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Inequality Troubles Americans Across Party Lines, Times/CBS Poll Finds

I doubt anyone is against police, schools, military, highways, etc but there are many agencies and bureaucracies which are ineffective, redundant, unnecessary and a waste of public money. That holds true in most democracies. And many, like those you mentioned, must always have public scrutiny to ensure the public is getting value for their dollar.

So what you are saying is that government is a good thing, up to the point that it becomes wasteful. I agree.

I would think that part of the solution to redundancy and unnecessary government is the KISS method. No reason for a zillion programs to solve the individual issues in our society, when a positive economic growth policy (low taxation, adequate infrastructure creation, strong property rights, etc) would have eliminated the need for all of those programs.
 
The growing gap is concerning.

However, it isn't the role of the government to regulate it...

Why not?

Doesn't our government exist to benefits the people? Why would we not want government to fix something (assuming that it is fixable) that harms us, or to create something that improves our lives when the private sector is fails to do so?

And who decides what the roll of government is? Don't the rulers decide?
 
Why not?

Doesn't our government exist to benefits the people? Why would we not want government to fix something (assuming that it is fixable) that harms us, or to create something that improves our lives when the private sector is fails to do so?

And who decides what the roll of government is? Don't the rulers decide?

Im pretty sure the constitution decides.... as worthless as it has become.

It isn't the role of government to tell a private company how much those of the higher levels of responsibility can make, how much profit they can make, and how much their lower level and lower responsibility employees can make. It isn't the government's responsibility to make financial decisions FOR companies. It isn't the government's place to tell a business owner or corporation that they are making too much money.
 
The thing is, far too many people have jobs which do not pay them enough to do more than break even, sometimes not even that. Not even mentioning those who have stopped working.

It seems wrong somehow for a person to work a full-time job, perhaps even a full AND a part-time job (or in the case of a family, both adults work full-time jobs/multiple jobs) and still not make enough to be considered middle class.

Now, IMO this either means wages are too low...or it means expenses are too high. Perhaps a combo of both.

Of course there are areas of the country which are exceptions to this state...or perhaps the other way around.,,


But either way, it seems to me that too many people do not have sufficient income for their expenses.

Personally, I break even, with a tiny bit extra most of the time for unexpected expenses and such (depends on how much OT I work).

But then, I'm underpaid for the position I work in.


so according to you, every job should pay middle class wages

never owned a business, have you?

ever managed one?

every job is not worth a large wage....just telling it like it is

and why are you underpaid? why did you accept a position paying you less than what you believe you are worth?

did you negotiate? what have you done since being hired to show your boss you are worth more?

what skills do you possess? are there better jobs available elsewhere?

what do you NEED to do to earn more?

only you can answer all those questions.....

you know your circumstances.....

you feel you are underpaid.....what does the market say? does it say you are paid fairly? (other similar jobs in the area)

and finally.....what are you doing about being underpaid as you say?
 
Im pretty sure the constitution decides.... as worthless as it has become.

It isn't the role of government to tell a private company how much those of the higher levels of responsibility can make, how much profit they can make, and how much their lower level and lower responsibility employees can make. It isn't the government's responsibility to make financial decisions FOR companies. It isn't the government's place to tell a business owner or corporation that they are making too much money.

So tell me what part of the constitution says what the roll of government is. And doesn't the constitution contain provisions for it to be altered? It appears to me that our founding fathers were smart enough to realize that they weren't thinking of everything that needed to be dealt with, and that our needs may change over time.
 
So tell me what part of the constitution says what the roll of government is. And doesn't the constitution contain provisions for it to be altered? It appears to me that our founding fathers were smart enough to realize that they weren't thinking of everything that needed to be dealt with, and that our needs may change over time.

Look, I am not going to give you a 9th grade civics lesson. If you don't understand how Amendments to the Constitution work, and the powers of the federal government enumerated within the constitution I advise you to go and read up on that.
 
Why not?

Doesn't our government exist to benefits the people? Why would we not want government to fix something (assuming that it is fixable) that harms us, or to create something that improves our lives when the private sector is fails to do so?

And who decides what the roll of government is? Don't the rulers decide?

government exist to secure rights........ that is all.

article 1 section 8 are the delegated powers of congress , only those powers which are delegated can congress act on.

you don't elect people to determine what the constitution says, or create their own powers.
 
And when there becomes a shortage in those fields because they don't pay enough....the wage will rise.

My response will be short because I want to focus on the most important parts of your post.

"Enough pay" is relative. If companies do not pay their workers any more than they used to, why would people be less likely than they were before to take jobs in those fields. Recently unemployment has been really bad so people are clamoring for jobs even if the pay is bad. Also, companies can outsource jobs to foreign workers who think $5 per hour is a good wage. Companies can also automate many of these jobs. For example Walmart has machines to do a lot of their checkouts. So even if companies are working more they don't need to pay their workers more. I wouldn't. I would use the profits for giving myself a 50% raise, and use the rest to build the company.

Unemployment, outsourcing, and technology can keep the middle class's wages from rising even when companies are more productive and profitable and workers are more productive and profitable.
 
No, not by our understanding of rich.



But consider for a moment what we in this country have, even our poorest. Everyone here ALREADY IS rich, as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, most people in America is indeed very rich. Problem is the middle class has not really gotten any richer than they were 45 years ago. One reason the middle class seems richer is now both husbands and wives work and they work longer hours. Also, even though wages go up, prices go up just as fast.

When you look at hourly wages adjusted for inflation you find that the middle class has stagnated for 45 years.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zdtJ1XIr7...N4/njotJ9D_nTM/s1600/average-hourly-wages.png

Historically the middle class has gotten richer and richer but something has changed. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that the economy has slowed down. But when you look at GDP per person hourly wages still should have gone up. The second reason is that today 1% of people capture most of the economic growth.

In the recovery from our current recession the 1% took 95% of the economic growth from the recovery. Incomes for the rich rose by 31% while those for the middle class rose by .4%.
One percent recovery: 95 percent of gains have gone to the top one percent.
 
Sure it's possible...but not likely. Most people don't have the right combination of education, skills, discipline and work ethic to do it.

Lets say everyone put in the right combination of education, skills, discipline and work ethic would everyone be earning $530,000 in 2015 dollars (the minimum income of the 1 percent)?
 
It is possible but only if the fruits of our increasing wealth are shared proportionately between all income levels.

Also, technology would have to improve as well to rapidly increase productivity.
 
No, but from where I sit there sure as hell does not appear to be any attempt to reduce the number of poor.

The truth is that there will always be poor. The economy is like a machine. It needs workers that do menial tasks. Even if everyone got a PHD somebody would have to clean the toilets.
 
government exist to secure rights........ that is all.

article 1 section 8 are the delegated powers of congress , only those powers which are delegated can congress act on.

you don't elect people to determine what the constitution says, or create their own powers.

Government exist for whatever purpose the rulers chose it to exist for. Nothing more and nothing less.

Anything else is hypothetical or philosophical.

I live in realty.
 
...

So all you need to earn $520,000 a year is to get a Bachelor's and work 40 hours a week plus a few hours of overtime?

That, plus a little cronieism, or dumb luck, or celebrity, or corruption.
 
That, plus a little cronieism, or dumb luck, or celebrity, or corruption.

Well, you also need skill and hard work to be rich. Most successful people are not bad at all.
 
The truth is that there will always be poor. The economy is like a machine. It needs workers that do menial tasks. Even if everyone got a PHD somebody would have to clean the toilets.

And our government should not be in a position to mandate that the toilet cleaning guy get paid as much as the Junior Executive in a private company.
 
Government exist for whatever purpose the rulers chose it to exist for. Nothing more and nothing less.

Anything else is hypothetical or philosophical.

I live in realty.


And you.... are okay with that????

So you don't care what positions a candidate takes on issues, or what type of representative your area needs because those in power are going to keep grabbing more power at their leisure?

Do you stay home on election day?

Or, in this proposition... are "The People" the "rulers"?
If so... do you believe our government should be a pure democracy then?
 
Pretty much confirms that republicans vote against their own interests. Dem candidates at least pay lip service to fixing inequality. They do little about it, but the repub candidates and voters seem to be in complete fantasy land. I mean if government won't do anything about it, who else will, the corporate overlords? Maybe the fairy godmother?

Look at your history books. Only a real revolution will fix the problem.

The US has become no different with what is happening in imperial Russia where a very small minority hold 95% of all the wealth of the land.

I work long and hard hours for my money. I don't want to give up my hard earned money. I believe I deserve more money than those people.
 
And our government should not be in a position to mandate that the toilet cleaning guy get paid as much as the Junior Executive in a private company.

What you are attacking is communism. We both don't like communism. I just want moderate income inequality and a proportional amount of economic growth going to the poor and middle class.
 
Government exist for whatever purpose the rulers chose it to exist for. Nothing more and nothing less.

Anything else is hypothetical or philosophical.

I live in realty.

RULERS?

our federal government does not exist to do whatever it wants, you know that's not true and giving me a simplistic reply shows you cannot back that up.
 
Well, you also need skill and hard work to be rich. Most successful people are not bad at all.

Lot's of people become rich with no skills or hard work. Luck plays a huge factor. I guess it's fair to say that Bernie Madeoff had skills and worked hard though, he was skilled at conning people and worked hard at spending their money.
 
It is not improving as fast as it did earlier in our history.

It's improving faster than at any point in history. Technology grows exponentially.
 
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