"UNPRECEDENTED" - 88% of income growth went to Corp profits since 2009, 1% to wages

[nashville_brook]

Something to think about from ThinkProgress...citing a study by Northeastern University, we find that the economic "recovery" (such as it is) has only benefited corporations. Which, is another way of saying that big corporations found yet another way to profit from our misery. S&P Corporations are sitting on nearly $800 BILLION in cash...but if you take non-S&P corps into account, we're looking at $4 TRILLION in cash that's being HOARDED by corporations.

In case you're wondering, this is exactly where a functioning Democratic Party would insert themselves, quite publicly, to roll back these abuses and stand firm with the Middle/Working Class.

-- 14 million unemployed

-- top executive salaries increased 27% LAST YEAR ALONE

-- worker's incomes increased only .1% - that's a decrease taking into account inflationary cost of gas, food, medical care, education

-- income inequality is now worse than in most of the 1920s

-- the richest 1% now have 25% of the entire country's income



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/30/258388/corp... /

Since 2009, 88 Percent Of Income Growth Went To Corporate Profits, Just One Percent Went To Wages

(snip)

“Between the second quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2010, real national income in the U.S. increased by $528 billion. Pre-tax corporate profits by themselves had increased by $464 billion while aggregate real wages and salaries rose by only $7 billion or only .1%. Over this six quarter period, corporate profits captured 88% of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1% of the growth in real national income. …The absence of any positive share of national income growth due to wages and salaries received by American workers during the current economic recovery is historically unprecedented.”

The New York Times adds, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average real hourly earnings for all employees actually declined by 1.1 percent from June 2009, when the recovery began, to May 2011, the month for which the most recent earnings numbers are available.”

(snip)

[peacebird]

1. k&r. But what to do about it?

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Threaten any politician that doesn't support the Eisenhower Tax is Out!

[hay rick]

77. Eisenhower tax!

Great frame- haven't heard that before. Referring, I presume, to the 91% top marginal income tax rate.

[femrap]

12. A big fat

MARCH ON WASHINGTON, DC. TAX THE RICH!

[PonyJon]

46. STOP THE MACHINE Washington DC October 6 2011 Freedom Plaza - be there please!

If you want to initiate change please be in Freedom Plaza, Washington DC, October 6th. www.october2011.org

[rbnyc]

52. I'll see you there. nt

[defendandprotect]

89. From your link ... "The Pentagon's strengthening grip on Hollywood" --

The Pentagon's strengthening grip on Hollywood


Military Calls War a "Product" to Be Sold

The intensifying Military-Entertainment Complex, as described by the Times and Journal, raise again the big question: Why is the Pentagon so focused on using Hollywood as a propaganda machine? The answer is simple: At a time when more and more Americans are questioning the fundamental tenets of militarism (ie. budget-busting defense expenditures, never-ending wars/occupations, etc.), military officials are desperate to turn the public opinion tide back in a pro-militarist direction - and they know pop culture is the most effective tool to achieve that goal. Why pop culture? Because audiences don’t see movies and TV shows as ideological at all. That means movie and TV audience’s psychological filter guarding against propaganda is turned off - making the militarist propaganda in these mediums that much more persuasive.

http://october2011.org/blogs/margaret-flowers/pentagons...


There is one part of RW propaganda that people here seem to actually believe which I find

astonishing -- and that's that this is a RW nation! Yikes!

It is the very opposite of a RW nation -- and the above information is exactly the kind of

info that the public needs to understand that basic fact!

80% of Americans are against these wars -- want them shut down.



Otoh, this kind of propaganda -- Operation Mockingbird -- is still a threat beyond those who

understand Imperialism and war-profits -- and that is the threat to our youth -- the new

Disney genertion that arrives every 7 years -- i.e., born yesterday. Not understanding what

is really going on. And, we need to have young people more aware of this propaganda and the

RW, warmongering manipulation of minds while watching movies!!

[saras]

25. Same as always...

George Hamilton IV explains in detail.

[indepat]

26. We gotta lower corporate taxes to make them more competitive, ain't that the

RE mantra?

[Odin2005]

30. Destroy Captalism.

[fasttense]

59. A sustained, prolong protest is the only remaining thing we liberals have NOT tried.

Here are 2 coming up this month and next.

"On September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.

Tahrir succeeded in large part because the people of Egypt made a straightforward ultimatum – that Mubarak must go – over and over again until they won. Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand?

The most exciting candidate that we've heard so far is one that gets at the core of why the American political establishment is currently unworthy of being called a democracy: we demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. It's time for DEMOCRACY NOT CORPORATOCRACY, we're doomed without it."

http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywal...

"I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day or the days immediately following, for as long as I can, with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine by occupying Freedom Plaza to demand that America's resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning."

http://october2011.org/welcome

[defendandprotect]

90. People have to be protesting every day -- every minute of their day ... buttons ...

STOP THE WARS --

MEDICARE FOR ALL --

TAX THE RICH --

STOP CORPORATE/FASCISM --



Chose a different button every day -- but the main purpose of corporate-press is to block

these messages -- to block this kind of unity -- and we should be working to get these

messages out to ONE ANOTHER every day!

[Enrique]

69. raise taxes n/t

[EFerrari]

2. Welcome to your new kleptocracy!

[GMBshootingclubM60]

4. Don't worry...

Don't worry... the money is all safely invested in China.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Bin Ladin or Shrub ???

[kentuck]

6. Until Reagan, workers shared in this productivity...

Wages have more or less stagnated since 1980. Look at this chart.

[progressoid]

7. +1000

[orpupilofnature57]

11. Your right ,Air traffic controllers were his first victims.

[Sherman A1]

56. Precisely

The stage was being set well before The ATC Strike, but that was the beginning of the frontal assault on Labor and the working class in this country.

[hughee99]

14. Could it have anything to do with the fact that manufacturing

really started moving production to other countries around then?

[PonyJon]

47. STOP THE MACHINE Washington DC October 6 2011 Freedom Plaza - www.october2011.org nt

[Sherman A1]

57. Great Chart

where did you get it, I would like to post in on FB for my good Republican "friends".

[GeorgeGist]

8. 3D chess ...

is a ritch man's game.

[nashville_brook]

17. ...as it is played with human chess pieces.

[paparush]

39. Yep. And guess who the sacrificial pawns are...

[progressoid]

9. I think we've been trickled down upon.

[DirkGently]

10. They want it all. And they want it NOW. And no one appears willing to stop them.

[Mosaic]

41. From Micael Moore's Site worth some research

P.S. Here are a few places you can connect with to get the ball rolling:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/30-...

scroll: links are near the end of the article!

Main Street Contract for America
Showdown in America
Democracy Convention
Occupy Wall Street
October 2011
How to Join a Union by the AFL-CIO (they've learned their lesson and have a good president now) or UE
Change to Win
MoveOn
High School Newspaper (Just because you're under 18 doesn't mean you can't do anything!)

[defendandprotect]

91. Just want to comment ....

on this ...

"How to Join a Union by the AFL-CIO (they've learned their lesson and

have a good president now) or UE"


Union membership has gone down from its highest ever here in US of 39% -- to

9% or 7% -- ???

That was accomplished by criminal attacks on unions -- using MAFIA, as well --

and by infiltration and all kinds of threats and illegalities --

However, it was also done by putting leadership in place which would betray the

very purpose of the union and divert funds --


Same has also been done with the Democratic Party -- !!

These are the things the public has to understand --

[Octafish]

13. It's the 'new normal.'

Rich get richer. Middle class pays for it and become the new poorer. Ha ha.

Thank you for the heads-up, Nashvillita. Information is power. And in a democracy, power is everybody's business.

[nashville_brook]

16. it's a massive transfer of wealth from working families/children, to transnational corporations.

that's called Plutocracy, and it's what's killing democracy, and undermining our republic (which was ours, if we could keep it).

[DirkGently]

18. First thing, you can't own a house. Or belong to a union. Too much power for serfs there.

It's happening.

[Octafish]

32. Even in states led by Democratic governors.

Cough. Cuomo. Cough. Malloy...

[PonyJon]

48. STOP THE MACHINE Washington DC October 6 2011 Freedom Plaza - www.october2011.org nt

www.october2011.org BE THERE PLEASE - WE CAN STOP THIS BULLSHIT

[WinkyDink]

62. No march I ever went on (D.C. back in the day; NYC twice in '03) ever meant a tinker's dam.

I'm skipping this one.

[defendandprotect]

93. We need to find a challenger to Obama -- imo --

and generally agree with you on these marches which take place when Congress

isn't there -- nor the president, usually --

I've been to immense marches in Washington -- it may privately scare the hell

out of elites/government --

but since usually the full force of the gathering is hidden from the public --

and causes no call for change from corporate-press -- it becomes dismissable.


Imo, the solutions lie elsewhere -- in everyone recognizing they are labor and

uniting informally in that way, beginning to set their own standards/demands and

forcing corporations to come to them for workers -- slow down strikes -- beginning

slowly as everyone unites.

And the rest of it at the local level which needs to burst out -- but that requires

leaders to come forward and the Dem Party has shut its doors to any neighborhood

activity -- especially any anti-corporate activity!!

[suffragette]

96. Cough. Gregoire.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnolog...
Study shows state's middle-class jobs not expected to grow
Even when employment starts growing, middle-class jobs will lag as the economy in Washington and the U.S. slowly becomes more polarized between high- and low-wage work, forecasts show.
Originally published Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 10:01 PM

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jontalton/2015409...
Income inequality grows as CEO pay climbs above historic levels
Originally published June 25, 2011 at 9:57 PM | Page modified June 27, 2011 at 6:18 PM

[avaistheone1]

15. Much, much worse than I imagined.

[Rex]

19. This is the Age of Corporations.

They own us and our govt. One day adults will be in charge again and hopefully will work on fixing this gargantuan mess. Just not today or tomorrow.

[DirkGently]

20. Robber Barons, Part Deux.

[evilDonkey]

21. can't last forever

If this went on forever eventually the top 1% would own the entire assets of the country.

[durablend]

58. That's what they're counting on! n/t

[newspeak]

79. and many aren't even americans

Of course, some of those corporations who say they are american, seem more like traitors to the country--apparently it's okay as long as they are not traitors to their class like FDR. FDR the man who saved capitalism from itself.

When the eighties, early nineties, greedy deregulating free for all--greedheads doing hostile takeovers of american companies most in the black and gutting them, then selling them off to, sometimes, foreign entities while the workers, some generational, were screwed. Well, those greedheads found that they didn't have to use their personal assets to do these takeovers, no Michael Milkin, introduced them to the "junk bond" scheme. And the rest is history.

[Starry Messenger]

22. Capitalism sucks.

Literally.

[QC]

23. You know, if we had an opposition party in this country,

they could ride the outrage over this all the way to the White House, to say nothing of total control of Congress.

[socialist_n_TN]

24. The only "opposition" party that will work

is one with a Marxist Internationalist world view. The rest of them are OWNED by the people the "opposition" should be fighting.

[orpupilofnature57]

27. Or a Jeffersonian Internationalist view !! It's 400 richest families that

own us ,but their agents are killing us under the priority is profit clause ,which seems to be enough to usurp the very air we breath.

[PonyJon]

49. October 6 "Stop The Machine" in Wahington DC Freedom Plaza www.october2011.org

[defendandprotect]

92. Whatever it is going to be -- we should be busy on finding a candidate for 2012 -- !!!

[DirkGently]

28. If Dems keeping blending with the right, we're going to get something weird. Like Ron Paul weird. Ug

[Odin2005]

29. No better example of how profit is the THEFT of the wealth workers produce.

[Taverner]

31. But...but...but we can't punish success!

We can't punish the "job creators"!

[inna]

33. wow, nice record there, mr. president. some achievement.

[inna]

34. mind blowing - and a must-read.

[bvar22]

35. QUICK! Somebody add this achievement to "The LIST"!

DLC Mission Accomplished!




You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
(Never has ^THIS^ been more true.)

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[YellowRubberDuckie]

36. That's funny.

1% is exactly the amount of my last raise.

[PonyJon]

51. STOP THE MACHINE Washington DC October 6 2011 Freedom Plaza - be there please! www.october2011.org

[YellowRubberDuckie]

71. Yeah, because I have enough money to go out of state.

Again with the lack of raise. =)

[leftstreet]

37. +1

[blkmusclmachine]

38. "All Your Money Belongs To Us"

n/t

[cyglet]

40. ...and 0% to hiring

So where is the other 11% going? CEOs? Shareholders?

Is this what Reagan meant by "trickle down"? Does the one percent even cover the increase in health care premiums?

I would say I'm glad I don't work in the corporate world anymore, but they're trying to do the same to everyone...

[Initech]

42. We dont work for us, we work for them.

[defendandprotect]

43. Productivity went up 35% over last decades -- wages stagnant ... !!! SLOW DOWN, everyone!!

[nashville_brook]

73. i wonder how "productivity" is measured. i know that where i work, they fired, er...

laid off (shit canned) half of my department nationwide. Now, we still have a department that ostensibly does the same amount of work...did we increase productivity 50%?

[defendandprotect]

85. Probably .... FEAR can do that -- think of the FEAR on the old assembly lines ... !!

Everyone should slow down -- but everyone has to agree to do it together --

More than ever we need to begin to raise an informal WE ARE ALL LABOR UNITED group --

which would begin to advise labor -- and which in the end would begin to move

to a 4 day work week -- 5 hour day -- where WE ARE ALL LABOR UNITED would set the working

standards -- hours -- and wages -- and where corporations would have to come to that

UNION OF WORKERS to get any workers.

No workers -- no profits - no wealth -- no illegitimate power over government

[spanone]

44. or how to strangle an economy to destroy the reigning democratic party

[WinkyDink]

61. And get rich doing it!

[lunasun]

45. Good post for Labor Day thought ( in these times ) .......UNfortunately aargh

[PonyJon]

50. October 6 "Stop The Machine" in Wahington DC Freedom Plaza www.october2011.org

[SixthSense]

53. "... June 2009, when the recovery began..."

[gunnergoz]

54. There will be no change in DC until we change campaign funding

This is but one more bit of evidence of how the efforts of the corporations and wealthy elite have altered the face of America in the past 35 years. Now DC is full of elected officials - their party affiliation is unimportant - who are beholden to the deep pocket interests that fund their election campaigns. What these interests want, they get. It is that simple. What is good for the country or what ordinary citizens of the middle class want, is irrelevant. We are only useful for the moment we walk into the voting booth and after that we are superfluous and annoying to the powers that be.

The only way to alter this fact is to fundamentally change how we fund campaigns for public offices, from locally to nationally. Campaigns have to be publicly funded, where all contributions go into common pools and are shared out equally between all candidates. Only in this way can we separate those who contribute campaign funds, from those who benefit from the funding. If your local politician is not beholden to one special interest or another for his re-election funding, he/she is that much less likely to be influenced by their attempts to alter his/her voting patterns once in office. True, there will always be "professional politicians" who will seek office if for not other reason than personal power and ego, but this will at least give others the chance to attain and keep office, who do not really wish to have to beg, borrow and steal in order to be re-elected.

[nashville_brook]

72. yes, we have to pull the tick off the back of our neck.

[Cosmocat]

78. Absolutely ...

IMO, this is THE key issue at hand ...

They are bought and paid for, the republicans to a man and woman, and far too many Ds ...

I live in PA - our governor and key leaders in the state legislature and senate took millions from the natural gas industry in the last election. We are the only state that does not have a natural gas extraction tax or fee of some kind. The same people took millions from private/charter school lobbyists, and we are closing in on voucher funding ...

Just bought and paid for, completely.

[IndyPragmatist]

80. Exactly, our system was supposed to allow anyone to be able to run for office

That is nowhere near the case. We have allowed a system to be created where the elite get elected and make all the decisions.

The Democrats created a primary system in hopes of preventing this, but it did the opposite. Primaries are just as expensive as the regular campaign. To have a shot at running for the presidency, you need many millions of dollars. The only way to get that much money to spend on a campaign is either be extremely wealthy prior to running, or accept massive contributions from corporations to fund the effort.

When Obama declined the public money, I knew elections had gone to shit. Obama broke precedent with that. No other candidate had the guts to do it. They all wanted to, but they were afraid of how they would be perceived. Once Obama did it, you will see everyone else do the same. Why take public money and be forced to deal with the spending restrictions? Campaigns raise hundreds of millions of dollars now. They don't need that small amount that was designed to keep elections somewhat honest. Republicans always wanted to deny the public money but were afraid to. I was amazed when Obama did it; but after seeing the type of president Obama has become, I am no longer surprised. That was one of the first signals that Obama didn't care about the people; he was just like everybody else.

[defendandprotect]

86. +1000% -- though this won't happen without PRIMARYING Obama in 2012 ...

[Bonobo]

55. Not a class war. It is class genocide. nt

[nashville_brook]

67. we watched Inside Job last nite...and if this wasn't clear enough, that movie will convince you

[DirkGently]

74. I wonder how many people appreciate that Bernanke, Summers, Geithner, et al. ACTIVELY CREATED

the market crash they were then presumably hired to fix? Summers viciously crushed anyone even suggesting any regulation or oversight of the derivatives market. Bernanke loudly ridiculed, on national television, the suggestion that housing prices might EVER go down on a national scale.

This administration built its entire economic henhouse out of the jaws of the very foxes that killed us all.

[defendandprotect]

87. Simply put, Obama betrayed the American voters -- that's all - and that has to be faced!!

The Republican Party was finished after the W Bush years --

this was their only choice -- use a Democrat to crash the rest of the New Deal --

and all regulation of industry!


How could anyone still be doubting that --

You have a Democratic Party which for more than 20 years has been infiltrated

by Koch Bros/DLC which influenced the agenda of the party and its selection of

candidates -- including its presidential candidates.


The presidency now is as rigged as our Supreme Court --

[CrispyQ]

75. It should be required viewing.

It perfectly explains what happened in a way everyone can understand.

It was on a Starz channel recently & is available through Netflix.

[defendandprotect]

88. Was checking internet ....

two sites which had the movie FREE were throwing up "threats" and my security

was blocking --

Predictable ...

[WinkyDink]

60. But...but....This is AMERICA! Freedom! They EARNED it! USA! Go back to Russia!

[nashville_brook]

100. yoink! -- Russia is exactly the kind of state they're creating

complete criminal enterprise.

[FlyByNight]

63. Working harder for less...

...is the new model.

"This is exactly where a functioning Democratic Party would insert themselves." Sadly, it is functioning - for those same interests who've fully bought the fascist wing of the Business Party (Republicans).

Well, at least we have austerity to look forward to.

[nashville_brook]

68. yep -- this administration began the handouts to the Friedmanites prior to inauguration

with the appointment of the same Wall Street criminals responsible for breaking the system.

[w0nderer]

64. k&r n/t

[mother earth]

65. And yet 99% of Americans still think we have a democracy...

it's time to wake up. By the people and for the people? Insert corporation and this is the new America, and even these profits are not enough for the slave barons.

[CrispyQ]

76. Remember when we used to name our stadiums & parks after notable people?

Now we name them after the corpo that pays the most.

Damn.

[mother earth]

105. I guess that's why the corporations are now considered

people, with rights, declared by the SCOTUS, their money can do anything.

[defendandprotect]

94. Truly doubt that -- public knows the will of the people is being ignored ... blocked -- !!

74% of the public sees government as "dysfunctional" --

Al Gore has made clear "Congress is under the control of the oil and coal industries" --


80% of the public wants an end to the wars --

74% and more want MEDICARE FOR ALL -- 83% of Catholics who want reproductive services included!

94% of Americans want a system like Sweden's -- !!



And you are correct -- there is no end to what the RW needs to maintain its control --

in the end only slavery will do --


You might be interested in this which I've just posted on another thread --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

but essentially it's what the RW has done with every available avenue of information --

it has to be controlled/shut down because any iota of truth is a huge threat to the RW --

because this is a liberal nation -- radically liberal!

[mother earth]

106. You are right, it is much lower than 99%. My bad, but judging

by some people here, they still want to believe the next election will change something. Sadly, we know it won't. And you link to the other thread tells us why, when you live in the illusion of democracy and propaganda is spoon fed, it's time to call "democracy" something else. We all know where this is leading. We keep hoping we can fix this with gov't, but you can't expect something that has been "compromised" to work correctly.

[TBF]

66. K&R nt

[fascisthunter]

70. maybe folks should just TAKE it back

forcefully

[defendandprotect]

95. Violence isn't going to help anyone but RW interests -- in fact,

political violence is the only way the RW can rise and we've had more than

50+ years of political violence in America -- 1963 coup on JFK took not only

our president but our people's government --



Also keep in mind that what we've just seen in Libya -- it took NATO months

to dislodge Gadaffi who had been armed to the hit by other nations -- US had

a contract with Libya but it hadn't been filled prior to the uprising --


Our founders had it easy -- no MIC -- and no elite control of it -- !!

[fascisthunter]

99. do not worry, I won't be leading the charge

and will also state, my statement was more 'Tongue and Cheek' than anything else. Good on you for responding, thank you.

[defendandprotect]

102. Thanks for letting me know ... sometimes reading too quickly ...

and would have recognized your name had I looked --

My apologies --

[Capitalocracy]

81. Workers' incomes went up .1%? That's .1% too much!

Bet someone got fired over that one.

[Lucian]

82. This is absolutely sickening.

[on point]

83. I have several suggestions, but apparently they run afoul of the DU admins. Too bad.

We need a forum where we can discuss how to save the democratic party and the progressive movement. But that may mean breaking a few eggs. And the reality of that somehow is anathema to the DU police who keep deleting anything beyond the orthodoxy and thus they will probably help ENSURE the dem party dies by not recognizing the need for free ranging discussion on how to save it...

Too bad.

[newspeak]

84. Need to discuss the New World Order

what it really means. Imagine global corporations having power to supersede any form of regulation from any country. Where they have more power than those countries. Mass deregulation, harming the populace, who have no power to stop them. Imagine slave labor, no unions, hazardous work conditions, and not one country's government able to stop them. Imagine draining resources and lives of one country to steal resources while making profits for war profiteering.

These global corporations have allegiance to no one except themselves for power and greed.

[defendandprotect]

98. And dishonest elected officials have helped them do it -- plenty of them around !!!

[defendandprotect]

97. True --- but ....

you can try this --

http://www.leftunderground.com/content /

which is gaining popularity for the same reasons you are pointing to --



and/or --

http://www.oldelmtree.com/mybb/index.php

[Zax2me]

101. I'd like to see THIS on the 'evening news'

But won't hold my breath.

[Brigid]

103. This explains our current situation quite nicely.

Enough said.

[defendandprotect]

104. kr --

[woo me with science]

107. K&R Wake up, America.

[WI_DEM]

108. AND WHERE ARE ALL THE JOBS THOSE BIG PROFITS ARE SUPPOSED TO CREATE?