US study lays bare extreme pay-ratio problem

[Lafayette]

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how Dwayne The Rock Johnson or a Fortune 500 CEO, or a Superbowl-Winning Quarterback making lots of money is supposed to harm me or my country.

Come to Europe and live here a while:
*National Health Insurance that is a third to half the cost of privatized per capita health-care in the US. (See here.)
*National Primary, Secondary are free and Tertiary education is a minor fraction of the cost in a US state-school.
*No DoD usurping 50% of the national budget! (The money saved goes into the National Healthcare Service!)

 

[Lafayette]

I help employ over 700 people at the moment. Before that it was nearly 2000.... Other than bitch on the internet, what have you done?

Self-pride will get you nowhere in a Debate Forum.

I leave on this forum factual-information as a means of stimulating debate. Try it, you might like it.

Unless, of course, you prefer to remain blind to the facts as are most Replicants who can't pronounce an argument without a dollar-sign attached. It's a drug for people like you ...

 

[Lafayette]

If you are too lazy to make your own progress in life then you deserve another $7.25 hour job.

M... r... a...

 

[Lafayette]

II just posted 2 articles why and as usual you ignored it because well it once again destroys your pie in the sky economic ideology.

No, I ignored them because I disagreed with them ...

 

[gdgyva]

Come to Europe and live here a while:
*National Health Insurance that is a third to half the cost of privatized per capita health-care in the US. (See here.)
*National Primary, Secondary are free and Tertiary education is a minor fraction of the cost in a US state-school.
*No DoD usurping 50% of the national budget! (The money saved goes into the National Healthcare Service!)

And to go wth that no DOD you forgot to mention, the only thing protecting you is what?

Russia decides they want to annex europe, if the USA doesn’t step in, I hope you like borscht.

Must be nice to have protections, and not really have to pay a damn thing for it

Easy to do other social things that way, and say, see arent we better?

 

[Lafayette]

And to go wth that no DOD you forgot to mention, the only thing protecting you is what?

Right now, France, one of the most fit fighting forces (sea, land and air) is spending a military budget of of 2.3% of GDP almost exactly comparable with that of the US (at 2.2% of GDP) - so both are about the same in a relative economic sense.

But neither France, nor any other European country, nor the European Union, has any pretense of "defending the world". Except where a common necessity occurs. At the moment, France is significantly "involved" militarily in Syria and several African countries. But, that's about all.

Russia decides they want to annex europe, if the USA doesn’t step in, I hope you like borscht.

Russia hasn't the slightest reason to attack Europe, and to think that it does and therefore military assets should be "uplifted" is foolish. (Besides, Putin's daughter bought a multi-million-dollar vineyard recently in Bordeaux.) In a sense the Russians have already "attacked" France by buying out prestigious property especially in Paris. None of the Russian plutocrats would want to see those "select properties" go up in smoke in a war.

Must be nice to have protections, and not really have to pay a damn thing for it

Brief comparison of the two Defense Expenditures, US and EU (from here):

In 2010 the governments of the 26 EDA pMS spent a total of €194 billion on defence. The US spent the equivalent of €520 billion (or $689 billion). Between 2006 and 2008 the aggregated defence expenditure of the 26 EDA pMS has been about half that of the US. In the years 2009 and 2010 this difference increased. While the EU aggregated defence expenditure decreased from €201 billion in 2008 to €194 billion in 2010, US expenditure increased from €416 billion ($612 billion) to €520 billion in the same period.

Yes, the US spent three times as much as the EU - but the EU has never had a Global Defense Posture. There are "points of mutual interest militarily" - the Middle-east being the most notable at the moment.

If Uncle Sam wants to defend-the-world, then it's his business. But, frankly, I suggest a country is far better-off financing Universal Health Care and Low-cost Tertiary Education. For reasons that are patently sane.

Easy to do other social things that way, and say, see arent we better?

As I never tire of telling fellow Yanks on this forum:
*I will be living on average 3-years longer than you will.
*And I will never ever pay for surgery what you pay. (See here: America’s health care prices are out of control. These 11 charts prove it.)

You want private-medicine? Ya got it. Right up the you-know-what ...

 

[ludin]

No, I ignored them because I disagreed with them ...

No you ignore them because they shoot down the nonsense that you spew on the economics forum.
as you say this is a debate forum. yet you don't do it.

so i posted 2 credible sources that support what i said.
this is based on real world evidence not pie in the sky economics that you constantly flout.

 

[danielpalos]

From the Guardian: US income inequality - 'CEOs don't want this released': US study lays bare extreme pay-ratio problem

Excerpt:


Upper-income taxation (see historical graphic here) was mostly above 90% from 1941 to 1960s. JFK made a BigMistake when he brought it down to 80%. And Reckless Ronnie became a Replicant saint when he sent them down to the 30% range.

Whichis the single-most reason why Wealth has skyrocketed for this very select group who are nonetheless just 0.1% of the nation's population. (See that fact demonstrated here where Prof. Domhoff of UofC showed clearly in his Who Rules America web-site accessible from here.)

How do you like living in a country where the bottom 80% of the population own only 11% of the nations total Net Worth* - and top 20% of us own the other 89%?

Seems fair to you? Not to me ...

*Which is essentially all Wealth minus Debt.

A fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage and unemployment compensation for Capitalism's, Natural Rate of Unemployment, so Labor won't have to care how Capitalists make their money!

Equal protection of the law, really "can be Worth it".

 

[Bullseye]

Come to Europe and live here a while:
*National Health Insurance that is a third to half the cost of privatized per capita health-care in the US. (See here.)
*National Primary, Secondary are free and Tertiary education is a minor fraction of the cost in a US state-school.
*No DoD usurping 50% of the national budget! (The money saved goes into the National Healthcare Service!)

You forgot

*unemployment greater than 9% for last five years
*10 year history of GDP growth < 1% for last five years.

No wonder France has so much free stuff - no one has a job to earn the money to pay for themselves.

 

[ludin]

You forgot

*unemployment greater than 9% for last five years
*10 year history of GDP growth < 1% for last five years.

No wonder France has so much free stuff - no one has a job to earn the money to pay for themselves.

ssshhh don't quote facts.

also don't forget that failure of the soak the rich tax that france tried to implement.

that is the problem with socialist governments. it makes it harder to grow and expand your economy as the
government has a lot of control in what happens inside that economy.

france has some of the highest taxes out there.

https://fee.org/articles/france-shows-that-free-college-is-neither-free-nor-fair/

as for the colleges? that isn't looking so great either.

2014 data show that only 30% of French students get their bachelor degree without resetting a year, only 43.8% make it from first to second year, and a solid 19% leave university with no diploma whatsoever.

on the bright side they did get rid of the education gating that they were doing before, but now anyone can go it is pretty much free and well
there you have it. socialist eutopia not that great after all.

 

[Bullseye]

ssshhh don't quote facts.

also don't forget that failure of the soak the rich tax that france tried to implement.

that is the problem with socialist governments. it makes it harder to grow and expand your economy as the
government has a lot of control in what happens inside that economy.

france has some of the highest taxes out there.

https://fee.org/articles/france-shows-that-free-college-is-neither-free-nor-fair/

as for the colleges? that isn't looking so great either.

2014 data show that only 30% of French students get their bachelor degree without resetting a year, only 43.8% make it from first to second year, and a solid 19% leave university with no diploma whatsoever.

on the bright side they did get rid of the education gating that they were doing before, but now anyone can go it is pretty much free and well
there you have it. socialist eutopia not that great after all.

Good article. Yeah, I'm sure in Lafayette's French academic world they have gazillions of studies showing the power of socialism and "free" stuff. There's an old saying, attributed to multiple authors: "if you laid all the economist in the world end to end they still wouldn't reach a conclusion".

My favorite economist is Dr Thomas Sowell. His book "Basic Economics" is a masterpiece in its simple, logic analysis of the economy: the some total of all the decisions made day to day by consumers, sellers, investors, business people and entrepreneurs.

 

[Gimmesometruth]

My favorite economist is Dr Thomas Sowell.

THOMAS SOWELL IS THE STUPIDEST MAN ALIVE

 

[Gimmesometruth]

2014 data show that only 30% of French students get their bachelor degree without resetting a year

At most (US) public universities, only 19 percent of full-time students earn a bachelor’s degree in four years, the report found.

 

[Port & Starboard]

M... r... a...

Only in your lazy world are losers expected to have families with a $7.25 an hour job.

 

[Port & Starboard]

For many low income workers, a low income job is the best they can do, due to IQ or other issues (family commitments, physical problems, emotional issues). It goes way beyond them just being "lazy". Regardless, if everyone trained in a high paying skill program (college, trade schools, whatever), those higher paying jobs would then pay less due to an abundance of people seeking them. And we would still have a need for cashiers and buggy pushers.

Disability folks are generally taken care of already.


Any person who is healthy with a average IQ should only blame themselves if they are working for $7.25 as a established adult.

 

[imagep]

Disability folks are generally taken care of already.


Any person who is healthy with a average IQ should only blame themselves if they are working for $7.25 as a established adult.

Sure, I get that, but there are a lot of people who aren't quite healthy and/or don't quite have a normal IQ who don't qualify for disability, but still need more than $7.25/hr to survive, yet they are only capable of min wage level work. They aren't lazy, many are very hard workers, but they are just dim-witted.

 

[Mircea]

From the Guardian: US income inequality - 'CEOs don't want this released': US study lays bare extreme pay-ratio problem

Excerpt:


UFrom the Guardian: US income inequality - 'CEOs don't want this released': US study lays bare extreme pay-ratio problem

Excerpt:


Upper-income taxation (see historical graphic here) was mostly above 90% from 1941 to 1960s. JFK made a BigMistake when he brought it down to 80%. And Reckless Ronnie became a Replicant saint when he sent them down to the 30% range.

Whichis the single-most reason why Wealth has skyrocketed for this very select group who are nonetheless just 0.1% of the nation's population. (See that fact demonstrated here where Prof. Domhoff of UofC showed clearly in his Who Rules America web-site accessible from here.)

How do you like living in a country where the bottom 80% of the population own only 11% of the nations total Net Worth* - and top 20% of us own the other 89%?

Seems fair to you? Not to me ...

*Which is essentially all Wealth minus Debt.

Totally false information as usual.

The average CEO pay is $231,080 annually.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes111011.htm

The so-called "study" cherry-picked 255 companies, which is only 0.1% of the total number of companies that exist. And while 14 Million workers might sound like a lot to the less informed and the ignorant, it's only 9% of the total number of workers.

The tax rate was not 90% either.

The 1960 tax bracket started at 20% and incrementally increased in 24 steps to 91% on $3.1 Million or more.

There were also hundreds of tax deductions and tax credits available under the IRS Tax Code, that made the effective tax rate between 35% to 41% depending upon the particular individual. Those tax deductions and tax credits were eliminated by changes in the 1986 IRS Tax Code.

 

[Lafayette]

And to go wth that no DOD you forgot to mention, the only thing protecting you is what?

Never said that. Shall I write what I said more s-l-o-w-l-y so you can read it?

I wrote that it is wholly unacceptable that just less than 50% of the Discretionary Budget in the US go to only one department. We have other priorities, but not many of them correspond to the Defense Industry (that lives-'n-breathes on war.)

We are not the world's police. Period! And when we DO police-work, it is typically of a much smaller size - as in Syria today, where most of the fighting (for America) is being done by its henchmen the Israeli air-force. Which is sooooo pleased to have used the brand, spanking new F-35 in Syria - that cost the America voter $1.5 Trillion* to develop!!!

Must be nice to have protections, and not really have to pay a damn thing for it. Easy to do other social things that way, and say, see arent we better?

"Protections" me arse. I live in France and pay taxes here - and I need none of Uncle Sam's protections. I am a Yank, and if in this forum, it is "as a Yank". (Eat your heart out!)

Russia is highly unlikely to ever attack the EU. Upon which it depends for the sale of the major portion of its gas-production. I.e., MOST OF THE FOREIGN INCOME that Russia obtains from trade.

My point? It seems that what you know about geopolitics fits a thimble ...

*See here: How DOD’s $1.5 Trillion F-35 Broke the Air Force

 

[Lafayette]

Totally false information as usual.

Blah, blah, blah.

The only economic factor that matters is what goes from Income to Taxed Income and into Wealth - and from there minus Debt becomes Net Worth.

Which is shown here in graphic detail:

So you think that 10% of America's population should end-up with three-quarters of its Wealth - and that's just fine?

What planet do you live on ... ?

 

[Lafayette]

Only in your lazy world are losers expected to have families with a $7.25 an hour job.

Insipid blah, blah, blah ...

 

[Lafayette]

No you ignore them because they shoot down the nonsense that you spew on the economics forum.
as you say this is a debate forum. yet you don't do it.

so i posted 2 credible sources that support what i said.
this is based on real world evidence not pie in the sky economics that you constantly flout.

Pie-in-the-sky? Is that all you got?

Nothing I saw you offer in print here said anything that would affect in the least the points I make in this forum. None.

Mainly because the results are commonly the same - time and time again. The factual evidence is not being repeatedly "manufactured" to destabilize us by some people in a black-hole on the Russian Web.

Pomposity becomes you so ...

 

[Lafayette]

No you ignore them because they shoot down the nonsense that you spew on the economics forum.
as you say this is a debate forum. yet you don't do it.

so i posted 2 credible sources that support what i said.
this is based on real world evidence not pie in the sky economics that you constantly flout.

More blah-blah-blah ...

 

[HowardBThiname]

Except no one paid those rates. in 1952 the effective rate was 42% for the top 1%. in 2014 the effective rate was 36% an insignificant
difference.



Actually it isn't. the biggest reason wealth has skyrocketed is investment. those that invest and those that don't.
the biggest movement of middle class wealth investment came during the 80's and 90's when interest rates were through the roof.
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/historical-cd-interest-rates-1984-2016/

From 1970-1980 the investment into CD and bonds earned people millions of dollars.
you will see the wealth gap increase as savings percentages decrease. why?
there is no reason to save and most people have no clue about investments.



Life isn't fair. YOu want to be more successful then invest invest invest.
lower your debt and save more than you spend.

that is how wealth is created. YOu will find that most people that are wealthy live well below their means.
54% have college diploma's.

if you look at the typical minimum wage worker most do not even have a high school diploma or only a high school diploma.

you need to stop your class warefare it does nothing.

The emboldened above is a little bit of wisdom that many miss.

The wealthy don't get wealthy nor stay wealthy by throwing their money around. I frequently volunteer with a local community program and we serve meals to those who have trouble putting food on the table. While some who come to eat are truly downtrodden, we regularly have a few single-parent families whose kids come in with pricey athletic shoes -- their noses buried in their smartphones the entire time they're present.

I get it that parents want their kids to have what other kids have, but oddly enough, most kids in well-off families don't have all the pricey status symbols. Those kids are growing up with a chip on their shoulders, thinking they world owes them something. Once, when a single mother was telling me how hard her life was because she didn't get enough government help, I asked how old her son was. He was 17. I mentioned that there was an opening at the local lumberyard for an after-school and Saturday worker. She literally got angry with me for suggesting that her son should work. The son (a big strapping kid) looked at me apologetically, as if he might have liked the job. Anyway, a neighbor's son ended up getting the job. He was from a fairly-wealthy family and he (and his family) were thrilled. He worked there his Junior and Senior years in high school, went to college and got a Masters in Business, and then came back and bought the lumberyard. I see him all the time now. Great kid - still young - but ambitious and he's always excited to share some new item he's carrying, or some new sale. He's only had the place for about a year now, but folks really seem to like him.

That's the attitude that makes one succeed. From what I understand, his parents did lend him the money to buy the lumberyard, but he works his ass off. Dresses modestly, drives an old pickup, and he's there when the yard opens and when it closes.

If we could bottle that young man's attitude and sell it -- we'd really have something.

 

[imagep]

Come to Europe and live here a while:
*National Health Insurance that is a third to half the cost of privatized per capita health-care in the US. (See here.)
*National Primary, Secondary are free and Tertiary education is a minor fraction of the cost in a US state-school.
*No DoD usurping 50% of the national budget! (The money saved goes into the National Healthcare Service!)

I didn't post that did I? I sure don't remember it.

 

[longview]

I think what matters, is what a person can do with the income they can make.
At least in Texas, a medium income family can afford a nice house, and a nice lifestyle.
If they are frugal, they can put away for retirement, and pay for their kids to get college degrees.