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Ap survey: Us income gap is holding back economy

TheDemSocialist

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The growing gap between the richest Americans and everyone else isn't bad just for individuals.It's hurting the U.S. economy.
So says a majority of more than three dozen economists surveyed last week by The Associated Press. Their concerns tap into a debate that's intensified as middle-class pay has stagnated while wealthier households have thrived.
A key source of the economists' concern: Higher pay and outsize stock market gains are flowing mainly to affluent Americans. Yet these households spend less of their money than do low- and middle-income consumers who make up most of the population but whose pay is barely rising.
"What you want is a broader spending base," says Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James, a financial advisory firm. "You want more people spending money."
Spending by wealthier Americans, given the weight of their dollars, does help drive the economy. But analysts say the economy would be better able to sustain its growth if the riches were more evenly dispersed. For one thing, a plunge in stock prices typically leads wealthier Americans to cut sharply back on their spending.


A wide gap in pay limits the ability of poorer and middle-income Americans to improve their living standards, the economists say. About 80 percent of stock market wealth is held by the richest 10 percent of Americans. That means the stock market's outsize gains this year have mostly benefited the already affluent.

Read more @: AP survey: US income gap is holding back economy

No surprise here. Seems that this trickle down economic theory isnt working at all, also not a surprise.
 
Read more @: AP survey: US income gap is holding back economy

No surprise here. Seems that this trickle down economic theory isnt working at all, also not a surprise.

The income gap has nothing to do with "trickle down" theory. It has everything to do with the government subsidizing unproductive behavior.

When you take a low income individual and subsidize their lifestyle it first makes becoming more productive more difficult for the individual and then makes being unproductive more tolerable.

Someone with two kids under the age of 16 and a part time job paying $20k/yr will, with subsidies, end up with the same "walking around" money as someone else in the same situation unsubsidized making $45k. That means that the person receiving these benefits has to make a 200+% income jump to be able to afford the same lifestyle. The result is that LOTS of people just decide to live with the subsidies and make a few bucks on the side to fill in any gaps they might run into.
 
The income gap has nothing to do with "trickle down" theory. It has everything to do with the government subsidizing unproductive behavior.

When you take a low income individual and subsidize their lifestyle it first makes becoming more productive more difficult for the individual and then makes being unproductive more tolerable.
What happened during the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's? Had much of the same programs around and was not even close to this giant income gap.
 
Many of the most substantial subsidies didn't exist in the 40's-70's and where they did they were minimal.
 
Many of the most substantial subsidies didn't exist in the 40's-70's and where they did they were minimal.

government work programs, SNAP, not to mention the minimum wage was a lot more.. Care to elaborate?
 
Huh...well...OBVIOUSLY more worthless ****heads should do a better job of preparing themselves for a future and start earning a viable income. Funny how immigrants (legal and illegals) can manage what so many lazy pathetic crippled dependent pets cant.
 
The income gap has nothing to do with "trickle down" theory. It has everything to do with the government subsidizing unproductive behavior.

When you take a low income individual and subsidize their lifestyle it first makes becoming more productive more difficult for the individual and then makes being unproductive more tolerable.

Someone with two kids under the age of 16 and a part time job paying $20k/yr will, with subsidies, end up with the same "walking around" money as someone else in the same situation unsubsidized making $45k. That means that the person receiving these benefits has to make a 200+% income jump to be able to afford the same lifestyle. The result is that LOTS of people just decide to live with the subsidies and make a few bucks on the side to fill in any gaps they might run into.
What a bunch of horse dung, people in general want to be employed and earning a wage. Unemployment insurance injects money into the economy... people receiving benefits spend it immediately.
 
What happened during the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's? Had much of the same programs around and was not even close to this giant income gap.

The government has killed a lot of jobs over the past few years.

Obamascare is going to kill more.
 
What a bunch of horse dung, people in general want to be employed and earning a wage. Unemployment insurance injects money into the economy... people receiving benefits spend it immediately.

Why is the economy still in the crapper, then?
 
Read more @: AP survey: US income gap is holding back economy

No surprise here. Seems that this trickle down economic theory isnt working at all, also not a surprise.

This is corporate capitalism at its finest. Trickle down is, at best, a theory of free market. Corporate capitalism is designed to stifle economic movement and to help accumulate wealth into only a very few number of hands.
 
The government has killed a lot of jobs over the past few years.

Obamascare is going to kill more.

Care to explain how the "government killed jobs"? Notice that how none of the economists in this survey stated your position..
 
Care to explain how the "government killed jobs"? Notice that how none of the economists in this survey stated your position..

The drilling moratoriam, the XL pipeline, closing Federal land to drilling, closing coal mines, closing power plants...

They're probably a buncha Libbos who are pushing wealth redistribution.
 
The drilling moratoriam, the XL pipeline, closing Federal land to drilling, closing coal mines, closing power plants...
So everything about a sensitive issue when it comes to the environment? News flash take a look at this graph..
2l9qebm.jpg


They're probably a buncha Libbos who are pushing wealth redistribution.
Yes all economists who dont agree with you are "libbos" :roll:
 
government work programs, SNAP, not to mention the minimum wage was a lot more.. Care to elaborate?

Sure.

EITC used to be $400 and now it can be $5k. The Child Tax Credit used to be $400 and now it's $1k. Those two credits alone account for $90 Billion dollars in transfer payments. Food stamps started out as a program where people bought their own food stamps at a 50% discount (for $10 you would get $20 in food stamps). In the late 70's it turned into a direct benefit and it has been expanded several times since.

Discussion of minimum wage is only relevant to the extent that years ago minimum wage jobs were considered to be "entry level" jobs that people weren't expected to stay in but now with all the additional subsidies that minimum wage workers are eligible for it has become a career choice for millions of Americans who lack the ambition to better themselves economically.
 
Sure.

EITC used to be $400 and now it can be $5k. The Child Tax Credit used to be $400 and now it's $1k. Those two credits alone account for $90 Billion dollars in transfer payments. Food stamps started out as a program where people bought their own food stamps at a 50% discount (for $10 you would get $20 in food stamps). In the late 70's it turned into a direct benefit and it has been expanded several times since.

Discussion of minimum wage is only relevant to the extent that years ago minimum wage jobs were considered to be "entry level" jobs that people weren't expected to stay in but now with all the additional subsidies that minimum wage workers are eligible for it has become a career choice for millions of Americans who lack the ambition to better themselves economically.

So the argument is that the government assistance killed worker productivity?
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So the argument is that the government assistance killed worker productivity?
2uzt36f.gif

At the low end of the income scale? Yes.

What you have now as opposed to 30 years ago is a stagnant low income demographic while middle and high income individuals have become more productive and, thus, are more highly compensated.
 
At the low end of the income scale? Yes.

What you have now as opposed to 30 years ago is a stagnant low income demographic while middle and high income individuals have become more productive and, thus, are more highly compensated.

Then why is the middle class disappearing? They certainly are not joining the upper class...
 
Of course the income gap is holding back the economy. I can't imagine their is a an economist alive that would argue with that point.

The only real debate is what causes that gap. The article makes some suggestions but it doesn't really bring the economists into it.

(Even if it did, what they heck is a survey of "more than three dozen" economists supposed to mean anyway.
That's like saying we got 3 or 4 doctors to agree on a medical point. It means almost nothing.)

Fun quote:
"The Obama administration's health care law will make little or no difference to the job market. About two-fifths said the law would cost jobs. None said it would increase hiring."
 
Well how did ofailure care impact the rich? How did it impact the middle class? Maybe you should look into the mirror instead of throwing stones.


Then why is the middle class disappearing? They certainly are not joining the upper class...
 
Well how did ofailure care impact the rich? How did it impact the middle class? Maybe you should look into the mirror instead of throwing stones.

So a trend that has been going on since the 80's is the ACA's fault? Get real man.
 
Then why is the middle class disappearing? They certainly are not joining the upper class...

Because it's getting to the point where not bothering to be "middle class" is a practical option for a lot of people. We're seeing more and more people who are choosing to avoid the whole "career ladder" thing and simply hang out on the bottom few rungs where there is little responsibility, little risk and enough subsidy to keep life liveable. The really scary part of that is those people aren't saving for retirement so they are only going to become more reliant on subsidies as time goes by.
 
Because it's getting to the point where not bothering to be "middle class" is a practical option for a lot of people. We're seeing more and more people who are choosing to avoid the whole "career ladder" thing and simply hang out on the bottom few rungs where there is little responsibility, little risk and enough subsidy to keep life liveable. The really scary part of that is those people aren't saving for retirement so they are only going to become more reliant on subsidies as time goes by.

Then wouldnt productivity go down or bottom out? The opposite is true. Productivity is increasing.
 
Then wouldnt productivity go down or bottom out? The opposite is true. Productivity is increasing.

Productivity is increasing because over the last 30 years we've come up with lots and lots of ways to be more productive with less hands on a project. One person can design a widget and feed the details into a machine that can knock them out by the thousand. We don't need a whole string of assemblers, welders, nut turners, etc.
 
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