Friday, November 23, 2012

Ten Points

Greetings good citizen,

Um, in tandem with today’s ridiculous stock market performance (Dow + 173) we have this article from today’s Alternet

Basically, none of what Alternet reveals is particularly shocking, it’s a rehash of what I’ve been telling you for decades now (This all started in the nineties.) Most of the uber wealthy are BORN into it!

What should sicken most of you is their great-grandfathers made it and even if their grandkids spend it stupidly they can’t spend it all!

But I’ll let you decide which aspect raises your hackles:
1. Only THREE PERCENT of the very rich are entrepreneurs.
According to both Marketwatch and economist Edward Wolff, over 90 percent of the assets owned by millionaires are held in a combination of low-risk investments (bonds and cash), personal business accounts, the stock market, and real estate. Only 3.6 percent of taxpayers in the top .1% were classified as entrepreneurs based on 2004 tax returns.

2. Only FOUR OUT OF 150 countries have more wealth inequality than us.
In a world listing compiled by a reputable research team (which nevertheless prompted double-checking), the U.S. has greater wealth inequality than every measured country in the world except for Namibia, Zimbabwe, Denmark, and Switzerland.

3. An amount equal to ONE-HALF the GDP is held untaxed overseas by rich Americans.
The Tax Justice Network estimated that between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden offshore, untaxed. With Americans making up 40% of the world's Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, that's $8 to $12 trillion in U.S. money stashed in far-off hiding places.

4. Corporations stopped paying HALF OF THEIR TAXES after the recession.
After paying an average of 22.5% from 1987 to 2008, corporations have paid an annual rate of 10% since. This represents a sudden $250 billion annual loss in taxes.

5. Just TEN Americans made a total of FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS in one year.
That's enough, according to 2008 estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN's World Food Program, to feed the 870 million people in the world who are lacking sufficient food.
For the free-market advocates who say "they've earned it": Point #1 above makes it clear how the wealthy make their money.

6. Tax deductions for the rich could pay off 100 PERCENT of the deficit.
Another stat that required a double-check. Based on research by the Tax Policy Center, tax deferrals and deductions and other forms of tax expenditures (tax subsidies from special deductions, exemptions, exclusions, credits, capital gains, and loopholes), which largely benefit the rich, are worth about 7.4% of the GDP, or about $1.1 trillion.

7. The average single black or Hispanic woman has about $100 IN NET WORTH.
The Insight Center for Community Economic Development reported that median wealth for black and Hispanic women is a little over $100. That's much less than one percent of the median wealth for single white women ($41,500).

8. Elderly and disabled food stamp recipients get $4.30 A DAY FOR FOOD.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has dropped significantly over the past 15 years, serving only about a quarter of the families in poverty, and paying less than $400 per month for a family of three for housing and other necessities. Ninety percent of the available benefits go to the elderly, the disabled, or working households.

9. Young adults have lost TWO-THIRDS OF THEIR NET WORTH since 1984.
21- to 35-year-olds: Your median net worth has dropped 68% since 1984. It's now less than $4,000. That $4,000 has to pay for student loans that average $27,200. Or, if you're still in school, for $12,700 in credit card debt.

10. The American public paid about FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS to bail out the banks.
That's about the same amount of money made by America's richest 10% in one year. But we all paid for the bailout. And because of it, we lost the opportunity for jobs, mortgage relief, and educational funding.

Make no mistake about it good citizen, the (in relative terms) ‘fabulously wealthy’ have been with us since colonial times, the thing that’s ‘different’ between now and then is the uber-wealthy are no longer content to be far and away richer than everyone else.

Nope, today the uber rich want to flex their ‘money muscles’ and show the, er, ‘ingrates’ that they rob blind with impunity who is REALLY ‘The Boss’.

How tragic is it good citizen that the last time the uber wealthy decided to prove what everyone only suspected (that they were bone stupid) the end result was the Terror of the French Revolution?

Now what does today’s ‘irrational rise’ in stock prices mean to you and I? It means our purchasing power is being pissed down the drain…while the super rich ‘float’ in place.

Well, how long can you ‘tread water’ good citizen?

Sadly the answer is not long enough. If you don’t revolt against those who are robbing you blind you and yours will drown in an ocean of debt, inflicted upon you by criminals (that are the uber rich!)

But once again I belabor the obvious…

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner


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