Overthrowing the government is going to far for me.

I wonder if the NSA is following this thread? :wave:

This is from an article written by Thomas Sowell, American economist, whose thoughts are often found on the Daily Sun editorial page:

"Social scientists," journalists and others who are committed to the theory that social barriers keep people down often cite statistics showing that the top income brackets receive a disproportionate and growing share of the country's income.

But the very opposite conclusion arises in studies that follow actual flesh-and-blood individuals over time, most of whom move up across the various income brackets with the passing years. Most working Americans who were initially in the bottom 20 percent of income-earners, rise out of that bottom 20 percent. More of them end up in the top 20 percent than remain in the bottom 20 percent.

People who were initially in the bottom 20 percent in income have had the highest rate of increase in their incomes, while those who were initially in the top 20 percent have had the lowest. This is the direct opposite of the pattern found when following income brackets over time, rather than following individual people.

Most of the media publicize what is happening to the statistical brackets -- especially that "top one percent" -- rather than what is happening to individual people.

We should be concerned with the economic fate of flesh-and-blood human beings, not waxing indignant over the fate of abstract statistical brackets. Unless, of course, we are hustling for an expansion of the welfare state.

Think about it...how much easier is it to lets say...double your income when you're making $10,000 (the bottom 20%) as opposed to when you make $5,000,000? It's much easier to statistically significantly increase your income when it's a very low number.

Be careful of "studies", they're good ways to spread misinformation. A person previously making $10,000 suddenly makes $15,000, a 50% increase in income! It sounds wonderful! The only problem is...they're still poor and still need assistance. Whereas someone making $100,000 gets a $5000 increase...it's only 1/2 of a percent.

And perhaps we should be aware of people skewing the original study information to fit their own scenario. This is the statement, Don:

"Most working Americans who were initially in the bottom 20 percent of income-earners, rise out of that bottom 20 percent. More of them end up in the top 20 percent than remain in the bottom 20 percent.

People who were initially in the bottom 20 percent in income have had the highest rate of increase in their incomes, while those who were initially in the top 20 percent have had the lowest. This is the direct opposite of the pattern found when following income brackets over time, rather than following individual people".

It didn't state that the people studied ended up with an additional $10,000. income. It did state that more of the people studied ended up in the TOP 20 percent than remained in the bottom 20 percent.

Exactly what I was thinking!

I thought they were on layoff.

It seems to me that many think that if I have "more" and you have "less" that I somehow took "mine from "yours.

I'm a little disappointed that only one poster so far seems to see the trend I see. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, I've come close to making it to the 1%, and I started with nothing. That truly is the realization of the American Dream. Virtually everyone I knew throughout my life had the OPPORTUNITY to get where I have.

But not now. My kids have scraped through, thank goodness, got college educations and good jobs in education and a pension to look forward to someday. They are doing ok because they didn't pile up college debt or credit card debt since then. They escaped the greedy investor fueled recession without losing their homes. But many of my kids good, well-bred, solid middle class friends are in financial crisis. The don't have any of the assets my kids do, except their educations. They are strapped with debt or lost their house or have declared bankruptcy. And most of those are the ones who have a job!

What I'm saying is that OPPORTUNITY is vanishing for the coming generations. I could give dozens of examples and a bunch of reasons for it, but it is REAL. As wealth continues to be cornered by a few, the growing remainder become frustrated. Historically that frustration breeds groups like the 3 percenters, and ultimately, revolutionary change. It has happened over and over again, and is happening in our world as we sit here and watch the flowers grow.

It's just fine to say "Wealth is good, go out and earn yours", but for millions of Americans, that is essentially becoming impossible.

ijusluvit is right about OPPORTUNITY being the "equality" on which this nation was built. Here is an insightful commentary on that:

"How America’s founder’s understood the words 'all men are created equal'.....

America’s founders knew, obviously, that human beings are not equal in terms of strength or beauty, or in terms of intelligence, industry or talents. They understood that because of such differences, differences in talents and things like that, some people would be wealthier than others. But human beings are equal, the founders believed, in their possession of natural rights, such as the rights to life, liberty and property.

Today many Americans reject this equality of rights in order to pursue equality of condition through redistribution, or spreading the wealth around to use a famous formulation.

This is destructive of liberty as the founders understood it."


Constitution Minute Episode 1

The rich are rich because they have made good choices in life; they are generally productive and they mostly keep doing whatever is required to maintain their wealth. When people are poor, and stay poor, it's usually because they keep making poor choices and are generally unproductive.

Having said that, class status is not static. The poor often move up to middle class and some become very wealthy. And there are the wealthy who take big risks and go bankrupt. The charts that show a big gap between rich and poor don't tell that story and that leads some people to think that the rich and poor are always the same people.

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Life is too short; let's lengthen it!

I do not think that what is being discussed is what the OP had in mind.

the 3 Percenters he refers to is, in fact, a fringe group (fringe is a relative term I think) that gets its name from the fact that only "Roughly three percent of the population fought for liberty at any given time during the American war for Independence"

This is the OP..."Has anybody been following this movement? These are the real out there groups that are probably more dangerous than terrorists.

They are all in with this close down DC parade of trucks happening tomorrow.

I also do not think the parade of trucks is OFFICIALLY tied to the "3 percenters" although it appears they share many of the same concerns.

Both groups are strict constitutionalists and I would think might be called fringe, but none of it has to do with the economy or such