Political Crossfire Forums

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fi-mid ... story.html

"Many analysts and policymakers regard the shift as worrisome for economic and social stability. Middle-income households have been the bedrock of consumer spending, and many liberals in particular view the declining middle as part of a troubling trend of skewed income gains among the nation's richest families.

Median-income voters, particularly non-college-educated men, are also at the core of billionaire Donald Trump's surprising surge in the Republican presidential campaign. His supporters' sense that their once-secure middle-class standing is in danger of slipping appears to be fueling much of the anger against the government and immigrant groups."

What I've been saying for years. What we are witnessing, TODAY, is the end of the usefulness of the Trickle-Down economics life cycle. The economic policy has been successful in transferring the wealth upwards, which was the intended goal of the policy. More money in the hands of the rich (job creators) will lead to more opportunities and job growth.

Except it hasn't.

What we are doing now is simply unsustainable. We need balance. Those "job creators" have taken over 2 TRILLION OUT of our economy, and put it in shelters overseas. When the rich don't pay their fair share (as I've been saying for years), it's the middle class who gets squeezed. And since 70% of our entire economy is based on discretionary spending, we need more money in the hands of the middle class. And if that means raising taxes on the rich to give the middle class more discretionary income (which is what Obama tried to do, by the way), that's exactly what the f**k we need to do.

The pendulum MUST swing back the other way, before the system does what every economic system, whether it be capitalism or socialism, eventually does...CONSUME ITSELF. We are treading water.

So, from what I can tell, there is only ONE candidate running AGAINST the Oligarchy. That is who will get my vote.

Great post. We are dealing with a changing economy and jobs can be shipped overseas but the rich despite what they say, aren't chomping at the bit to take their lives overseas. Raise income tax on them. Tax high levels of capital gains too.

I'll be voting for Sanders too btw. I assume that's who you were referencing.

I saw this this morning too and was horrified if not surprised, as our income disparity has been growing for years now. Your'e absolutely right--the economy thrives (and thus jobs are created) when the MIDDLE class thrives. Instead too many dupes in this country have been sold the idea that we'll all get the crumbs if we shift all the income to the already richest. The "horse & sparrow" theory now called, as you noted, trickle-down.

Which is exactly where people like Trump come in--divert the attention of the masses onto some sad-sack bogeyman (Muslims, Mexicans, blacks) so they won't notice that we're turning into a third-world nation and the engineers of that implosion couldn't be more white. Also divert them onto social issues like gays, guns and of course the newest Moby Dick: Planned Parenthood.

Yeah this is an excellent post.

The biggest problem, IMO, is that many people have been convinced that the state has no recourse here - we either give these people what want, or they'll jump ship and go elsewhere. I say let them. Setup a corporate tax system that rewards in-country investment, close the loopholes that let them park money off-shore, and build/maintain a government run website that details the actions of those who whine like babies and take off. A combination of economic incentives, shaming and firmer regulations will do wonders.

Another problem is the so-called "liberal moderates." Think Kane, or Dylan, or Spider. Liberal moderates are nothing more than cowards. They exist solely to get in the way of progress, typically under a veil of pragmatism. We need to figure out a way to get these types of people to stop throwing away their votes on establishment candidates. As we can't put them in reeducation camps, it follows that we are going to have to get more celebrities and businessmen to endorse good candidates - without successful people telling liberal moderates who to vote for, they will always lean towards candidates that maintain the status quo. And while it sickens me that these people are so easily swayed by fame, it can't be helped. We should use it to our advantage.

Lastly, I think we need to seriously get back on board the union train. Service workers, skilled professionals, etc. need to make a drive towards unionization. Then we need to establish cross-industry ties and exercise solidarity. Hopefully we can avoid some of the pitfalls of unions, but even if we don't, the worker is in drastic need of strong workplace representation. This will make my personal life much harder but I admit it is worth it... It is going to be the only way to bring wages up relatively quickly.

us unemployment rate is at 5.5% which is roughly "full employment" according to economists. so should we be singing obama's praises that the economy is good, or not? i'm confused.

also the very concept of "first world" (countries that were generally aligned with or on friendly terms with the United States (including all NATO countries) and were generally identified as non-theocratic democracies with primarily market-based economies.) makes it literally impossible for the US to be anything but a first world country, unless we somehow don't align with ourselves

It's a sad day when the average billionaire is more economically radical than a liberal moderate. But it is what it is, I guess. You've got guys like Buffet and Gates and Zuckerberg and Musk giving away billions in order to solve real problems and achieve some level of wealth equality, and these f**k moderates will talk about how business people are soooo against redistribution. It's sickening how delusional these people really are.