What do you think?

[Chadeaux]

Was listening. To NPR on the way home this evening as usual and they were discussing (with a photographer) the "growing" disparity between the "wealthy" and poor today.

I thought it was an odd question to hear on NPR when the interviewer asked: "Is it that there is a bigger gap in wealth between rich and poor, or could it just appear to be so because there are so many more conveniences and gadgets available to the wealthy today?" (Not an exact quote, but as close as I can remember it).

So, my question is:

Do you think there is a bigger disparity between rich and poor today ... or does it just appear so because there are more trinkets for the wealthy to play with today?

 

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[hvacker]

There is a large divide between the two. Growing up a millionaire was a rare breed. Middle class wages have been stagnant for years. The middle class living standard is based on debt. Business has learned recently that their workers will work for less. They are still experimenting to find out how much less.
Our government is composed of rich people stacking the deck in their favor. The Supreme Court supports the idea that corp orates are people.

The problem with this site is that simply living is in fact political and to try to have even a smidgen of real thought here has to be avoided.

Live Free Or Die!

 

[jamey]

i do not want anything and love what i have.can i get any richer?

 

[Chadeaux]

This isn't political, and actually there is no right or wrong answer (provided no one goes overboard).

It just seems to me that the advances in technology both give more toys to the wealthy and makes them more visible to the poor.

The middle class may have been their own worst enemy ... Unions used to work for their members, then they got greedy for more from the employers followed by those same union leaders demanding more from their members.

They both weakened their stance before the employers and the members. Thus we see unions in decline in this country. Most greedy people are not intelligent enough to get away with their graft, it in fact becomes their weakness. Such has been the case with unions, and the middle class suffers because of it.

I have never been a union member but when I was in construction we made better money because Haliburton was afraid all of us Brown Builders (as Brown & Root employees were once called) would go across the highway to work for a union shop. They benefited all workers, but they have made a laughing stock of themselves.

That being said, GP has shut down two plywood mills in southeast Arkansas. They are gradually laying off union folks at what was (and may still be) the world's largest paper mill.

The only ones to blame for the union's demise are the union members and their leadership. "Weak as water", as Mrs. Slocumb would say.

 

[Chadeaux]

There is a large divide between the two. Growing up a millionaire was a rare breed. Middle class wages have been stagnant for years. The middle class living standard is based on debt. Business has learned recently that their workers will work for less. They are still experimenting to find out how much less.
Our government is composed of rich people stacking the deck in their favor. The Supreme Court supports the idea that corp orates are people.

The problem with this site is that simply living is in fact political and to try to have even a smidgen of real thought here has to be avoided.

Live Free Or Die!

Workers always did work for less before the unions. Rich people throughout history have always stacked the deck in their favor. That's how they remain rich people.

 

[GMD52]

Chad, one of the problems that I have seen is that todays college graduates want to start at the top, and not work their way up the ladder as most of us did. I will grant you that they exit with enormous debt, and need viable employment, but still also need the experience. One thing to also consider is that today many jobs and tasks have been automated and people, who are more expensive to employ, and can't work 24/7, are eliminated.....thus increasing the profit and income of the company.

The rich are getting richer because the already have the resources at hand to work with and invest, and worker's have a harder time reaching that level. I'm no where near rich, but have just recently retired(in Feb.), and am able to make it on what I have worked for over the years, and also find myself debt free.......sometimes when you don't try and keep up with the neighbor's, you will find yourself better off in the long run.....Gary

 

[Gold Maven]

The older I get, the more I realize that wealth is often a curse.

Learn to be happy where ever you are, life is way too short.

There has always been a large gap between the two, in fact in order to function as a society there has to be, we can't all be rich.

 

[davest]

I forgot where I read this but 1300 megabillionaires control 94% of the planets resources. That leaves 7 billion people to fight over the remaining 6%. The wealthiest always seem to get the prime pieces too.

 

[Chadeaux]

I forgot where I read this but 1300 megabillionaires control 94% of the planets resources. That leaves 7 billion people to fight over the remaining 6%. The wealthiest always seem to get the prime pieces too.

... but do you think it has always been this way and it is just seen more today or is it something different?

In other words, this increased disparity ... is it real or not?

 

[TheRingFinder]

What do I think? I think you shouldn't be listening to propaganda stations like NPR...............Just my two gold rings worth!

 

[davest]

I think there has always been a disparity among humans when it comes to the have nots and the have mores. With todays technology it is so much easier to see it where as in the 17th, 18th, 19th century the isolation of nations was much stronger and although the poor had the sneaky suspicion that they were being used, the ones in merry old England weren't sure how bad it was for those in Spain or France, or vice versa. You could look to Dickens novels to see what a poor person was worth in the 17th or 18th centuries. Or you could study the French Revolution and see how long it took before someone lost their heads.

 

[Chadeaux]

What do I think? I think you shouldn't be listening to propaganda stations like NPR...............Just my two gold rings worth!

I personally want to hear all sides, put together all of the plausible parts (especially when both sources agree on a point being fact) and weed out what is opinion (based on agenda) on both sides.

What is left should be somewhere close to the truth.

And that's what I base my opinions on --- not a FOX news junkie (don't even watch it anymore), but I am not a CNN or MSNBC believer either.

Rethink NPR, because back in 1992 or 1993 they were the first ones to break a story where HIV was passed from one human to another via a shared shaving razor. Scientists on both sides had been saying it could not happen prior to that.

I have been listening to NPR news mornings and afternoons since 1991, and I don't think it has swayed my opinion away from common sense but rather enforced my resolve to speak my mind when I see wrong. I even remember listening to the interview where Obama spoke badly about the Constitution while still a junior Senator in Illinois. That is when I began disliking him ... you would be surprised at the things broadcast on NPR (if you ignore the commentary and stick to the facts) that even FOX, Limbaugh, Hannity and others miss. I am beginning to think that Glen Beck is listening to them though, he's addressing things that the others have missed.

 

[hvacker]

Chadeaux, I agree with you about NPR. Those that talk bad about NPR I'd bet they don't listen to it and never have.
About Unions though, I was a member of the Sheet Metal Workers since 1974 and was a signatory contractor since 1996 until I retired in 08.
After the Russian revolution the money here was scared to death that the revolution was the beginning of the end. The idea that workers were going to control their own destiny. Unions were seen as socialist movements and dangerous to the wealthy. Tons of money was spent on propaganda to damage the reputations of the unions. That effort succeeded and the leaders were thrown out. A huge vacuum was created and was gladly filled by the Mob. That wasn't seen as so bad by the money as the Mob was comprised by business men also.
Bit by bit the Mob influence has been eliminated in a large number of Unions where today, in many, it's old history.
Today Union's are getting smaller largely because many don't have the strife that workers once had. They also don't know how all the advantages they enjoy on the job came through suffering on a Pickett line. Eight hour day, paid overtime, child labor, safety, equal opportunity (fairly recently) the list goes on.
The American middle class was created by American Unions. The demise in Unions is directly in line with the demise of the American middle class.

 

[TheRingFinder]

Chadeaux, I agree with you about NPR. Those that talk bad about NPR I'd bet they don't listen to it and never have.
About Unions though, I was a member of the Sheet Metal Workers since 1974 and was a signatory contractor since 1996 until I retired in 08.
After the Russian revolution the money here was scared to death that the revolution was the beginning of the end. The idea that workers were going to control their own destiny. Unions were seen as socialist movements and dangerous to the wealthy. Tons of money was spent on propaganda to damage the reputations of the unions. That effort succeeded and the leaders were thrown out. A huge vacuum was created and was gladly filled by the Mob. That wasn't seen as so bad by the money as the Mob was comprised by business men also.
Bit by bit the Mob influence has been eliminated in a large number of Unions where today, in many, it's old history.
Today Union's are getting smaller largely because many don't have the strife that workers once had. They also don't know how all the advantages they enjoy on the job came through suffering on a Pickett line. Eight hour day, paid overtime, child labor, safety, equal opportunity (fairly recently) the list goes on.
The American middle class was created by American Unions. The demise in Unions is directly in line with the demise of the American middle class.

Well, you are incorrect hvacker. I have listened plenty to NPR & Minnesota PR - both are soooo far left it is just sickening. I can't listen anymore, plus when I travel; I scan the radio and as soon as I hear something way off the wall.......guess what........it's NPR again. Just very sad when any reporting is so slanted. News should be news and facts. <---That's a period by the way.

About Unions - I have been in the CWA for 28 years, and guess what? I can't decide which is more corrupt - Big business CEO's or big Union bosses. It's a toss up! Unions should stay the heck out of politics also and just stick to labor issues, that's where they really screwed up. Pushing all that leftist crap lost them A LOT of support, including me.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

HA! I look at the Great Depression in America, that my dad & mom went through; they were not millionaires and did OK; mountain ppl near the Shenandoah National Parkway did even BETTER; THEY asked... "Depression...? WHAT Depression...?
How many millionaires + KILLED themselves, during the Great Depression, as the Stock Market crashed...? The movie, Razor's Edge with Bill Murray, gave me HOPE!

 

[davest]

HA! I look at the Great Depression in America, that my dad & mom went through; they were not millionaires and did OK; mountain ppl near the Shenandoah National Parkway did even BETTER; THEY asked... "Depression...? WHAT Depression...?
How many millionaires + KILLED themselves, during the Great Depression, as the Stock Market crashed...? The movie, Razor's Edge with Bill Murray, gave me HOPE!

antser to the question of how many millionaires+ KILLED themselves.............................................NONE. ZIP, NADA.

a bit of simple research will reveal no names of any one that threw themselves out of windows on wall street, hung themselves in garages, ate carbon monoxide, slit their wrists, shot themselves dead, drowned on purpose, took rat poison, stepped in front of trains, or did anything to shorten their lives due to causing the Great Depression. That part was a great media hoax. However, of the less fortunate that lost their homes, savings and security due to the moneyed interests dealings were many. Seems the less the money the folks had, the greater honor they had in thinking they had to provide for their progeny and also repay what they borrowed. The shame of not being able to drove many to an early grave.

Kinda like todays too big to jail banksters.

 

[Chadeaux]

antser to the question of how many millionaires+ KILLED themselves.............................................NONE. ZIP, NADA.

a bit of simple research will reveal no names of any one that threw themselves out of windows on wall street, hung themselves in garages, ate carbon monoxide, slit their wrists, shot themselves dead, drowned on purpose, took rat poison, stepped in front of trains, or did anything to shorten their lives due to causing the Great Depression. That part was a great media hoax. However, of the less fortunate that lost their homes, savings and security due to the moneyed interests dealings were many. Seems the less the money the folks had, the greater honor they had in thinking they had to provide for their progeny and also repay what they borrowed. The shame of not being able to drove many to an early grave.

Kinda like todays too big to jail banksters.

Not millionaires at the time they killed themselves, but many had been in the years before the Great Depression

 

[packerbacker]

If we were all rich, who would clean the toilets? Ever notice that the parents from poor neighborhoods will take their kids to a better neighborhood to go trick-or-treating? That's why I don't get many kids knocking on MY door.

 

[hvacker]

Well, you are incorrect hvacker. I have listened plenty to NPR & Minnesota PR - both are soooo far left it is just sickening. I can't listen anymore, plus when I travel; I scan the radio and as soon as I hear something way off the wall.......guess what........it's NPR again. Just very sad when any reporting is so slanted. News should be news and facts. <---That's a period by the way.

About Unions - I have been in the CWA for 28 years, and guess what? I can't decide which is more corrupt - Big business CEO's or big Union bosses. It's a toss up! Unions should stay the heck out of politics also and just stick to labor issues, that's where they really screwed up. Pushing all that leftist crap lost them A LOT of support, including me.

Disagreeing with me doesn't make me "incorrect". Maybe you hear what you want.
About your union experience I'll ask were you involved? Did you attend meetings, run for office, get involved? Hard to imagine that you have any valid complaints if all you did was observe from a distance.

 

[Frankn]

It goes back to the old saying," You have to have money to make money.", so those who got there foot in the door early and there descendants now bathe in wealth. Looks like the Waltons are the leaders now, followed closely by Buffet. Just my view of it. Frank...-