The state of our Economy

The true state of our economy - astounding national debt...devaluing of the dollar....NAFTA, war, etc.... What is the true state of our Economy?   It's especially concerning when you hear many of the top tier candidates sugar coat the state of the economy....do you believe them?  

Income-Inequality Gap Widens
By Greg Ip
The Wall Street Journal

Friday 12 October 2007

Boom in financial markets parallels rise in share for wealthiest Americans.
The richest Americans' share of national income has hit a postwar record, surpassing the highs reached in the 1990s bull market, and underlining the divergence of economic fortunes blamed for fueling anxiety among American workers.

The wealthiest 1% of Americans earned 21.2% of all income in 2005, according to new data from the Internal Revenue Service. That is up sharply from 19% in 2004, and surpasses the previous high of 20.8% set in 2000, at the peak of the previous bull market in stocks.

The bottom 50% earned 12.8% of all income, down from 13.4% in 2004 and a bit less than their 13% share in 2000.

The IRS data, based on a large sample of tax returns, are for "adjusted gross income," which is income after some deductions, such as for alimony and contributions to individual retirement accounts. While dated, many scholars prefer it to timelier data from other agencies because it provides details of the very richest - for example, the top 0.1% and the top 1%, not just the top 10% - and includes capital gains, an important, though volatile, source of income for the affluent.

The IRS data go back only to 1986, but academic research suggests the rich last had this high a share of total income in the 1920s.

Scholars attribute rising inequality to several factors, including technological change that favors those with more skills, and globalization and advances in communications that enlarge the rewards available to "superstar" performers whether in business, sports or entertainment.

In an interview yesterday with The Wall Street Journal, President Bush said, "First of all, our society has had income inequality for a long time. Secondly, skills gaps yield income gaps. And what needs to be done about the inequality of income is to make sure people have got good education, starting with young kids. That's why No Child Left Behind is such an important component of making sure that America is competitive in the 21st century."

Jason Furman, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and an adviser to Democratic politicians, said: "We've had a 30-year trend of increasing inequality. There was an artificial reduction in that trend following the bursting of the stock-market bubble in 2000."

The IRS data don't identify the source of increased income for the affluent, but the boom on Wall Street has likely played a part, just as the last stock boom fueled the late-1990s surge. Until this summer, soaring stock prices and buoyant credit markets had produced spectacular payouts for private-equity and hedge-fund managers, and investment bankers.

One study by University of Chicago academics Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh concludes that in 2004 there were more than twice as many such Wall Street professionals in the top 0.5% of all earners as there are executives from nonfinancial companies.

Mr. Rauh said "it's hard to escape the notion" that the rising share of income going to the very richest is, in part, "a Wall Street, financial industry-based story." The study shows that the highest-earning hedge-fund manager earned double in 2005 what the top earner made in 2003, and top 25 hedge-fund managers earned more in 2004 than the chief executives of all the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, combined. It also shows profits per equity partner at the top 100 law firms doubling between 1994 and 2004, to over $1 million in 2004 dollars.

The data highlight the political challenge facing Mr. Bush and the Republican contenders for president. They have sought to play up the strength of the economy since 2003 and low unemployment, and the role of Mr. Bush's tax cuts in both. But many Americans think the economy is in or near a recession. The IRS data show that the median tax filer's income - half earn less than the median, half earn more - fell 2% between 2000 and 2005 when adjusted for inflation, to $30,881. At the same time, the income level for the tax filer just inside the top 1% grew 3%, to $364,657.

Democrats, on the other hand, have sought to exploit angst about stagnant middle-class wages and eroding benefits in showdowns with Mr. Bush over issues such as health insurance and trade.

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What IS this hidden inflation tax I'm hearing about?

 

http://drlwilson.com/Articles/INFLATON.htm

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this is what happens when you give people earning a million dollars a year a $46,000 tax cut - more than the income of the average americans!

mudcock said: this is what happens when you give people earning a million dollars a year a $46,000 tax cut - more than the income of the average americans!

 

I'm very tired of candidates on both sides of the aisle LYING about the true state of our economy.   We cannot SUGAR coat this issue anymore.   We are in debt to Communist China...for the war.  The Federal Reserve controls us.   The entitlements given to Illegals is also bankrupting us. 

The Federal Reserve stopped printing the M3 report -so we have NO idea just how much money they are flushing into they system.  We do know that the dollar is losing value daily - why?  "IF" our economy is so good - why are the symptoms of a recession?   We know the Feds are pumping money artificially into the markets... does anyone recall Enron's method of "cooking the books"?   

IF a democrat is elected - we are done.  The Amero will be reality - you have the democrats tenacity to push for amnesty for upwards of 60M illegals - already draining our system...then she wants to give $5K for each baby born!   Let's not even MENTION universal healthcare....She's already said she's staying the course for the war....

I truly believe the establishment is pushing Hillary - they want her entitlements to push us over that edge - to "beg for the Amero".   They want the government to have control of universal healthcare....they are already pushing for the Codex - to get control of vitamins....making them prescription.

This is a huge issue for the candidates- and when I see the likes of Mitt and Fred etc - staying of the positive....it's not going to cut it.  The entitlements need to stop...the Feds need to be required to furnish the M3 report.... and somehow we need to all get on the same page to prevent Hillary from getting elected... b/c if Hillary is up against any of the top tier republicans - she's a shoe in.

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The reports Ive been reading are saying that Bush and the rest have been lying (as usual)about the rate of inflation being just 2%. It is much higher! Some experts are saying that we could be heading for stagflation,whatever that is. They have been using two sets of books for years now,and I read that if the American people ever found out what the true picture is,they would probably attack the whitehouse.I believe we are heading for a recession,or depression.I think it has all been planned out to destroy the dollar,and set us up to force the Amero on everyone.

Hillary is typical of politicians on both sides of the aisle.... they make people more dependant on the federal government and therefore their power over the people as a whole grows and the odds of that changing grow evermore long...there are a few that would try and change that but they are always dismissed as kooks by everyone else involved.

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lots of good points there Icon... I'll take the campfire and killing and catching my own food approach myself.. not interested in being branded by my government ( RFID )

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americafirst

I truly believe the establishment is pushing Hillary - they want her entitlements to push us over that edge - to "beg for the Amero".   They want the government to have control of universal healthcare....they are already pushing for the Codex - to get control of vitamins....making them prescription.

 

I have stockpiled medical supplies just for this reason, well, that and doomsday. Once Klinton gets control of healthcare, and with a Liberal majority behind her, we will either belong to her socialist agenda for a second rate medical system, or learn medical skills at home. One of her socialists ideas was that you have to belong to her government sponsered health insurance plan, when you apply for a job.

Herbs and vitimans are a good thing to stock up on, if she wins. And learn how herbs are used and prepared. I have used herbs for the common illnesses, and they do work. Antibiotics are a great thing to have onhand. Bandages, creams and ointments for various things, over the counter medicines etc.

Some people have a problem putting on a band-aid, so "AFTER" you need it is not the time to learn how to take care of yourself.

 

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Reenie said: The reports Ive been reading are saying that Bush and the rest have been lying (as usual)about the rate of inflation being just 2%. It is much higher! Some experts are saying that we could be heading for stagflation,whatever that is. They have been using two sets of books for years now,and I read that if the American people ever found out what the true picture is,they would probably attack the whitehouse.I believe we are heading for a recession,or depression.I think it has all been planned out to destroy the dollar,and set us up to force the Amero on everyone.

 

I've been saying for a year that Enron was nothing compared to what our government is doing....

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I just heard on the John Batchelor talk show that the Fed Reserve has been scrambling all weekend to get outside lenders to loan in the hundreds of billions of dollars to banks.  Looks like we're headed for a crash alright.  I've seen this coming for years.

Does anyone know about the Amero and how is that supposed to work if the dollar goes to zero cents?

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From what I can figure out, the Amero is just a step to get the currencies in line with each other, and intertwine the economies even more. Then will come a regional ID system. After that, they will figure out how to make us go cashless. And while they reap billions and billions from foreclosures and repos after the crash, we will be going broke. Now is the time to figure out how to save what wealth we have.

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Last month, I listened to former Colorado Governor Lamm speak in Washington, DC. He headed the Federation for American Immigration Reform Conference: (www.fairus.org)

His national leadership in the immigration debate illustrates his far-reaching understanding of our greatest dilemma in the early years of the 21st century. Every social ill emanates from too many people flooding into the United States beyond our capacity to sustain them or ourselves.

Few Americans understand the Faustian dilemma awaiting their children with the federal deficit now at $8.7 trillion. Mr. Bush raised the federal debt level to nearly $10 trillion. On an individual level, if you earned $50,000.00 a year, but ran up your credit card debt to $500,000.00 a year, how would you pay for your financial liability? Answer: you couldn’t. Bankruptcy becomes your only option. However, what happens when an entire country bankrupts?

The dollar’s value falls world wide. Our annual trade deficit exceeds $700 billion. Our manufacturing base vanishes with millions of U.S. jobs outsourcing overseas. Our government must borrow $2 billion daily to keep our economy afloat. Unbeknownst to most Americans, their tax dollars pay in excess of $400 million daily to pay the interest on the federal debt.

Read entire story here:

http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty302.htm

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National Debt info and counters:

http://www.uwsa.com/uwsa-usdebt.html

http://www.thisisnotathreat.com/NationalDebtvsSSI.html.html

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

Counters regarding illegal immigration - (strain on taxpayer due to entitlements etc)

http://immigrationcounters.com/

 

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americafirst said:

mudcock said: this is what happens when you give people earning a million dollars a year a $46,000 tax cut - more than the income of the average americans!

 

I'm very tired of candidates on both sides of the aisle LYING about the true state of our economy.   We cannot SUGAR coat this issue anymore.   We are in debt to Communist China...for the war.  The Federal Reserve controls us.   The entitlements given to Illegals is also bankrupting us. 

The Federal Reserve stopped printing the M3 report -so we have NO idea just how much money they are flushing into they system.  We do know that the dollar is losing value daily - why?  "IF" our economy is so good - why are the symptoms of a recession?   We know the Feds are pumping money artificially into the markets... does anyone recall Enron's method of "cooking the books"?   

IF a democrat is elected - we are done.  The Amero will be reality - you have the democrats tenacity to push for amnesty for upwards of 60M illegals - already draining our system...then she wants to give $5K for each baby born!   Let's not even MENTION universal healthcare....She's already said she's staying the course for the war....

I truly believe the establishment is pushing Hillary - they want her entitlements to push us over that edge - to "beg for the Amero".   They want the government to have control of universal healthcare....they are already pushing for the Codex - to get control of vitamins....making them prescription.

This is a huge issue for the candidates- and when I see the likes of Mitt and Fred etc - staying of the positive....it's not going to cut it.  The entitlements need to stop...the Feds need to be required to furnish the M3 report.... and somehow we need to all get on the same page to prevent Hillary from getting elected... b/c if Hillary is up against any of the top tier republicans - she's a shoe in.

RE:  "IF a democrat is elected - we are done. " 

Honestly, I don't think it matters one iota which party is elected.  The horses are out of the barn and there's no putting them back.  My father, my mother, my uncles, they created a very nice place after WWII and the Korean War.  Reagan ended all of that when he started deregulating everything.  I don't see any way to pull us back from what I see coming.  At least with a Democrat, there will be an attempt to balance the budget.

I received a Zogby poll last week.  The subject Lou Dobbs. Based on the questions and how they were worded, I think he's about to become the subject of a smear campaign the likes of which will make the Swift Boats look like tiddly winks.

marijam said:  At least with a Democrat, there will be an attempt to balance the budget.

I don't see how that is possible (given our deficit) AND their promises of Universal Healthcare....Hillary saying "I'll give $5K to every baby born"....cha ching....cha ching....  They won't end the war.....cha ching.....

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americafirst said:

marijam said:  At least with a Democrat, there will be an attempt to balance the budget.

I don't see how that is possible (given our deficit) AND their promises of Universal Healthcare....Hillary saying "I'll give $5K to every baby born"....cha ching....cha ching....  They won't end the war.....cha ching.....

I don't see how every American being able to buy the same insurance as that offered to our representatives can be considered to be universal health care.  We're giving $5k to every illegal immigrant, why can't our own be covered?  This issue of health care has become a MORAL issue, thanks to illegal immigration.  You can't cut them off without cutting off our noses to spite our faces. 

Icon said:

And what about social security? Even if benifits are cut, and cut, and then cut again, at some point, what's going out, will be more than what's coming in. We can't live in 20% of our paycheck, so what then?

Before it get's this far, something will happen. Not sure how it will be planned, but we know how it ends.

Sitting here thinking about this, we know the country is broke, the politicians know it is broke, and, along with total control of the people, this may be the reason, they want government healthcare.

Recieve government healthcare, go to work at the government factory, go to your government owned home, recieve your government paycheck (of which everyone recieves the same), spend it at the government store.

And when it is still to much to do, and the cost to much, then we have a thermo-nuclear war which will eliminate a few billion people. While the government and their families go to underground bomb shelters ,which we paid for, while we stay up top and die of starvation and radiation.

Just a thought...........................

 

No doubt about it, social security is going to have to become means tested.  Those who don't need it, shouldn't collect it.