top 1% vs bottom 50% (US wealth)

Discussion in 'Economics' started by richardyu301, Mar 3, 2006.

  1. jim c

    jim c

    I dont think its anyones objective..its just economics. Look at the thousands of people flooding in from Mexico everyday. This is also making the world more flat. This alone will and is bringing down wages in the US. I love your side of the argument and I wish we could do something about it but the reality is there is very little we can do. I hate to say it again but it boils down to economics and to a certain degree greed. I sorta have a "if u cant beet em join em " attitude. Lets look at reality and do what we can to protect ourselves and our family. I have a daughter thats only 5 months old. Believe me i think about what your saying all the time but, lets go with the trend instead of against it. have a great weekend. jim
     
    #21     Mar 3, 2006
  2. fhl

    fhl

    dddooo,
    Ever heard of the nasdaq stock market? Take a look at the top stocks and see who they are. Companies like mrvl,brcm,aapl,rimm,goog. This is what americans are investing in. How can I say that?-Because they are the top stocks! Could it be that the reason most of the sales of the high margin products of these types of companies is in the US is because that is exactly where you would expect them to be? Bangledeshis don't have much use for them. They are making socks! They don't have the money to purchase them.
     
    #22     Mar 3, 2006
  3. The world is certainly going flat (as Thomas L. Friedman has indicated in his exceptional book). And it does have good points in regards to boosting other countries' economic standing.

    The transformation just seems to be happening very fast, and I wonder if recklessly. I just hope that the effect of these policies are very well considered for the long term and not instant economic gratification as it appears to be. There's a vast paradigm shift happening and I wonder if it won't flatten us, a little, as well as the world.
     
    #23     Mar 3, 2006
  4. The problem is not with the americans whose income is derived from investing, the problem is with the remaining 95% of the country who work for a living. They are known as american middle class, they are the ones who are able to buy all those high-tech products because american companies pay them good american wages.

    But american companies don't want to pay them american wages no more, they want to pay slave wages to the Bangladeshis instead. The more companies move overseas, the more american blue and white collar jobs are outsourced to India and China, the less americans will be able to afford, the sooner this country's middle class will disappear and the sooner this country will be exactly like Bangladesh.

    Don't make any mistake about it, when the world is truly flat countries are not going to be like the US or Canada, they are all going to be like Bangladesh. You've been warned. I agree with Jim's suggestion above, if you can't beat them - join them. Your chances will be about 5% to become super rich and 95% to become dirt poor. Good luck.
     
    #24     Mar 3, 2006
  5. First off, all of these products are only DESIGNED in the US. Most of the components and the manufacturing takes place in China, etc.

    Free trade was never intended to be funded by American IB's. They justify free trade in the media based on the original concept which has been perverted by modern technology, mainly the internet. Free trade is about countries producing what they can "most efficiently". Our corporations are screwing this country over in a wholesale fashion. Moving entire industries to China & India is not free trade. I would argue that Americans are not really seeing the benefits either. Many products that used to be manufactured in the US, and now in China, are no cheaper, yet they are being produced for 50 - 75% less than before. The companies are pocketing all of the extra profit. Free trade concepts were based on advanced countries such as the US moving to a service economy. But they are simultaneously moving that to India, and it will increase sharply in the coming years. We are only just starting the outsourcing. We are being hung out to dry, and time will prove me right.
     
    #25     Mar 3, 2006
  6. I wish for the population's sake that those odds were actually that good.
     
    #26     Mar 3, 2006
  7. So our "service economy" is producing accountants to help us figure out our taxes and lawyers to sue each other with - services that we don't export so we can't fix our trade deficits.

    But then, deficits don't matter anymore someone said. Remember that next time your credit card bill or mortgage payment comes due.

    The way the CEO's and politicians are grabbing with both hands, it's almost like they are stuffing their faces at the dinner table, knowing the check is coming due and no one has the money to pay, so fatten up as much as possible before it's too late....

    :p
     
    #27     Mar 3, 2006
  8. Bullshit!
    The top 1% have better means available to them in order to "legally" minimize their taxes, in some cases to extraordinarily small amounts.
     
    #28     Mar 3, 2006
  9. Trading is our only hope.
     
    #29     Mar 3, 2006
  10. There is no middle class without the "government getting involved". True laissez-faire is indistinguishable from feudalism for 90% of the population.
     
    #30     Mar 3, 2006