Tuesday, January 20, 2015

"Middle class" economics vs "trickle up" economics


Excerpted from Obama's State of the Union 2015 report:

"It’s now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come.Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?

"middle-class economics" means.... lowering the taxes of working families and putting thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year.

These ideas won’t make everybody rich, or relieve every hardship. That’s not the job of government. To give working families a fair shot, we’ll still need more employers to see beyond next quarter’s earnings and recognize that investing in their workforce is in their company’s long-term interest. We still need laws that strengthen rather than weaken unions, and give American workers a voice. But things like child care and sick leave and equal pay; things like lower mortgage premiums and a higher minimum wage — these ideas will make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of families. 
Let’s close loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad, and reward those that invest in America. Let’s use those savings to rebuild our infrastructure and make it more attractive for companies to bring jobs home. Let’s simplify the system and let a small business owner file based on her actual bank statement, instead of the number of accountants she can afford. And let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth. We can use that money to help more families pay for childcare and send their kids to college. We need a tax code that truly helps working Americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy, and we can achieve that together.

18 comments:

  1. Wealth inequality is a global threat because it spawns
    violence,crime,extremism and terrorism

    #1 issue in the world threatening disintegration of society is economic inequality

    Extreme wealth inequality threatens global social stability.


    http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-shadow-banking-and-extreme-wealth-inequality-threaten-us


    1% own as much wealth as the 99% combined

    85 individuals own as much wealth as 3.5 billion of yhe poorest people on the planet

    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/20/oxfam-85-richest-people-half-of-the-world

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2014/03/25/the-67-people-as-wealthy-as-the-worlds-poorest-3-5-billion/

    http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-shadow-banking-and-extreme-wealth-inequality-threaten-us

    Lobbyists have rigged the tax code in favour of the rich.
    All the benefits of economic growth have not been shared with the middle class.
    The wealth that is generated by economic activity is disproportionally finding its way into the pockets of a few.

    Restructuring the rules of wealth acquisition through tax reform;
    raising taxes on yhe rich and giving tax breaks to the middle class.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have to address the root causes and broader issues such as economic deprivation which cause alienation and extremism.

      Delete
    2. Otherwise we should not be surprised that the poor and the dispossessed will resort to violence and crime to gain the resources necessary for their survival.

      Delete
    3. The Canadian economy has been growing but the fruits of that growth have been disproportionately going to the top 10%.
      The rest of the 90% of the population has received little benefit from this growth.

      http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/rise-income-inequality-linked-decline-unions-new-imf-study

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-15/imf-study-finds-reducing-income-inequality-gives-boost-to-growth

      http://www.nber.org/digest/dec08/w13982.html

      Delete


    4. Pope Francis chides politicians in Davos:

      "You are responsible for creating poverty!"
      Governments have a role in improving people's lives --to ensure that the benefits of resource development and economic growth are shared equitably.
      Governments that fail to do this are complicit in maintaining the institutionalization of
      poverty.
      http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0UY1XT

      Delete
  2. Obama's words are empty rhetoric.
    He can afford to curry favor with the middleclass because he doesn't have to fund another re-election campaign.
    They wom't close the loopholes that favour the wealthy
    because the lawmakers thrmselves(both Republicans and Democrats) are all millionaires (its contrary to their self-interest). They are obligated to the wealthy doners who funded their election campaigns.
    To increase taxes on the rich would be both "shooting themselves" and "biting the hand that feeds them".
    It ain't going to happen!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, its not lobbyists that have rigged the tax code in favour of the rich.
      Its the politicians!
      The lawmakers have rigged the system to aggrandize themselves and their friends.

      Delete
    2. Fantasyland:

      Why you didn't do it when you were elected, Mr. President--when you controlled the agenda?
      Why you waited till you on your way out?

      Delete
    3. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
      --George Bernard Shaw

      Delete
    4. "Poverty" is a form of violence perpetrated by the wealthy against the most vulnerable members of society.

      Delete
    5. Oxfam Canada report:gap between rich and poor widening

      why wealth inequality has sparked global outrage: http://www.oxfam.ca/category/tags/inequality

      http://www.oxfam.ca/blogs/gap-between-rich-and-poor-widening-%E2%80%93-and-it%E2%80%99s-not-just-us-saying-it

      poor people are not gaining the benefit of economic growth.

      Delete
  3. CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratios By Country

    Ratio of average CEO compensation to average worker pay. Source: AFL-CIO

    http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/6517272/slideshow/372514#slide-12

    The gap between top execs and everyone else has been growing for decades.
    U.S. CEOs today typically earn 354 times as much as the average worker at their company, compared to just 46 times average worker pay thirty years ago.
    In Canada, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio is lower, at 206 times average pay, but that’s still one of the largest pay gaps in the developed world. (In Britain it’s only 84.)

    At the big-box retailers, the inequality is even larger: Steinhafel’s pay was 597 times the pay of the average Target employee, according to a 2013 ranking from PayScale.com.
    Only Walmart’s CEO, Michael T. Duke, made out better: He earned 1,034 times the average Walmart employee’s salary.

    ReplyDelete

  4. “The rich get much richer and the Republicans think they (the rich) need more help. The middle class and working families of this country become poorer and the Republicans think we need to cut programs they desperately need. I do not believe that these are the priorities of the American people,”
    --Bernie Sanders

    http://sanders.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100124577.1260610.7&gen=1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Senate on Friday passed a budget that envisions more than $5 trillion in cuts over the coming decade by slashing health care and other benefits for working families and the middle class while leaving tax breaks in place for the wealthiest Americans and multi-national corporations. Twenty-seven million Americans would lose health insurance under the Republican plan as they eliminate the Affordable Care Act and make huge cuts to Medicaid. "What they are proposing is major cuts in programs for some of the most vulnerable people in this country — the elderly, children, sick and low-income people,” said Bernie, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. “At the same time they want to give significant tax breaks to the wealthy and the large corporations.”

      Delete
  5. Watch Wendy Mesley's interview with Harold Crooks:

    http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV%20Shows/The%20National/ID/2659887871/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Buying political office:


    http://click.email.premierenetworks.com/?qs=dc4abe9f92630d25e438a102494d5795904ae3f79d28a5d2c8c75f380d1702b5


    "The US has become a corporate regime, and there's an incredible amount of wealth and power in the hands of the very few.

    It isn't about the people voting any longer, as every senator and congressman, and the president, is bought and paid for-- they're civilian contractors. It's an oligarchy...which means the money elite runs this country ; bankrolling specific candidates that kowtow to their views."

    --Craig Hulet ( http://www.craigbhulet.com/)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Solution to income inequality:

    http://youtu.be/kr3yLLc89cI

    ReplyDelete

  8. desperate migrants risk dieing to seek better life in Europe

    mass exodus out of Africa and Middle East:


    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286

    media focus has been on the inconvenience to Europeans of this encroaching tide of refugees....rather than on the dire conditions the desperate migrants are risking their lives to escape from.

    ReplyDelete