22 Facts That Prove That The Bottom 90 Percent Of America Is Systematically Getting Poorer – BlackListedNews.com

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer….is not just a saying anymore!

 

22 Facts That Prove That The Bottom 90 Percent Of America Is Systematically Getting Poorer – BlackListedNews.com.


Republicans Must Bridge the Income Gap – NYTimes.com

This is where the GOP can start winning in national elections……but will they actually start showing concern for the disappearing middle class?

 

Republicans Must Bridge the Income Gap – NYTimes.com.


Let Them Eat Cake

From the VOMITORIUM

Both party loyal have a position on poverty and how we can pull ourselves up and finally live the American Dream….one thinks tax cuts will eliminate the poor and the other thinks that throwing money away will do it……both are delusional.  First, we have had a generation of some sort of tax cuts and the poor are just as poor as they were when it started……second, we have had a wealth of programs and government give aways to put the poor on the right trajectory out of poverty, and the poor are still as poor as they were…..none of these short sighted short term plans is going to eliminate the poor.

But we can point to all the months of economic growth, as small as it is, but it is still growth and that is traveling in the right direction, right?  Put all this Democratic good news and campaign fodder and the gloom and doom of the GOP into a sort of perspective……how are the ‘real’ American people really doing?

This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to be too broke to file for bankruptcy.

The average cost to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, the most common form of consumer bankruptcy, is more than $1,500, according to recent research submitted to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

As a result, anywhere between 200,000 and one million consumers are estimated to be unable to afford that steep cost this year.

Read More…

So many Americans cannot afford to even file for bankruptcy…..what sort of sign is that?  If lower and middle class are having a problem, what about the poor (this assumes that there are those worse off than the middle class)?

From an article by Alexander Eichler writing in the HufPo…….

It’s getting harder for poor Americans to lift themselves up.

Don’t believe it? The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has some pretty compelling evidence.

Between 1996 and 2006, most Americans in the bottom 20 percent of earners never moved up the income ladder, according to a recent research brief by Katharine Bradbury, an economist at the Boston Fed.

Moreover, she writes, it was harder for people to lift themselves up off the bottom in those Clinton-Bush years than it was in the decade from 1976 to 1986, or the decade from 1986 to 1996.

In other words, the data suggests, America’s not the land of opportunity anymore. Instead, it’s become the land of stasis.

Bradbury’s not the first to suggest that the U.S. is increasingly a country where the poor stay poor. Income inequality is at its highest level in decades, and repeated studies have shown that it’s harder to achieve economic mobility in America than in other wealthy, industrialized countries.

A record number of Americans are living in poverty, according to the most recent census, and nearly half of households are believed to have almost nothing in the way of meaningful savings. The problems don’t look to be abating any time soon; wages have more or less frozen in place for many Americans.

With all these facts and stats (which I will assume will be challenged) what conclusion can we draw about the path the two parties are traveling……..will Americans, especially poor Americans, ever find that American Dream?


Poverty, American Style

We long haired hippie leftists have been telling the American people that their acquiescence on the political side of life was going to bring them nothing but pain and poverty…..and for the longest time we long haired hippies have been told that we were alarmists……I have one question…….can you hear us now?

I know my readers are getting tired of all gloom and doom about the economy and especially the Middle Class…..but I will not apologize…..I see the chance of the Middle Class disappearing completely and the possibility that it could never return….I have given lots of links and such to inform my reader and I will continue to do so……like today….I found more info on the economy and the Middle Class that is under attack……this time from Braden Goyette of ProPublica…….I know it is a lot of info, but the more you have the better your writings…….

Americans below the poverty line in 2010: 46.2 million

Official U.S. poverty rate in 2007, before the recession: 12.5 percent

Poverty rate in 2009: 14.3 percent

Poverty rate in 2010: 15.1 percent

Last time the poverty level was this high: 1993

Poverty line in 2010: $22,314 for a family of four, or $11,139 for an individual

Rough amount the poor are living on per week: $200 or less

Poverty rate in American suburbs: 11.8 percent, the highest since 1967

Percentage of the population making less than half the poverty line in 2010: 6.7 percent

Percentage of the population making less than half the poverty line in 2007, before the recession: 5.2 percent

Poverty rate for white Americans in 2010: 13 percent

Poverty rate for African-Americans in 2010: 27.4 percent

Real median household income in 2010: $49,445

Decline in median household income since 2009: 2.3 percent

Decline in median household income since before the recession: 6.4 percent

The last time median household incomes have been this low: 1996

Real median household income in 1999, in 2010 dollars: $53,252

Median income for full-time male workers in 2010: $47,715

Median income for full-time male workers in 1973, in 2010 dollars: $49,065

Official unemployment rate in August 2011: 9.1 percent

Total unemployed people in August: 14 million

People who were employed part-time for economic reasons in August 2011: 8.8 million

People not counted in the labor force who wanted work: 2.6 million

Net jobs created in August 2011: 0

Long-term unemployed people as of August 2011: 6 million

Unemployed workers per job opening as of July 2011: 4.34 (3.2 million openings and 13.9 million unemployed people)

Uninsured Americans in 2010: 49.9 million

Percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2010: 16.3 percent

Percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2007, before the recession: 15.3 percent

Percentage of children who were uninsured in 2010: 9.8 percent

Percentage of children in poverty who were uninsured in 2010: 15.4 percent

Percentage of American households that had enough to eat throughout the year in 2007: 88.9 percent

Percentage of American households that had enough to eat throughout the year in 2010: 85.5 percent

It is time for the American people to get INVOLVED!  Are you proud of the direction that your elected officials are taking our country?  If not, then get to writing, phoning, texting, tweeting, whatever……get INVOLVED or lose your country…FOR GOOD!


Waiting For The End

When I came up with the title I immediately thought of the Doors……

Before I go on….over the weekend I heard Sen. McConnell when criticizing Obama’s new proposal, he said….”Tax on billionaires?  Who thinks this is a good idea”….I wished I would have been there in person for I would have said…..EVERYONE but the cowards in Congress!

Okay now to the meat of the post…….I know some will say that I am harping on the premise that the Middle Class is disappearing….I posted much on the subject….but this time I ran across an article that puts it all in perspective…..warning!  It is a long piece with many links……but if you want proof of the assertion then please read the article and the facts and then tell me that I am over-reacting……

http://bit.ly/nBMAUU

Like I have said….lots of info to digest….but the end is coming……and unless we, the American people, do something drastic then you can kiss the Middle Class….GOODBYE!


Is The Working Class Disappearing–Revisited

For decades we old fart leftists have been warning the workers of the US to watch their backs and all that time we were being silly and unrealistic….how do you feel now?

First of all the Middle Class is the Working Class for it is they that create all products and wealth….so if speaking about the Working Class makes you uncomfortable….then by all means call them what they are…The Middle Class!

I know….some will say that I harp a bit…..others will say that I am fixated on the Middle Class/Working Class….well that part is true….even the cowards in Congress will acknowledge the importance of the Middle Class…..both sides have very different ideas that , they say, will strengthen the Middle Class….but the truth is that neither side is doing anything to save the middle class….quite the opposite.

And because of their non-actions the middle class is slowly disappearing….I know I have said this all before…..and I know….NO ONE is listening…especially the cowards we have elected…..amd thanx to Michael Synder of blacklistednews.com…..he has saved me a ton to research…..I know…you want proof!

#1 In 1980, 52 percent of all jobs in the United States were middle income jobs.  Today, only 42 percent of all jobs are middle income jobs.

#2 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs.  Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

#3 Only 63.5 percent of all men in the United States had a job last month. According to Bloomberg, that figure is “just slightly above the December 2009 nadir of 63.3%. These are the lowest numbers since 1948.”

#4 In 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job.  Last month, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.

#5 According to one recent survey, 64 percent of Americans would be forced to borrow money if they had an unexpected expense of $1000.

#6 The wealthiest 1% of all Americans now control 40 percent of all the wealth in this country.

#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now control just 2.5% of all the wealth in this country.

#8 The wealthiest 1% of all Americans now own over 50% of all the stocks and bonds.

#9 According to the Washington Post, the average yearly income of the bottom 90 percent of all U.S. income earners is just $31,244.

#10 The average yearly income of the top 0.1% of all U.S. income earners is 5.6 million dollars.

#11 Between 1969 and 2009, the median wages earned by American men between the ages of 30 and 50 dropped by 27 percent after you account for inflation.

#12Only the top 5 percent of all U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

#13 During this economic downturn, employee compensation in the United States has been the lowest that it has been relative to gross domestic productin over 50 years.

#14 According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980.  Today they account for approximately 16.3%.

#15 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.

#16 There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million people to the population since then.

#17 Since the year 2000, we have lost approximately 10% of our middle class jobs.  In the year 2000 there were about 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.

#18 The competition for even the most basic jobs has become absolutely brutal.  Approximately 7 percent of all those that apply to get into Harvard are accepted.  At a recent “National Hiring Day” held by McDonald’s only about 6.2 percent of the one million Americans that applied for a job were hired.

#19 It now takes the average unemployed worker in America about 40 weeksto find a new job.

#20 According to a report released in February from the National Employment Law Project, higher wage industries are accounting for 40 percent of the job losses in America but only 14 percent of the job growth.  Lower wage industries are accounting for just 23 percent of the job losses but 49 percent of the job growth.

#21 Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.

#22 The cost of college tuition in the United States has gone up by over 900 percent since 1978.

#23 In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors andmore than 317,000 waiters and waitresses that have college degrees.

#2417 million college graduates are doing jobs that do not even require a college degree.

#25 According to one recent survey, 36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything at all to retirement savings.

#26 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.  Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.

#27 As 2007 began, there were 26 million Americans on food stamps.  Today, there are more than 45 million Americans on food stamps, which is a new all-time record.

#28 The number of Americans on food stamps has increased 74% since 2007.

#29 Today, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#30 In 1980, just 11.7% of all personal income came from government transfer payments.  Today, 18.4% of all personal income comes from government transfer payments.

#31 The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006.

#32One out of every six elderly Americans now lives below the federal poverty line.

#33 In the United States, over 20 percent of all children are now living in poverty.  In the UK and in France that figure is well under 10 percent.

#34 According to the Federal Reserve, the richest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.

As they say…”the proof is in the pudding”…….so use these pages to find out the truth….the Middle Class is disappearing and if you are unfortunate enough to be a part of it…..then future is not looking as bright as it was back in 1980…..and there is more news on this situation……

Downward mobility is rampant in the US, with a third of Americans who grew up in the middle class falling out of it as adults, according to a new Pew Study (pdf). “A middle-class upbringing does not guarantee the same status over the course of a lifetime,” the report reads. Those who weren’t married, hadn’t gotten a college degree, or used drugs were especially likely to fall down the income ladder, the Washington Post observes. The report focused on people who were 39-44 years old between 2004 and 2006, meaning it doesn’t take into account any post-financial crisis hardships. It defined middle-class as between the 30th and 70th percentile in income distribution. Looking along race and gender lines, researchers found that black men were twice as likely as white to be downwardly mobile, with nearly 40% falling. There was no similar gap between white and Hispanic men, or between women of different races.

And then there is this analysis from American Dream………

Sorry to break this to you, but the future for most Americans is going to be pretty crappy.  Unless you are independently wealthy, the chances are good that you will have a low paying job, that you will be drowning in a sea of bad debts and that you will have to go on government assistance at some point.  Most American families are completely dependent on their jobs for income, and right now good jobs are disappearing at a frightening pace.  Over the last couple of decades, millions of high paying manufacturing jobs have been shipped out of the country and they are being replaced by low paying service jobs.  Small business creation is being absolutely crushed by the federal government, and millions of illegal immigrants have been allowed in to the country and they are now competing for the limited number of jobs that are still available.  The vast majority of the money and the vast majority of the power in this country are now in the hands of either the big corporations or the government.  Together, the big corporations and the government are absolutely crushing everyone else.  If you are not part of the “privileged class”, there is a good chance that your job is serving them.  Perhaps you are bringing them lunch or cutting their hair or stocking shelves for them. Once upon a time, America was “the land of opportunity”, but now that has all changed.  Tomorrow morning, millions of Americans will get up and go to pathetic, low paying jobs and millions of others will wonder why they can’t find anyone to hire them.  Sadly, if nothing is done to reverse the long-term trends that are destroying our economy, the number of “working poor” is going to continue to increase.

And yet there are those that do not see an attack on the Middle Class or that there is any danger of it disappearing……and yes….you were warned but you chose to turn a deaf ear…………If you do not fight, then you will lose………Are there any thoughts now?

please…..WILL YOU LISTEN NOW!


Are Things As Bad As They Seem?

The partisanship…..the extremism……lack of respect…….the out right lies…….the misinformation (and yes, it is different from lies)…….and it all comes down to the American voter….YOU voted for morons and now you are paying the price for that vote…..I know, what could be so bad we might get lower taxes and balanced budget and spending controls….what could be so bad?

Glad you asked!  While you were bobbing and weaving through the political shit slinging….the middle class suffers…….while you were thumping your chest about “Obamacare” or Planned Parenthood or NPR…..while you were being lead down a alternative road, which by the way, has NO place to go…it is a DEAD END!……the working class is being attacked and systematically being wipe out…..Where’s my proof of what I say?

Sorry to say, next year it may all get worse……(but that is another post….coming soon)…….

BLN.com writer Micheal Synder has a really good look at this situation……..

#1 Only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now.

#2 Only 56 percent of Americans are currently covered by employer-provided health insurance.

#3 The median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261.

#4 The average American household is carrying $75,600 in debt.

#5Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

#6 At this point, American families are approximately 7.7 trillion dollars poorer than they were back in early 2007.

#7 The poorest 50% of all Americans now own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.

#8 According to one study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010.

#9 Today, there are more than 44 million Americans on food stamps, and nearly half of them are children.

#10According to Newsweek, close to 20 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 54 do not have a job at the moment.

Not one of those points shows that the Middle Class will ever recovery….this whole situation is making a two class system….”haves and have nots”  (sorry, but it is a good term)……..

In closing, something to think about…….under Pelosi the House introduced 200+ bills..,..under the leadership of Boehner it has issued 12….even if they work the asses off the Reps….the best it could do is about 50….remind me again what we pay these guys and gals to do!


Is There A Serfdom In Our Future?

Weiner’s weiner is gone!  Can we now return to the act of running a country into the ground?

Do you remember your history lessons?  Remember the term serf?  Let me help your memory a bit…..a serf is the lowest individual of society that is required to perform labor in return for certain legal or customary rights or a person in bondage or servitude.  I bring all this up….why?

The way the economy is going with all the greed and deceit that corporations are using on the average person…we could be looking at an updated form of serfdom.  In short, we are once again becoming peasants.  And now I bet that you are asking just what am I going on about, right?

How about a simple definition of indentured servitude…….servants could not marry without the permission of their owner, were subject to physical punishment, and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts. To ensure uninterrupted work by the female servants, the law lengthened the term of their indenture if they became pregnant. But unlike slaves, servants could look forward to a release from bondage. If they survived their period of labor, servants would receive a payment known as “freedom dues” and become free members of society.   One could buy and sell indentured servants’ contracts, and the right to their labor would change hands, but not the person as a piece of property.  (Does that silly to you as it does to me?)

Basically, it is more acceptable form of slavery!

Think not?  Today we have massive debates about marriage, who can and cannot do the deed…..we have legislation that is making it difficult for workers to get a fair shake from corporations and governments…..courts are siding with the special interests over the needs and desires of the people, especially the working majority…..we see women looked upon as the lower end of the worker population…..and finally we have the takeovers of one company over another and the workers used as a bargaining chip….workers at the mercy of capital and greed…..

There is even a push to repeal child labor laws……

business trade associations, employer groups, reactionary
Republican politicians and Tea Party activists to urge severe weakening of
the state laws, and, ultimately, of the federal law. They agree with Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas that the child labor laws are unconstitutional
for a variety of obscure legal reasons. They’ve begun their legal attacks on
state laws with the laws in Maine and Missouri.

Basically, we have a growing updated form of serfdom and indentured servitude….and thanx to the Congress and the politicians it will continue to get worse for the worker……and eventually…our children.  I realize that it is a bit of a stretch but look at the economy and the jobs picture in the US or the GOP and its attacks on the working class or the Middle class,  if you prefer……the worker is becoming a tool of diminishing value or a serf……

I know that there will be people who think is fantasy and just a shot at capitalism……Well, I guess it is…in a way…..But just in case you do not see the working class disappearing….take a look at this Business Insider website…..

Without an abundance of good jobs, the middle class in the United States is going to shrivel up and die.  Right now, rampant unemployment is absolutely killing communities all over America.

Click here to see the signs >

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/end-of-the-middle-class-2011-7#ixzz1STQ7Ofgc
The economy and the economic situation is not looking good for those in the working class or the middle class, if you will……it is NOT too late, but that deadline is quickly approaching….

The Ever Present….”US”!

Holy crap!  Is it just me or is the use of the word “us” getting to be a bit much and awfully irritating?  The media is full of people that know what the “us” want or need…..they are full of the compassion for the middle class and the working “man”….if all that is true and I doubt that any of it is genuine, then why is the middle class disappearing and the bloat politicians in Washington are aiding in the destruction of the middle class?

You know where I am coming from on this….you all have heard the excessive use of “us” and “the people” and “Main Street America” and that is a good thing if they get off their collective butts and actually do something about the deterioration….but they DO NOTHING!  They stroll up to the nearest microphone and make their day’s talking points issued by which ever party they pretend to represent…..it is all so much double speak….yes Irene….they LIE…..if they were telling the truth more would be done to control the events that are eating up the middle class and turning them basically into “indentured servants”.

We as a collective body keep voting for the richest, most insincere individuals…that say whatever it takes to get you to the polls and vote….they blow smoke up the butts of the electorate knowing good damn well that they have NO intention of changing things…..their sole purpose is to make enough noise so that the media fixates on them which in turn heightens their street cred back home….and all the while homes are lost, jobs are lost and people go hungry……and then we cannot understand why Washington is so dysfunctional…..

YOU……I say that again….YOU….are responsible for the condition of American politics and the condition of the economy that is nibbling at your ass….that is right…YOU are responsible….makes NO difference if you think you are a Repub or a Dem….they both are humping you…..and humping HARD….and what do you do?  Smile and vote for the con men over and over….why?  YOU are afraid of real change!  You listen to the spam bots that keep you shivering under your kitchen table….you allow them to tell you what you want to hear and NEVER demand information that you NEED to hear……

And yes….I know this is falling on deaf ears…..but someone had to say it!  If want the country to improve then find a way to remove the bloated, self-absorbed people that you now have representing you….you CANNOT win the battle of life with these people at the command positions…..it is that SIMPLE!

And please…you Dems STOP calling yourselves Progressive…you are NOT!


The GOP’s Man Crush

By now we ALL have heard about the doings in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, to mention a few……if not then there is a rush by GOP governors to attack public employees and their unions….it seems to these types all the budget problems and shortfalls are ALL the fault of public employees and the unions……It seems that the GOP is still trying to negate ALL progress of workers that started back in the 1940′s………..conservs make it sound as if the public employees have somehow stolen their benefits….utter and total BS!

I am still waiting for these governors to focus on one of their major points that helped them win a large percentage of the vote….that point is…the creation of jobs…..somehow lower corporate taxes will create jobs….it has NOT in my state, which has some of the lowest in the country, and have been promised great prosperity will come with lower taxes….not so in the last 50 years…..nowhere have these elected officials created a job and their points they are pushing like furloughs, dismissals, etc….will create NO jobs  but will create a rise in unemployment….keep in mind you mental midgets voted for these people….are you pleased with your choices?

Anyway back to the man crush thing…….The darling of ALL conservs, Gov. Cristie of New Jersey today on MSNBC (which has a major man crush on this guy)…..Christie talked about the stuff he is doing in New Jersey he said that….”the unions were destroying thew Middle Class and that by pursuing them he was going to strengthen the Middle Class….(this is a paraphrase)……and of course Morning Joe was so9 pleased to hear that the public employees would be attacked that he could barely contain himself (after all he is a conserv and as such sees the evils behind unions)…….but after hearing his little mindless diatribe I have to ask……..

Just how are unions destroying the middle class, governor?  How would weakening or eliminating unions strengthen the middle class?

Since thanx to the work of unions, the middle class prospered and gave working people the opportunity to advance their standing in society…Thanx to the work of unions Americans were given the chance to live the American dream…Just how would Christie and his comrades strengthen the middle class?

These GOP governors are pursuing an agenda that they kept from the voter during the campaign….this is NOT unusual….but you would think that the American voter would be smarter by now……(pause here for raucous laughter)…….


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