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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Why do you think those who believe there won't be a depression are republican? I'm a flaming liberal. But I won't take a position on an issue merely to make the republican administration look bad. Regardless of your party, you should think about the issue, not what you think your party expects you to believe. I don't know or care what Rush Limbaugh thinks. This isn't about partisan politics. This is about economics 101. Read the book and you'll understand the true causes of recession.
Well from seeing the posts here, I'd say we are in even bigger trouble than I thought. The whole idea of keeping an economy going by continuing over consumption and not saving is just going to make the problem worse.
People in the U.S. continue more than anyone in the world. Consumers continue to buy stuff they don't need and can't afford.
Then throw it in the dump and buy more, thus causing much COSTS to the environment.
The best economic times this country has experience is when progressives were in charge. Every time the republicans have taken charge after their deregulation and privatization we have more fraud and economic folly, which causing a bigger divide between rich and poor.
1. Don't buy anything buy unless you have the cash to purchase it.
2. Get rid if you gas guzzling SUV, and buy a smaller hybred car, and walk whenyou can or taekpublic transportation.
3. Say no to your kids and stop buying them so many toys and junk. Have a small family birthday party instead of an extravaganza. Put the money save into a college fund.
4.Shut off all the lights wen you leave the room, lower you heat temp.
5. Buy a house you can afford.
Poor Family,
You situation is a bad one and I believe one to be a extremely rare. I know you probably see it all around you, but that doesn't make it the norm. Here is a link for food banks in Alabama:
http://www.alfoodbanks.org/
These are good people who want to help and can help in all kinds of ways, give them a call. If for some reason they can not come to help, let me know. I come into Alabama twice a year and I personally will make a special effort to get you some needed help.
If others on here want to help "Poor Family" contact me as well, I will be happy to coordinate an effort to help you out.
By the way, the 600 a month your boyfriend is earning is super low, below the minimum wage as well. You need to contact the state.
What can I do if my employer is not paying the minimum wage?
If your employer is not paying you at least the minimum wage for all hours worked, you can contact Labor Standards at (651) 284-5005 or 1-800-DIAL-DLI and file a complaint. Labor Standards will review your complaint and determine what action needs to be taken.
I hope this helps, but let me know how we can help.
Hey Bernbart, what do you do for a living? Whatever it is, you rely on customers for your income right? What if, in the name of saving money, we all stopped buying your product or service? Is that the solution you're proposing?
I can't help but ask, are you joking? No, seriously, are you trying to be funny? I think your post must just me a hoax, right? Or are you purposely trying to undermine the ecomony? Or are you just hopelessly clueless? Wow.
Can someone please strike up a tune on the afterdeck? I'll be there with my last Cubano and a $3000 bottle of wine.
Most of the comments in response to this article boil down to "we're f*cked and thank goodness because folks will wake up when the world-as-we-know-it fails. Once we're all poor we'll finally reclaim our democracy and take what's ours from the wealthy."
No wonder so-called liberals don't win elected office very often. This is such a negative, class-warfare PoV.
Such a shame since many liberal values have created so much wealth and prosperity.
Dear Lynx,
You wrote:
"Heck, square_n_level doesn't even understand the concept of "income". With people like these, how can you have a conversation? They lack the basic education and understanding necessary to move beyond "but Limbaugh said so!""
Here's your homework assignment, Lynx: look at the front of Form 1040 (yes, the tax return). Now, find line 13. This is the spot where your reconciled Schedule D Capital Gains and Losses enter in to your INCOME. Some of these are taxed today at reduced rates (some not), but it is still INCOME which adds to your Adjusted Gross INCOME. If you sell anything for a capital gain, and you do not have offsetting capital losses, you will required to pay INCOME tax at a percentage of the amount of the recognized capital gain. Hopefully that's not confusing for you. Capital gains is INCOME for taxation purposes, with a reduced rate (today).
But here's the point (with an example) for our better-educated readers: Michael Eisner's 1997 sale of $570M of stock options. Back out his stock options, and his salary for the year was $750,000. A lot of money - no question. So my point is simply that stock option exercises and sales are the lion's share of the rich/poor income disparity people complain about. I would think that everybody knows this by now.
The wealth disparity is a different discussion. People at all levels simply need to live within their means. It's not hard to point out the oversized SUVs, houses, and living-large vacations that drive a lot of the debt out today. A Fed governor has stated that people "used their houses as ATM machines" and we all know where that money went (hint: it wasn't buy groceries).
Great article. You covered a lot of ground both historically and currently. None of the guys in that top 1% want to truly accept the fact that they're saying to the average American: "Let them eat cake!" My question is, if that top 1% abandons the rest of us, at some point won't they run out of avenues to continue to earn their billions? Who will be their customer base or will they simply turn on one another and eventually cannibalize the entire economic system? The economic problems here are reverberating across the entire global economy. It would be nice if a group of responsible, knowledgeable and connected people decided that we had damn well better reign in the marauders of Wall Street and create a real banking oversight unit outside of the Federal Reserve that is a private entity and not an arm of the government. If not, the future looks dim.
Side Note: The underpining of this economic climate began on the Great Communicator's watch with deregulation.
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