Income chart - disgusting and troubling

[packman]

Note the downward/upward trend only broken (albeit slightly) during the Clinton presidency.


[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

Stuff revolutions are made from

[grahamhgreen]

1. Anyone object to a special tax on the red lines to pay for the new war?

[J_J_]

4. not at all

These 'people' need to be forced to explain exactly how they will pay for it.

Last time they blamed all their wasteful spending and the debt created on poor, disabled, unemployed people.

These greedy bastards have no shame.

[cascadiance]

8. I'd in the past advocated a temporary top bracket premium...

... income tax rate that would last as long as the U.S. was involved in war, so that those at the top the benefit the most from war spending would PAY FOR IT DAMMIT!

And perhaps making it so that it would scale back to a lower top end tax break if we didn't have war would provide them incentive to have our industrial markets make bigger investments in areas not associated with war, and hopefully build industry that GROWS OUR COUNTRY and its own citizens' well being instead of destroying other countries and its citizenry's well being!

The big question is how would you put in a proper threshold to decide when we are at war or not. Probably can't do it for every action the government takes and at times does just to protect itself in an emergency action, but make it so that the military industrial complex can't find ways to work around it too.

[grahamhgreen]

28. Threshold? How about none. The extra monies can be put into a fund to pay for future wars for 75

years out, like the R's did with the Post Office pensions.

Sound good to me!

Once we get the tax, we never repeal it. Kind of like the Bush tax cuts in reverse.

[Louisiana1976]

32. Good idea.

[cascadiance]

34. Well, I think we also should have another permanent upwards bracket adjustment too..

... But I'm thinking by having an "extra" bracket addition when we are at war will serve to provide more incentive to stop the military industrial complex in its tracks by putting in place disincentives towards investments in their businesses. That is ALSO a good goal in addition to having more tax money in the government paid for by the rich.

And then also, if the Republicans continue with their lines that we can only allocate money if we find some way to pay for it for other programs we like, then we can throw back that this in effect would be exactly be what we're doing for THEIR infatuation with war spending and NOT PAYING FOR IT! By tying a tax increase on those who profit from it directly to whether we have war expenditures or not, will punch them in the mouth and say, you asked for it you got it BUD! You spend it, you pay for it!

[grahamhgreen]

42. Great idea!

[valerief]

6. Bwahahaha! They're the ones making money on the wars. nt

[grahamhgreen]

45. Soooooo they can afford it then;)

[Man from Pickens]

7. I object

Two problems:

#1 - I don't want a new war, so my ideal budget for it is zero.

#2 - The real issue that needs to be addressed is the income side, and why the elites are making massive gains while everyone else is making massive losses. Taxing the gains doesn't stop anyone else from suffering the losses.

[grahamhgreen]

14. So how do you want to pay for the war then?

[Man from Pickens]

15. I don't

I think everyone who is making money off of this war happen ought to find their bills unpaid, as a lesson to future war profiteer aspirants.

[grahamhgreen]

26. But since the wealthiest can afford it, don't you think it's fair we make them pay?

[Man from Pickens]

29. if it's paid for at all

then of course, may as well get the money from the same folks it's going to, there's some measure of justice in that.

But what I'd really like to see here is the war-for-profit game ended completely. It has been relentless and endless all my life, and I do not look forward to having it continue for the remainder.

I want to see the United States at peace during my lifetime, and all I've seen is war, and run-ups to war. Enough already!

[Louisiana1976]

33. + 1 million. And welcome to DU.

[grahamhgreen]

43. I concur:)

[whereisjustice]

48. tax the rich, the non-rich pay with their lives in these idiotic wars, the rich just get richer

[mb999]

54. They should seize a few trillion the oligarchs are holding offshore to avoid taxation

that should about cover the cost for the wars

[Rod Beauvex]

2. This needs to be on a billboard everywhere.

Everywhere.

[woo me with science]

20. +100000 Distribute this everywhere.

[smirkymonkey]

25. I second that.

[grahamhgreen]

44. 3rd

[Scuba]

3. Another indicator pointing to Ronald Reagan as the source of our miseries.

[Enthusiast]

23. That's just what I was thinking.

Republicans love misery. They think it builds character (in others).

[JaneyVee]

5. Reagan broke it.

[redstatebluegirl]

9. The Red Lines Make Money, the Blue Lines Pay With Their Lives and the Lives of Their Children.

[marym625]

10. Yep, one of those upside down blue people

I don't see there is any choice left but revolution. Just haven't a clue how to go about it.

[Dustlawyer]

24. The only way that I see out of it is to wrest control of our government from the Plutocracy.

We do that by outlawing campaign contributions and enacting Publicly Funded Federal, State, and Local Elections (PFE's). We will have to organize and protest on a massive scale, making it an American issue instead of a Republican/Democrat one. This wouldn't be easy considering what they did to OWS, especially since they are prepared. This is why they militarized the police!

[marym625]

47. makes sense

I am game.

It's time to stop talking about it and do it.

Working on something and if I can get it to work it might.help.

[Dustlawyer]

49. That would be great! I tried organizing protest to demand PFE's and end campaign contributions

For this Fall during the midterms. I wanted to have signs showing what the candidates have raised and asking them what did they have to do in return for all of that money? Wanted to have them out side local TV stations to make it low hanging fruit for reporters.
Bernie Sanders said this is his #1 issue so we finally have a national candidate who could lead the movement. This is the issue of our time and will determine if we can address climate change any time soon. It would also solve most of our problems and reverse a lot of the partisanship that has been intentionally ramped up. They know that dividing the country and having us blame each other will keep us from recognizing who is really the problem.
I stupidly thought that I could get a lot of people here at DU to help organize, spread the word, and hit the streets. All I got was crickets! I posted like a fiend, but maybe it was my approach. For whatever reason people here ignored me for the most part. I usually got a couple of people to agree, that was it.
Let me know what you have, you have got my interests piqued!

[marym625]

50. armchair activism is easy

I am sorry you got that response. I posted something the other day about doing something and not one reply.

I will for sure let you know if I am able to do this. I hope I can.

Yeah, this has to be an all out protest, forget party and think country, or nothing will change

[olegramps]

59. Unfortunately, things will just get worse until there is a revolt.

[Dustlawyer]

60. I agree, but with the cops shooting unarmed

black men left and right, the new war, same as the old war, the growing inequality, Congressional gridlock and hyper partisanship, and all of the rest it seems to be growing exponentially!

[Fearless]

11. Thanks Reagan!!

[Rex]

12. The plutocracy is working perfectly for the Ownership class.

That means two extra yachts this year! We can thank Reagan for destroying decades of growth of the middle class, for making sure the wealthy have the game rigged in their favor.

[ladjf]

13. The data presented on this chart is the most important piece of information in existence for .

Americans It takes no rocket scientist to understand that this trend is NOT sustainable.

Who is going to take the first effective steps to reverse it? And how will it be done?

If this condition is simply ignored until the laws of physics step in, it will be far too late for life on Earth.


My guess is that 90% of America's adult population understands the gravity of the problem. But, I'm afraid that most see the situation as too far gone to be able to stop it. If so, I think that they are incorrect. This trend could be reversed before it's too late.

[99th_Monkey]

22. I'm not convinced that 90% really understands, thanks to our M$M

The same M$M that is a wholly owned subsidiary of our 1% Oligarchs.

If you want evidence of this, look no further than the recent run-up to
bombing Syria & Iraq, and how public opinion was hyped to deliberately
spike in favor of war, by talking heads beating war drums 23/7 about
how scary and invincible the dreaded ISIS really is. All within the span
of a few weeks. <--THIS is what is scary to me.

OR you might remember a movement called Occupy Wall Street, that
was dedicated to getting the message out, about income & wealth
inequality, and how that message was distorted and tamped down by
the same M$M, and then the Boys in Blue came to finish the job.

I think Chris Hedges is correct in his assessment that "they" have already
"won": they have all the treasure and all the guns, and have successfully
"hired 1/2 of the workers to kill the other half", to quote Railroad tycoon
Jay Gould:

[ladjf]

58. Your description of the situation is accurate in my opinion.

Regarding my 90% figure, it was just a whimsical guess and certainly could be way off.

[pansypoo53219]

16. jeez. look at GWASSHATS numbers.

and what did we get for his tax cuts for the top? when will the gnewz give up pimping for tinkle down????

[Dont call me Shirley]

17. We have got to start learning how to get along with each other.

We must start teaching our children that war and killing is always the wrong action!

We need to begin teaching our children that withholding resources from another is stealing, and stealing is always a wrong action.

We must teach our children effective non-violent conflict resolution.

We must begin now to restructure our society away from a pyramid shape to a horizontally equilateral structure.

We must let go of our own hatreds and prejudices, put in their places cooperation and kindness.

[Android3.14]

18. The trend is obvious, but

I notice that from 2009-2012 the top 10% received close to 120 percent of the distribution of wealth. That's like giving 12 slices of pie from a 10-slice pie.

In her published document, there is a slightly different chart.
https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/shared/round_table_discussion-pavlina_tcherneva.pdf

It looks like this originally came from a MotherJones blog. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/09/rich-are-getting-richer-part-millionth
Which Kevin Drum wrote.

I also noticed that the reference to the source misspells the word "calculations".

It's just a little loosey-goosey.

[stage left]

19. K&R

for the depressing truth.

[Romulox]

21. Remember back in 2009, when the President came out an argued for Wall Street bonuses to be paid

out of government bailout money? While "main street" was left to fend for itself?

This is the result of all of that.

[Louisiana1976]

35. Right on!

[YOHABLO]

55. Yes and many were foreclosed upon .. where was their bail out?

[smirkymonkey]

27. K&R!

depressing and disgusting.

[Initech]

30. Ronald Reagan - the worst mistake we ever made in this country.

Nearly all of our economic woes can be traced back to him in some way.

[merrily]

31. Hard to know why the break during the Clinton administration, when

Clinton ended "welfare as we know it."

[Skidmore]

37. The 90s were the bubble to incomes of

the 99% to entice people to invest their retirement monies in the stock market. We were seeded startup funds then for a period of time. After a bit, the new and uneducated investors in the market began to be fleeced. Bill Clinton sold the worker out in many ways. If you were savvy and thrifty, you were able to set aside money. Most were not.

[Louisiana1976]

36. America needs a socialist government. Under socialism the plutocracy would be taxed into

nonexistence.

[liberal_at_heart]

39. +1

[mb999]

53. Americans have such an irrational fear of socialism

[AZ Progressive]

57. Americans were brainwashed, most don't even know the history of the Roosevelts

[AZ Progressive]

56. FDR's progressive tax system taxed the plutocracy out of existence

That's one of the biggest reasons why we had a middle class prosperity for decades (other than WWII), because business owners, unable to hoard the profits for themselves (otherwise they would be punished by a tax rate of up to 91%) would instead reinvest the profits back into the business, including hiring people. Look at what happened when Reagan dismantled the tax rate system that America had for decades, the plutocracy was resurrected.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

38. See that increase for us under Clinton?

Republicans call that time "eight years of hell".

[TBF]

40. If anyone doubts this went into overdrive w/Reagan -

they can't read.

[JHB]

41. Tax bracket distribution chart

Not the rates, just where the brackets fall, adjusted to 2013 dollars.

Unsurprisingly, as inflation squeezed the distribution downward,* there was never much effort in recent times to reset the bar back into the high zones where it once reached.

*Starting in the 80s, the brackets became indexed for inflation. But everything is built off the 1987 Reagan cuts.

[tk2kewl]

46. the siphon up economy

nt

[AzDar]

51. K & R & ...

[mb999]

52. We have an economy that doesn't even exist for us

It's becoming useless except for the few. The plutocraps ill gotten wealth needs to be confiscated and redistributed back to the people. This can be done thorough increased taxation of the plutocracy to pay for the expansion of social programs and increasing wages and expanding the influence of labor unions.

[woo me with science]

61. K&R Keep distributing this,

along with lists of the bipartisan behavior that caused it.

[bigwillq]

62. This is the big issue with this country/government.

K and R

[world wide wally]

63. There is no limit to greed

[woo me with science]

64. kick