General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rich Have Gained $5.6 Trillion in the 'Recovery,' While the Rest of Us Have Lost $669 Billion
(Cross-posted from Occupy Underground.)
@seekingmolly: The Rich Have Gained $5.6 Trillion in the 'Recovery,' While the Rest of Us Have Lost $669 Billion
http://www.alternet.org/economy/rich-have-gained-56-trillion-recovery-while-rest-us-have-lost-669-billion …
May 3, 2013 |
Oh, are we getting ripped off. And now we've got the data to prove it. From 2009 to 2011, the richest 8 million families (the top 7%) on average saw their wealth rise from $1.7 million to $2.5 million each. Meanwhile the rest of us -- the bottom 93% (that's 111 million families) -- suffered on average a decline of $6,000 each.
Do the math and you'll discover that the top 7% gained a whopping $5.6 trillion in net worth (assets minus liabilities) while the rest of lost $669 billion. Their wealth went up by 28% while ours went down by 4 percent.
It's as if the entire economic recovery is going into the pockets of the rich. And that's no accident. Here's why.
1. The bailouts went to Wall Street, not to Main Street.
The federal government and Federal Reserve poured trillions of dollars into Wall Street through a wide variety of financial maneuvers, many of which were hidden from view until recently. When we add it all up, it's clear that most of the money floated right into Wall Street. (Fannie and Freddie were private institutions that also considered themselves part of the Wall Street elite.)
(More at the link.)
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)along soon to explain why this is good for those on pensions.
dkf
(37,305 posts)The people who can afford things will recover. The people who are over leveraged get wiped out.
It's obvious when you think about it.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Dontchaknow, good little DEMS are only supposed to LOOK FORWARD? 
Don't need to be bothered by any pesky little facts, when dogma will do just fine!! 
dawg
(10,777 posts)I think the main driver is globalization and workers' lack of bargaining power and influence. If I can successfully make my widgets in China for a much higher profit, why would I pay up for American workers to do it? Likewise, with over 7 per cent unemployment, workers are pretty desperate for jobs. Why should I pay up for new hires when I can be selective and get the best without paying them even what the job paid five years ago?
It's all economics 101 and not the least bit surprising.
Some say that the government should intervene and provide a counterbalance to the overwhelming advantage held by large employers in today's economy. Others say "to the victors go the spoils". It's pretty much *the* political question of our times.
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)
Initech
(108,783 posts)
dawg
(10,777 posts)And our democratically elected representatives are the ones who made the rules.
defacto7
(14,162 posts)Hmmmm... My ESP is sharp tonight I guess. Or is it LSD?
I wonder.... how can one make money worthless? Most of us don't have anything to loose anyway. How can one just pull the plug on some valueless data and make their wealth disappear?
Wishful thinking... Or is it LSD?
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)So much inequality, so little protest
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Right after American Idol and Real Housewives of Possum Holler, Arkansas.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)has not been televised.
arikara
(5,562 posts)here in Canada. The rich are getting richer and the middle class is all but wiped out here too. Harper is running roughshod over the counntry with his corporatist agenda and few seem to notice. The big news is Trudeau's hair.
dawg
(10,777 posts)They have focused their propaganda efforts on the American populace to a degree that other countries, such as Canada and the E.U. countries, have never seen.
I think non-Americans delude themselves a little when they think that their countrymen would never fall for the things we have swallowed. We are ground-zero for global predatory capitalism, and our people are paying the price.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)The only good thing that's been accomplished by protest during the years mentioned is that #OWS planted a little seed of dissatisfaction with the de facto plutocracy. Beyond that, the primary lesson driven home is that the plutocrats (and their hired thugs with badges) will do whatever is needed to repress any change movement that actually might, you know...change things.
Change will come...the status quo is unstable in the medium-long run. But it won't happen through protest marches and other feel-good methods. It will happen via a near-complete economic collapse or via violent social upheaval. Neither method will be anything but a nightmare.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)
Wilms
(26,795 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)
ileus
(15,396 posts)Well actually up....cost of living, petrol, student loans, daycare, medical bills...
So it's more like a wash for me at this moment.
RB TexLa
(17,003 posts)
SidDithers
(44,333 posts)Wait. Something seems different.
Sid
progressoid
(53,179 posts)I thought that the recovery was going to trickle down to all of us?
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)I have been trying for 4 years to get just a cost of living raise, with no luck whatsoever. Fucking over your employees has become acceptable behavior...
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)colsohlibgal
(5,276 posts)The middle class has been cut off at the knees by free trade agreements, regressive tax policy, and CEO pay going into the stratosphere. The result, income inequality through the roof. A few with riches beyond imagination, millions eating cat food and sleeping in the woods. Let them eat cake indeed.
Most of us have seen the astonishing rise in the ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay. If there is a Hell I would hope some of these greedy gluttons have an express ticket. I couldn't look myself in the mirror if I did that, keeping 50 million or whatever for myself while paying people dirt wages.
BelgianMadCow
(5,379 posts)as a result of the bailout. The net gain for the wealthiest is much bigger if you take that into account, I would think.
In the same vein, you would also have to add all the losses that would have been the result of serious prosecution of bank fraud, as opposed to pitiful fines.
4 t 4
(2,407 posts)of what we have to fight the inequality of what is now America we have not a single chance for a second. I know this but I keep holding on and don't really know because we are shot!!!
tom_kelly
(1,051 posts)of the flag waving crowd who feel its ok to ship jobs overseas because "that's what competition is all about." Lets get back to the mentality that being a patriot meant concern for the community and looking after your neighbor. If you had work that those in your community could perform for you, you offered it to them - not another country.
Initech
(108,783 posts)
4 t 4
(2,407 posts)Initech
(108,783 posts) 
TampaAnimusVortex
(785 posts)
Brigid
(17,621 posts)is why the word "recovery" is a misnomer.