Romulox]

15. edit: dupe

[DailyGrind51]

62. Even Bush rejected that idea as being political suicide!

[TBF]

6. While some are content arguing about the difference between acting and moving -

others starve.

[bobbolink]

16. Thank you. Its hard for most people to remember those of us on the bottom.

Unless, of course, they are needing to feel superior that week, so they sneer at the diets poor people are stuck with.

[MedicalAdmin]

34. I've been poor and I'll take a bag of carrots over a McD anyday.

Having said that, getting carrots in the inner city is a pretty hard thing to do. Eat what you need to from whereever you can. Hunger makes it's own sauce.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. The New Deal wasn't done out of kindness, it was done out of fear

of revolution. The Vietnam War was ended for the same reason.

[MedicalAdmin]

35. Good point.

It's time to bust some fucking heads. I'll get my bat, you get the addresses. I'll meet you out back.

Wait - can we pick up latte's first. I'm feeling a little caffeine deprived right now.

[applegrove]

8. You either grow the middle class or the rich & poor.

[blindpig]

48. You realize that there are only two classes,

the owners and the rest of us, and then you must choose which side you are on.

[lonestarnot]

12. K & R!

[Romulox]

13. Thank GAWD it passed! Once the banksters get theirs, they'll take care of the rest of us.

Um, won't they? :shrug:

[bobbolink]

17. Actually, a bit of a problem with this. The article points out the *true* numbers of unemployed

people, but not the *true* level of poverty.

The way the poverty level is figured, much like the official unemployment figures, it is skewed, and doesn't accurately reflect the true level of poverty.

Not something that many people pay much attention to.

[mntleo2]

28. True and P rate hasn't been adjusted since the 1960s

...already all those considered below the poverty level are being gaged at levels almost 50 years old. It would be millions more if they used 21st century numbers. But this way all those policy makers and politicians can pretend the poverty rate isn't as bad as it really is and "overlook" the urgency of the matter.

Cat

[bobbolink]

39. And there are so few of us who know this, and fewer who care.

:shrug:

[txaslftist]

18. It's not a class war.

Nobody's shooting nobody.

[Roy Rolling]

22. semantics

Okay, it's a class "conflict/struggle/competition/inequity/exploitation" However you say it, the middle and lower classes are increasingly giving up their wealth that is being exploited and absorbed by the upper classes. Government is there to keep this struggle from becoming an armed conflict where the classes shoot at each other. If government fails or is co-opted by the upper classes, then government will become a victim, too. In fact, government is already a victim of this same exploitation.

[txaslftist]

24. If it was class warfare or struggle, the poor would be fighting back.

This is more like class rape.

[Hannah Bell]

27. but they're killing them.

[txaslftist]

30. Sure, but they aren't killing back.

It's not a war. More like an oppression.

[blindpig]

31. Well, that's how it starts, isn't it?

We are disorganized, leaderless, lacking a clear view of objectives. Of necessity, that will pass, history might not move at the pace we want but move it does, and sometimes it will move so fast as to make ya dizzy.

[maryf]

36. But poor people are literally dying due to the wealthiest profit mongers....

whether because they don't have sufficient shelter because they can't find affordable housing, can't get health care as they aren't insured, are working three jobs to the point of poor health, or are being poisoned due to the profit mongers quest to delete the planet of all its natural resources regardless the destruction of a healthy environment, and in so many other ways, the poor are being killed just as surely as if they'd been shot. And don't think that the wars and occupations aren't directly related to the class wars...

[bobbolink]

47. That's not something that matters. Nothing can be done to make it a priority.

[Hannah Bell]

19. knr.

[bdamomma]

21. k&r

[jotsy]

23. I hit that rec button, but...

as I have stated repeatedly, this war's been had and lost before we ever knew we were in battle. David Cay Johnston wrote a series of articles in the summer of 2005 describing how the hyper rich had ALREADY sucked the middle class dry and were prepared to set their sights on the merely rich. This is the only part of said class war that may still be in active status, and likely only until the next artificial bubble bursts.

I have great disdain for posting from this publication, but this is one issue, article and example where I'm generally prepared to make an exception.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html>



Concentrate on work, purpose, and sustainability, folks. The jobs are gone, the corporations won't be them bringing back. We're all we got now, the media, the government and legal channels have been funneled to serve only the top end and that gets more exclusive all the time.

[truedelphi]

42. And all of this has been mandated from OUTSIDE THE USA.

People on this board are so busy cheering for Obama when he makes a decent speech at the G 20m, that they never consider the fact that it is the G20 (Formerly G8) and WTO and GATT and NAFTA that have dictated these policies to our supposed "Statesmen and women." These organizations have determined since the early eighties if not sooner, that America shall no longer be anything but an importer/consumer of foreign goods.

The Founding Fathers specifically wrote out that our elected officials have no business what so ever attending foreign based organizations and deciding on our futures while colluding with the Uber Rich. But that is now considered such a "normal" part of our President and Congress critters that no one knows enough to scream "ENOUGH!"

[jotsy]

58. Individuality and by extension, culture, in and of itself,

are not intended to survive this global alliance of a monetary age.

I see us as a planetary public, a collection of communities, rich with history and tradition passed through the years by generations. The machine sees but minions to milk and manage. I have my doubts as to whether or not this is the way we're supposed to get to the best of where ever it is we're going.

Hi ya TD!

[truedelphi]

60. Hey Jotsy

:hug:

[mstinamotorcity]

25. The middle class was under assault

openly during the Reagan Administration. I remember Reagan giving a speech with some buffoon standing next to him screaming "Death to the Unions" there was also a line that there was no such thing as Middle Class either you were rich or poor. Churches started preaching that the world had to have poor people in it. It was God's will. They started going Christian right.The savings and loan scandals ( Neil Bush ) were every where. This is when the predatory lending and investing in your workplace and other marketable tools to get your money started with a deep seeded anger over minorities and low wage earners having the possibility of achieving the American Dream. How Dare they. They partnered with the auto companies, whom they were really mad for taking people out the cotton fields and northern migration,and made those big suv's. Then when the automobile companies started making a profit they got them to invest their pensions,assets,and future assets into loan companies,mortgages and securities. Then jacked gas up to almost five dollars a gallon and run with the profits. They took the money out of the system and put it in their pockets and fell short on the margin call. They had to get the loan from the tax payer. Oh they were not going to give the money back they stole from the people they will just tell us that every thing will collapse if we don't help them (TARP).

[truedelphi]

43. + 1. n/t

[DavidSegal]

29. New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce Disaffiliates from National: Let's Make it the First of Many

Cross-posted at HuffPo-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/new-hampshire-chamber-of-_b_773226.html


The Greater Hudson Chamber of Commerce has had enough: It's so fed up with the shameless politicking that's being done in its name that it disaffiliated from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

Will you help make sure it's the first of many by signing on to Demand Progress's letter urging local chambers of commerce to disaffiliate?

http://demandprogress.org/chamber/

The so-called United States Chamber of Commerce -- flush with donations from foreign lands -- has spent countless millions lobbying Washington against progressive policies. That includes more than $81 million so far this year to work against health care, workers' rights, social security, environmental initiatives and more. Combined with its anti-consumer rights Institute for Legal Reform, it spent $144 million on lobbying in 2009 alone.

Now the Chamber's being used as a laundromat, through which corporations like Chevron, Dow Chemical, and Goldman Sachs are washing millions of dirty dollars as they try to throw next week's elections. The Chamber is taking advantage of the Citizens United decision by spending more than $75 million this cycle, with over 90% of its money going to support Republicans.

But the Chamber is also spending your money: It's supported by a network of dues-paying local affiliates -- some representing small towns, and others whole states. You can look for affiliates over here.

The Chamber is controlled by the big boys -- Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharma, and the rest of the gang. But the hometown affiliates help pay for its bureaucracy and give it a good name -- one that's steadily being sullied as the Chamber pushes a radical agenda that hurts most Americans.

The national chamber's egregious political spending is already the object of consternation in many local chapters: they include plenty of all small businesses, and even non-profits and social service agencies, that sure as hell aren't happy about the dirty politicking that's being done on their behalf or the potential that their plight will be made even worse by a Republican-controlled Congress. Even some bigger companies, like Apple, have already severed their ties.

Combating corporate control of the government is the fight of our lifetime: If we don't fix the way people get elected, we will never be able to address any of the other issues that we all care about. We need to figure out ways to fight back, and fast: This session's Congress -- elected in a pre-Citizens United world -- failed even to pass the pathetic Disclose Act this summer. As congressmembers get elected based on the new rules they'll have even less incentive to change them.

It's a daunting undertaking. But you can help us hit them where it hurts: Please join us as we call on more local chapters to disaffiliate.

We'll make sure the chapters hear your calls -- and we'll keep you informed as our effort proceeds, so you can choose where to spend your money without worrying that you're forwarding the radical right's attempt to usurp our democracy.

[MedicalAdmin]

37. It's a great idea but my chamber is so libertarian

That it makes my teeth ache.

[Martin Eden]

40. Redistribution of Wealth is a Reality

Yet it is the rich who scream REDISTRIBUTION whenever measures are proposed to correct this growing disparity.

[earth mom]

44. The most disgusting part is that they've got us fighting AGAINST each other while they laugh all

the way to the bank!

Divide and Conquer.

Left against Right.

But the most dirty rotten part was getting liberals fighting against each other; fighting over whether Obama and the rest of Congress even give a damn about the people. (IMO-no, they don't).

:grr:

[truedelphi]

45. Many people don't believe me when I say this was planned a long time ago, from outside the

Nation's Boundaries.

But it was.

Whom do I blame? The international orgs with such fun acroynyms as NAFTA, GATT, WTO, And IMF. Let's not forget the WTO or the World Bank either.

And of course, I blame the members of our Political Class who attend these things. Reagan and his people, George Bush Sr and his people, Bill Clinton and his people, George W and his people, and last but not least, good Old Obama, who even pledged while running to actually end NAFTA. But apparently like an old Bill hicks joke, once you' re in stalled in the Oval Office, they make you watch a video of Dealey Plaza.

But what is scary about Obama and his agreeing to these organizations is that it means he has to put the Monsanto people into places of power. So you have Velsick installed into the Dept of Agriculture, and you have Mike Taylor heading the FDA. So this means that by the time the public realizes how tasteless the GM foods, and how much they actually make people suffer from stomach and intestinal problems, yes, by then, the seed and pollen will be ubiquitous, and nature will end up seeing to it that everything is GM.

Now these organizations, run by the Uber Rich and powerful, all saw to it that we no longer make anything in this country. Well, actually we still produce a good deal of food, but that is about to reverse itself also. Do you ever wonder why the Dairy Farmers here in California, many of whom are small family farms, couldn't get any loans from community banks? Well the above named organizations have as their main goal our being an importing/consuming nation. In fact, just several years ago, for the first time ever, our nation imported more foods than we exported.

It is not legal for these organizations to exist and to have our public officials attend their meetings. Read the preventative measures that the Founding Fathers included in our Constitution and its Amendments. Then ponder on how and why all our Presidents still insist on being part of hte mix, even as that mix of acronym orgs makes us poorer and poorer.

See http://www.iptv.org/video/detail.cfm/3135/ittv_20081220_155
for further information.

[Greyhound]

51. Sorry I missed this while it could still be recommended.

:kick:

[Mimosa]

54. Quigley is one of New Orleans best people!

Thanks for the article, Panaconda.:D

[OlympicBrian]

55. Our new form of government which has devolved...

globalism+corporate_personhood+fusion_of_separated_powers=income_disparity (as new form of government is born)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9395482#9400813

[HuckleB]

59. K & R.

[Divine Discontent]

61. post #1 is spot on- they're richer by taking from the poor getting poorer

[mdmc]

63. ..

[kgnu_fan]

64. Rich Man's War

Rich Man's War - John Trudell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDOZ00A1aos&feature=&p=BAE1776F6D66AE93&index=0&playnext=1