Collapse of Middle Class Wealth

J

jerry55

New member
Dec 4, 2013
172
6
0
The median household is 20% poorer today than in 1984 - Vox

Gee, who would have guessed that gutting unions through anti-worker laws, sending jobs overseas, providing ridiculous levels of executive compensation, having a poverty level minimum wage, letting Wall Street gamble risk-free on mortgages would result in a sharp decrease in middle class wealth despite advances in productivity and work hours?

I for one am shocked that policies benefiting corporate America aren't trickling down on the workers who actually create the wealth.

Joseph Stiglitz (you know, the Nobel Prize winning economist - yeah, his credentials aren't up to par with Austrian school 20-something neckbeards on internet forums but he tries to keep up) says it best: "Much of America’s inequality is the result of market distortions, with incentives directed not at creating new wealth, but at taking it from others."

And those "others" are the middle class.

In the end, we who do IM pay the price as consumers have less money to spend on what we promote. Sorry but Mr. Billionaire is not spending all that dough he is hording on your campaigns.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IceToEskimos


Adcfs.jpg
 
jerry55 said:
Gee, who would have guessed that blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

I for one am blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Joseph Stiglitz (you know, the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah) says it best: "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."

And those "others" are blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

In the end, we blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Click to expand...

FTFY.
 
Why are we supposed to give a shit about how much money some arbitrarily defined group has at this point in time as compared to what they had before when they were defined differently?

Is it because our economy needs a strong "middle class"?

It doesn't.

Your heart needs a strong middle class.
 
IceToEskimos said:
Why are we supposed to give a shit about how much money some arbitrarily defined group has at this point in time as compared to what they had before when they were defined differently?
Click to expand...

Because they're the people that buy your products & services?
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Because they're the people that buy your products & services?
Click to expand...

Unless I misunderstand people entirely, I'm fairly certain people will forego home ownership, higher education, savings accounts, and dozens of other things before they stop spending money to fulfill their base impulse needs.

It's a function of time preference rather than expendable income.
 
Russell Sage foundation?

Agenda-free economics at last!

2014-07-29_1730.png




I have so much hatred for people who try pass off their political agendas as "economics", it's not even funny.
 
IceToEskimos said:
Unless I misunderstand people entirely, I'm fairly certain people will forego home ownership, higher education, savings accounts, and dozens of other things before they stop spending money to fulfill their base impulse needs.

It's a function of time preference rather than expendable income.
Click to expand...

So how poor do all those people have to get before you believe it will begin cutting into your revenue stream?
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
So how poor do all those people have to get before you believe it will begin cutting into your revenue stream?
Click to expand...

Here's some info about the poor (as defined by the census bureau):

Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

—� Fully 92 percent of poor households have a microwave; two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR.

—� Nearly 75 percent have a car or truck; 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.

—� Four out of five poor adults assert they were never hungry at any time in the prior year due to lack of money for food.

—� Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television.

—� Half have a personal computer; one in seven have two or more computers.

—� More than half of poor families with children have a video game system such as Xbox or PlayStation.

—� Just under half — 43 percent — have Internet access.

—� A third have a widescreen plasma or LCD TV.

—� One in every four has a digital video recorder such as TiVo.



Depending on what you're selling, you can see where your product or service might fit in to that consumer profile.

Personally, I think if you're dealing with a price point below $50 (even an introductory price point), you'll never have to worry about it.

We're talking about a group of people who think it's a good idea to spend 5% of their yearly income on fucking cable TV, so it's safe to say that long-term planning isn't really their forte.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: miketpowell
All of them have on demand clean water, a couple smartphones, access to infrastructure.

And i just quit giving a shit about it. The only one benefitting from circular cash flow is the irs
 
  • Like
Reactions: bluechinagroup
so what's cutting into your bottom line is not that people have less money but that it's harder for them to spend what they don't have. which counters your own point. Such logic
 
so you're pulling the classic kiopa. deleting your posts when you realize they make no fuckin sense.


Anyone remember how he had a shitty software and then just abandoned it, burning all his customers?
 
trickledown.jpg


Thanks supply-sider numbnuts. And now we're paying the price.

But the six Waltons have more wealth than 40% of the country, so it's all good. Those six hoarding all that wealth does wonders for our economy. Why let some of that go to the workers and actually increase demand for goods and stimulate the economy. Nah, just let six miserly people who won the lottery of birth sit on it. $90 billion among 6 people who did virtually nothing. $1 billion each wouldn't be enough. No of course not, despite studies showing that additional wealth/compensation past a certain point does little to motivate corporate executive performance.

Meanwhile, everyone has less to spend on goods thanks to these sociopathic hoarders.
 
jerry55 said:
Thanks supply-sider numbnuts. And now we're paying the price.

But the six Waltons have more wealth than 40% of the country, so it's all good. Those six hoarding all that wealth does wonders for our economy. Why let some of that go to the workers and actually increase demand for goods and stimulate the economy. Nah, just let six miserly people who won the lottery of birth sit on it. $90 billion among 6 people who did virtually nothing. $1 billion each wouldn't be enough. No of course not, despite studies showing that additional wealth/compensation past a certain point does little to motivate corporate executive performance.

Meanwhile, everyone has less to spend on goods thanks to these sociopathic hoarders.
Click to expand...

envy.jpg
 
Robin Hood didn't steal from the rich. He stole (that's past tense. quit the -ed when it doesn't apply) from the irs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom