Viewing the glass half-fullnicegeekJuly 26 2010, 16:10:54 UTC
This article seems to be doing the economic equivalent of complaining that gravity is too strong. If someone drops something on their foot, it hurts...if someone else is able and willing to do a job for less, they'll probably be the one to get the job
( ... )
Re: Viewing the glass half-fullnicegeekJuly 26 2010, 22:35:54 UTC
1) Sure. Check out the statistical annex for the U.N. Millenium Development Goals, Indicator Table 1.1. This shows the percentage of the population in various areas of the world living in poverty. Note that across the entire developing world, it's dropped from 45.7% to 26.6%. I'm not sure just how many people that represents, but it's probably in the range of a billion or so, and certainly enough to dwarf the U.S. middle class many times over
( ... )
Re: Viewing the glass half-fullnuadha_primeJuly 29 2010, 03:58:35 UTC
1) While it is really good to see the amount of extreme poverty has gone down, that still has not answered my request - some proof that the international quality of life has improved in some significant way to balance the loss of the American middle class. Creating more working-poor jobs where people are not starving, but are damned close to it, is not in my mind a good thing when the resources are there to create decent paying jobs for everyone
( ... )
Also, while I don't disagree with the thesis that wealth disparities have been increasing, I'd pick a bone with some of the supporting statistics, like:
66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
This seems cherry-picked; that time period nicely omits the money lost by the wealthy during the crashes in 2000 and 2008.
Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008. Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
2008 was the worst year in Wall Street's recent memory...of course 2009 is going to be higher, both in terms of bonuses, and in the size of investors' portfolios.
In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.Yes...because the federal government isn't subject to price pressures, it can pay well its workers an above-market rate. That isn't a good thing; the money for those wages still gets taken
( ... )
Comments 19
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
This seems cherry-picked; that time period nicely omits the money lost by the wealthy during the crashes in 2000 and 2008.
Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
2008 was the worst year in Wall Street's recent memory...of course 2009 is going to be higher, both in terms of bonuses, and in the size of investors' portfolios.
In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.Yes...because the federal government isn't subject to price pressures, it can pay well its workers an above-market rate. That isn't a good thing; the money for those wages still gets taken ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment