The 6 Economic Facts of Life in America That Allow the Rich to Run off with Our Wealth

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/6-economic-facts-life-america-allow-rich-run-our-wealth



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1. The super-rich are stealing our fair share of productivity . The U.S. economy is enormously productive. Since 1947, the amount of goods and services we produce per hour of labor has risen by nearly 300 percent. That's because as a nation, we blend together a potent mix of effort, skills, technology and organizational capacities. Our enormous productivity is why we are the richest nation on earth.
Yet, why don't we feel that rich? Why are we told we must tighten our belts?
Until the mid-1970s, the more productivity increased, the higher the real wages of the average working person (after taking out the impact of inflation). As a result, our standard of living doubled in 25 years. But, as you can see from the chart below, after the mid-1970s, productivity (the red line) continued to boom, but the average wage stalled.



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2. Americans really want a wealth distribution more like Sweden's. Here's a nightmare fact of life the super-rich don't want you to know. Two researchers recently tried to find out just how much economic inequality Americans were comfortable with. Michael Norton of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of Duke University conducted a nationwide poll with more than 5,000 respondents to see how Americans saw our current level of equality, and what level they wanted to see. (“ Building a Better America – One Wealth Quintile at a Time ”)
The results were startling. First, virtually all Americans greatly underestimated the degree of inequality in our economy today. They had no idea how extreme the U.S. wealth distribution really is -- which goes to show you what a good job the super-rich have done in mis-educating us.


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3. Everything we hear about government debt is wrong. Right now, the biggest target of public mis-education is the government debt debate. And the biggest spender on the mis-education of the American public is billionaire Pete Peterson (who personally has added to the government's debt by dodging hundreds of million in taxes through the 15 percent "carried interest" loophole that blessed his private equity fund). Having no sense of shame, he and other super-elites want to convince us that government spending and debt will ruin us all. Unfortunately, very little of what they claim is true:

China owns our all our debt? Wrong! There's a chilling ad put out by a Peterson front group that features a Chinese lecturer in the year 2030 addressing (with English subtitles) a packed audience of Chinese students about the rise and decline of the U.S. The confident, smirking teacher describes how the U.S. abandoned its principles as it "tried to spend and tax its way out of a great recession" and then crumbled beneath its "crushing debt." He then provides the kicker: "Of course we owned most of their debt...ha ha ha, and now they work us," he says to the raucous laughter of the students. The ad is a complete Peterson lie. China owns only 8 percent of our debt. Most of our debt is actually owned by our own quasi governmental agencies like the Federal Reserve and Social Security.

[ReRe]

1. Everything they say is BS

Everything. And it's not well known, because people never hear the truth on main stream news, and never hear any truth it all on FAUX NOISE. Those of us truthseekers with a computer are finding it. With knowledge, there is hope, so learn, learn, learn! Learn who the liars, thieves and cheats are. So you can hold them accountable.

[dmosh42]

2. There are an awful lot of people who are just ass-kissers.....

and don't believe that they themselves are worth a shit. Just look at all the shows about celebrities, and how they're admired. I have to say even Romney impressed me with getting a huge vote, even after we heard how he doesn't think most people have any value in his world. Hard for me to understand after 70 years.

[marmar]

3. This is the most brainwashed, propagandized society in the "free" world.

And people continue to feast at this buffet of bullsh*t.

[xchrom]

4. they're gonna be rich -- a-a-a-a-a-n-n-n-n-n-y-y-y-y-y minute now. nt

[marmar]

5. Exactly. And though many are beginning to see the light......

....... there are still a lot of people who believe that crap.