[Leanan]

Or maybe not.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that income inequality in the U.S. is finally decreasing. After 30 years of increases, it's reversing.

The bad news is that it might be because high-paid professionals are also losing their jobs overseas, just like their blue-collar brethren 30 years ago.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'O')r maybe not.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that income inequality in the U.S. is finally decreasing. After 30 years of increases, it's reversing.

The bad news is that it might be because high-paid professionals are also losing their jobs overseas, just like their blue-collar brethren 30 years ago.

[Leanan]

Oops. I guess I forgot the link.

[gego]

In a slave society, most of the wealth is owned by a small fraction of the population, the masters. It is not uncommon for 10% of the population to have 85% of the wealth in banana republics. Typically there is a small priveleged class, a small middle class, and a large underclass living in poverty.

In free societies, there is typically a large middle class, a small class of wealthy, and a small class of poor. This was the case in the early days of the USA.

If you did not know whether or not a society was free, you could come in from outer space, and look at the distribution of wealth with standard statistical tools, and make a determination; this should cut through the brainwashing and delusions and give you an accurate picture of the reality of freedom or slavery. You should also recognize that the true puropose of slavery is to benefit the masters, and it is they who institute the system and maintain it through control of the laws and government.

As it turns out, in the USA the average man does not have an average amount of wealth. The greater the skew in wealth distribution the greater the degree of slavery. When you hear things like the middle class in the USA is disappearing (being shifted into the lower wealth class) then you are hearing a report of the working of slavery. When you look around the world and see countries with much poverty for the majority then you are seeing the effects of slavery (USSR, Cuba, Peru, much of Africa).

The way it has worked in the USA is that those wanting economic advantage have gained control of politicians who in turn control the government and the laws, and then laws are instituted that either directly or indirectly shift wealth out of the hands of the majority into the hands of the few. A good example is the Federal Reserve Act which effectively gives a bankers the ability to loan new money into existence out of thin air and collect interest on those loans resulting in a massive transfer of wealth. Most licensing laws which limit competition in occupations and professions result in a similar transfers of wealth out of proportion to economic reality.

Government is the purveyor of slavery. Maldistribution of wealth is the result. That is what has been going on in the USA almost from the beginning, and it was only the expansion of the economy due to exploitation of energy that kept the majority content enough not to revolt. They kept getting a lesser share of a bigger pie, so their standard of living did improve in spite of their enslavement. This is why I say that once peak oil starts to shrink the economic pie that revolt will be inevitable, and of course the government will become more oppressive in order to maintain its power. The political picture post peak will not be pretty.

[Vexed]

The poor are getting richer because the middle class is getting poorer.

Spin,spin,spin my friends....

[Russian_Cowboy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'O')r maybe not.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that income inequality in the U.S. is finally decreasing. After 30 years of increases, it's reversing.

The bad news is that it might be because high-paid professionals are also losing their jobs overseas, just like their blue-collar brethren 30 years ago.