Posted by Aquarius on December 11, 2011, at 14:14:09
In reply to The top 1%, posted by Dinah on November 10, 2011, at 10:02:14
I'm not sure how an OBGYN salary like that could be much of an issue. They have high malpractice insurance to pay, so their net earnings may be much less. Maybe it's getting out of control, and rage is contagious.
CHARTS: Here's What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About...
"The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation's history, and unemployment has reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression. And, at the same time, corporate profits are at a record high."
Take a look at some of the charts:
- AFTER ADJUSTING FOR INFLATION, AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS HAVEN'T INCREASED IN 50 YEARS.
- CEO PAY HAS SKYROCKED 300% SINCE 1990. CORPORATE PROFITS HAVE DOUBLED. VERAGE "PRODUCTION
WORKER" PAY HAS INCREASED 4%. THE MINIMUM WAGE HAS DROPPED. (ALL NUMBERS ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION).Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10##ixzz1gG3s88Au
The fact is, corporate earnings have hit record highs, while workers' wages have declined, while prices go up. This has creeped slowly since the 1990s. If it was abrupt, there might be more attention to this. I'm not sure if people realized it, or attempted to learn about it, until recently.
And republicans feed the myth "the poor don't pay taxes". That is a myth. For federal income taxes, yes; but overall, no. This is just one sample:
"Measured as a share of family income, Californias lowest-income families pay the most
in taxes. The bottom fifth of the states non-elderly families, with an average income of
$12,600, spent 11.1 percent of their income on state and local taxes.1 In comparison, the
wealthiest 1 percent, with an average income of $2.3 million, spent 7.8 percent of their
income on state and local taxes."http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2011/110412_Who_Pays_Taxes.pdf
I don't live in California, but this is true for me too. Tax RATES may be somewhat higher for the wealthiest, but what they ACTUALLY pay is often much lower. People can't compare RATES and get the picture. What is actually paid is the fact.
This is happening everywhere:
"A number of research reports have documented the rise in corporate profits and decline in
the share of national income accounted for by wages and salaries. Between 2001 and 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, the total adjusted gross income of Californias personal income taxpayers increased by 16.5 percent. In contrast, the net profits reported by corporations for California tax purposes nearly tripled, rising by 192.0 percent."But some wages, such as my own, are the same as they were decades ago, as you can see in those charts. The OBGYN in this example, might pay a medical administrative worker $10 an hour-which is likely close to the wage of that worker decades ago.
But anger is not the answer. But curse words are not the evil here-they may not be pretty, but they are merely words. It's actions that truly hurt people.
Everyone should be concerned about this, wealthy or not. It also concerns me that consumer spending from the 99%, how it impacts the economy, is being ignored.
poster:Aquarius
thread:1002133
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20110926/msgs/1004675.html