Why You Can’t Make Ends Meet

You should be making $18,000 more a year right now.  And would, except for the inequality put in place  beginning with the trickle down policies of Ronald Reagan… now more appropriately called “tinkle” down economics… 

The bottom get pissed on.

The heavy line shows where you would be if the average rate of growth from across the years ’79 to ’10 were applied evenly.  The lighter line shows the reality….

99% of us are all earning an average of $18,000 less than we should be…  So how does this break down?

Average household incomes grew by 53.4 percent from 1979 to 2007. But that didn’t break down equally:

• The bottom fifth of households saw their income go up by 29.2 percent, well below the 53.4 percent average.
• Income for the middle fifth of households grew by a measly 19.7 percent.
• But how did people a little higher up, but not at the very top, do? A little better, but still below average: households between the 81st and 90th percentiles—so in the bottom half of the top fifth of the income ladder—had just 39.1 percent income growth. Again, well below that average of 53.4.
• So how far up do you have to go before you hit the average? The 91st to the 95th percentile almost got there, with 53 percent average growth. But they fell just short. Households between the 96th and 99th percentile seriously exceeded 53.4 percent, though. They had average income growth of 78.1 percent.
• That’s nothing compared to the top 1 percent, though: Their income grew by 244.7 percent, close to five times the average.

It is clear that most of the overall income gains from 1979 to 2007 bypassed the vast majority of American households. As such, their living standards are lower than they would be had these gains been shared more broadly.

Ways To Share More Broadly.

A.  Raise the Minimum Wage:  $10.10 is a start.  

B.  Organize More (and throw out ineffective current bosses) Unions. Override All State Laws Outlawing Unions.

C.  Reduce Wage Theft:  charging workers for uniforms, drinks, food, supplies. Cheating on overtime.

D. Tax the top 1% appropriately…  Include Capital Gains as income. Tax Corporations at the same rate as individuals. Raise the top marginal percents to these levels…

• Over $1 billion in income…  tax rate of 60%
• $500 million to $1 billion in income  = 55%
• $100 million to $500 million in income  = 50%
• $50 million to $100 million in income =  45%
• All the rest: no change….  

On top of this, allow all money put into capital improvements, to be deducted dollar for dollar. (Capital improvements require building things).  The rational is that if you put that money into capital improvements, you are improving this nation as much as if you were directly paying taxes to it.  Perhaps more so.

This can be done, but it must be done with a Democratic Executive, and over 60 Democrats in the Senate (or change the filibuster rules), and a fully Democratic House.  That is what has to happen for any change.  If it doesn’t happen then Americans rightly get what they deserve for being stupid.  Because we all know that Republicans are quite happy with the very fact that you ARE making $18,000 less than you should and quite happy that they are the ones receiving it, not you……. 

It wasn’t supposed to go that way. And it shouldn’t go that way….. 

 

 

 

 

 

No One Would Run A Tailpipe Into A Car; Why Is Delaware-Jobs-Now Insisting That Gets Done To Newark’s Residents

It is rapidly becoming apparent.  None of the alleged support for the power plant is local.   It is all out of New York.  The websites in favor of the power plant are going dark; the ones against the power plant are putting forth information daily.  A private PAC appeared out of nowhere to throw Newark’s election and now has disappeared.. Had it occurred under a hostile administration, the election could have been nullified, because the filing was late the night before the election.

Jack Markell, while proposing to clean up water and charge you for it,  has no problem dirtying your air, because Wall Street is paying for it.  The main office of the group, (they can’t tell you its really in New York) is listed as a Mail Box etc in West Chester Pennsylvania…

Anyone who has every worked on a  Hollywood live location knows exactly what is going on.  It’s all fake, and is being created for one shot.

You are supposed to think that jobs will come to Newark if you sign on to this plant.   Perhaps very few.  The Alabama contractor slated to begin work up here, has most of his people already hired. None of the money will actually land in Newark,. But the carcinogens will.  When finished it is like a giant exhaust pipe funneling carcinogenic waste our of the Bakkan Shield, right into your house.

This fake organization, whose website is still as it was in November, featuring Jack’s speech in spot one( he played his part well, didn’t he),. wants to be able take the exhaust from the data center stack and scatter it over your town.  For them it is a return on investment…. They live in New York. Why should they care about you?

With the recent NOAA notification that we are now in an El Nino year, it would be very wise to remember the El Nino year of 2002-3 when Delaware had mandatory water restrictions… Imagine how much more severe that becomes with an additional 6 million gallons a day siphoned out of our streams and water table to be funneled straight into the data center… That water of course will have a priority over water headed to your houses..  It has to; the data center can’t shut down, ever.

Don’t worry.  Those in New York will still be able to buy their bottled water by using their return on the investment this power plant will net them.