Quote:
Originally Posted by jimjamuser
One man's fallacy is another man's fact and most important American principle - that a STRONG middle class makes a STRONG COUNTRY. Today we have a STRONG upper-income class.......just like the ancient Romans had when Rome fell. We have outsourced our MIDDLE-CLASS to China. Now everyone can see that THEY are taking that STRONG middle class and flexing their muscle against BOTH the US and Taiwan. So, yes I do think that the legislative changes to the tax RATES put in place for the benefit of the upper class after the 1950s are DANGEROUS for the US and the world. I AM aware of it, most are not. Please allow me to have an OPINION!
The above paragraph relates the BASIS that has allowed people from Jack Welsh and the Koch brothers to Steve Jobs, Sam Bankman-Fried, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, AND OUR FAVORITE IN THIS CONVERSATION--------the wonderful ELON MUSK - to PULL from the US economy more riches than any South American DICTATOR possesses. I am NOT saying that those individuals do NOT deserve to earn/accumulate more riches than people in the middle class. It is a matter of degree. Japanese CEOs used to (and still may) be embarrassed to make more than 10 times what their average line worker makes. Musk and Zuckerberg make thousands of times more than their worker bees. That is the DEGREE and the problem of which I speak. I am NOT saying to change the American system - just to make it fairer and RESTORE the middle class which the upper class has outsourced to China and other countries.
When we talk about a "dumpster fire" that is BOTH Musk and SB-F........they are merely actors taking ADVANTAGE of their GREATER environment. The US economic environment in which most resources / money have drifted upward from the middle-class to the uber-upper class from 1950 to today. That is the REAL dumpster fire!
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I'm impressed ! To me, based on the friendly and inquisitive casual conversations I've tired to have with friends, neighbors, local coffee shop customers, it seems few people seem to actually understand the gradual diminishing of the middle class, and if they do "see" it happening, they have no idea of how/why this is happening. Most assume it's "just politics", the party in office, you are one of the few I have ever talked to or read a post from, who seems to truly understand the significance of "outsourcing" and the role manufacturing played in building the strong middle class that once existed here and fueled a roaring economy. Detroit, Gary, Indiana and all the ore ships on the great lakes, the manufacturing of steel, etc. Now, we are even dependent on our greatest threat for the most basic medications ! No this is not the "fault" of this or that political party. It's the result of an ever growing disinterest in what is HAPPENING to one's country, together with a growing spiritual bankruptcy...notice I did not mention this or that specific religion, but just a growing disinterest in the economy, in spiritual values, in pride in country, a long list of things that "used" to matter ! ? People appear to have become so fixated on calling each other liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, racist, homophobic (and all KINDS of "phobics" previously unheard of), that they simply have ignored what is really happening as we excitedly handed over even our medical future in exchange for cheaper goods; cell phones, athletic shoes, furniture, steel, appliances, computers, televisions, clothing, light bulbs, tires, this could go on forever but, if it lowered the price a few cents, or a few dollars, we were 100% supportive. It is so hard to get that toothpaste BACK into the TUBE !