The Richest 1% Have Captured America's Wealth - What's It Going to Take to Get It Back?

This is a MUST READ in its entirety. Be sure to go to the source for tons of links and supporting info:

http://www.alternet.org/economy/145705/the_richest_1%25_have_captured_america's_wealth_--_what's_it_going_to_take_to_get_it_back?page=entire

Here's just some excerpts.



Much, much more: http://www.alternet.org/economy/145705/the_richest_1%25_have_captured_america's_wealth_--_what's_it_going_to_take_to_get_it_back?page=entire


This is Part II of David DeGraw's report, "The Economic Elite vs. People of the USA." Click here for Part I.

"The war against working people should be understood to be a real war.... Specifically in the U.S., which happens to have a highly class-conscious business class.... And they have long seen themselves as fighting a bitter class war, except they don't want anybody else to know about it." -- Noam Chomsky

with progressive taxes, taxing the wealthiest up to 90%. It spread the wealth more evenly and allowed working class people to accumulate modest assets as well like a home, a car and some savings for their old age.

That era was a historical anomaly, the US was the last man standing in terms of industrial base after the war. It is no accident that the working class in the US started to lose ground at the same time that Japan and Germany got back up to speed.

Profits were tremendous, the ruling class could afford the small share which the New Deal apportioned to the people, however grudgingly. Once the industrial hegemony was lost to maintain their profits the capitalists resorted to the tried and true, the basis of their existence, extracting every possible nickel from the working class.

There were specific policies in place that CAN and SHOULD be adopted today that would immediately help the Working Class.

*75-90% top tax rate

*Anti-TRUST enforcement

Fair Competition laws that would prevent Wal-Marts from destroying small locally owned businesses.

*Government protections for Unions

*Price Gouging prosecutions and Windfall Profit taxes

Problem is, they will always push back, and as long as they have the power of money they will. Trust-busting was undermined, the New Deal is going, going.....It is a fact of nature in the ecology of capitalism that the capitalists must seek profits where ever he can find them. And those profits are necessarily extracted from the hides of the workers. To expect otherwise is to expect a tiger to eat lettuce.

Repukes pushing back does NOT negate the great gains for most of the population during LBJ's Great Society. That's just dumb.

Although I agree with much of your take it must be also said that the American economy was much more self contained earlier in the century. Even if we had clear advantages in production relative the rest of the world the total percentage of goods involved in trade was greatly dwarfed by those produced soley for the domestic market.

It seems we really started off a cliff once Reagan was elected.

During the 1950s 36% of American workers belonged to unions. It was also a time when working class families could buy a home, car and raise their kids on one paycheck. Today only 6% of American workers are unionized. Without the protection of the unions the workers job's were outsourced and their benefit evaporated. During this period I increasingly saw young workers coming into the work place bad mouthing unions but eager to take advantage of what unions had won for the working class. You want to win back what was lost, then unionize. Powerful unions are the ONLY means by with the working class can demand fair treatment by their representatives. This includes reasonable across the board fair taxation, universal health care and the elimination of usury rates of 20% or more. The only way to get the money back that the robber barons have stolen is through loophole proof confiscatory inheritance taxes. Until the workers are willing to unite and demand fair treatment then they can't expect fair treatment by the plutocracy that owns America.

going to be part of that top 1%!

I see this all the time in Georgia. You have good working-class folks who, to me, regularly vote against their own personal interests, by voting for republicans and believing that all the the lower tax/trickle down economics will in somehow benefit them... just boggles my mind.

Maybe an actual number would convince them they ain't gonna get there.

I tell people that think they will have that kind of wealth someday they would need to win the Powerball...every week for the rest of their lives.

If they can accomplish that feat, they *might* get close enough to be in that club one day.

Most people just have no clue as to the stupendous amount of wealth held by these select few.

"Wealth is passed down from generation to generation, you can't get rid of wealth. Rich is some shit you can loose with a crazy summer and a drug habit."

...they are taking on the jobs of other people those at the top laid off to increase their own income.

These business fucks live in a totally different world than our own. What we need to do is break any bounds that the American worker has with them. This could be achieved by replacing 401(k)s with government pensions or some equivalent system that is not private(in the sense of "private property.")

will change. And there will always be slaves who will do anything to survive, even protect the slave-owners.

However, if we peons decide that we have been fucked over enough, we can individually target the rich for their "come-uppance."

The answer does not lie in institutions. Until they fear for their lives & property and that of their family, they will not give back their plunder. It is up to individuals to strike at individuals.

:sarcasm: I have been thinking of late about the 30's in this country. That is a big reason FDR passed all of the progressive legislation, to "save capitalism". If the economy goes in the shitter (as some economists predict) you will see more riots and shit. Maybe we will be cellmates when they arrest us both for "terrorist thinking".

'In 2009, just over $1 trillion tax dollars were spent on the military, it's safe to say that at least $350 billion of that was needlessly wasted.'


endless corporate wars.


the only thing left is revolution. waiting patiently for the public to wake up .

of The Money (that is, OUR money) Party to do their bidding.

It's not like they really NEED that 'small' over-charge...

They operate kind of like a mafia of some sorts.

400 people have more wealth than 155 million people combined

Imprisonment and confiscation of their stolen goods. Theft is theft. When they got so wealthy you know it's gotta be ill-gotten gains.

For some of these MFs capital punishment might not be a bad idea given the havoc they've wrought on not only individuals but to the whole well being of this country.

Repeal the REAGAN tax cuts, make the inheritance tax that much stiffer for the wealthy elite, and only make 15% long term capital gains tax percentage available to those with small incomes, if at all.

It will take some congress critters with gonads (that's said figuratively as I feel many women have them these days more than men in that respect), to fight for these sorts of changes, and fend off the corporate money chain that enslaves so many of them.

.............are holding a lot of "revenue" that sure as shit would and should go to the poor and working classes. Force those pricks (by taxing them) to finally do what all their fucked up scriptures advise them to do: Help the poor!

......................certainly NOT irrelevant when it comes to potential revenue sources. I certainly would support progressive rates that were in force before Reagan's tax cuts first and foremost. I think you misunderstood my "rant" as the "cure" for all our revenue problems. It certainly is NOT that, but it would be a pretty substantial additional source. Our tax system is so fucked up now with all the "deductions" that practically NO working person can take advantage of that it probably would have to be entirely re-worked. Which by the way ain't gonna happen.

Laying it all out like this in one piece makes it just shocking.

This is the best article and the most important read I've read in a long time, I'm sending it to all I know.

I HIGHLY recommend reading the entire article/series, not just the excerpts in the OP.

:wow:

See - we agree on more things than we disagree on! :hi:

:hi:

I've haven't been one of the eat-the-rich types until lately. It's gone over the top.

Seeing freepers protecting these people from taxes makes me ill.

But that would require a fundamentally fundamental shift in our day to day lives, and it would get very messy. It's easier(but not easy) trying to get what they have, as opposed to doing things differently. Less(but not devoid of) blood too.

And it ain't gonna be pretty.

and since offshoring is so easy, it's unlikely. Companies have no downside to dumping their american workers, in lieu of cheap "worldwide" workers.

That's a picture of a "Hooverville" as they were called and they were all over the US during the Great Depression. Conditions like this and the resulting outcry led to some serious things getting done about it under FDR.

I don't like preaching doom and gloom but many days it seems that the only way anything is ever going to get fixed is for it to fall so far into the shitter that it forces people to get their heads out of their ass over petty differences and realize we're all in the same sinking ship together...except for that 1% that is running off with all the money and wealth they can gather.

Until enough of us find ourselves in similar circumstances I'm afraid the distraction of the latest shiny ball the media bounces around is going to keep us distracted enough for the grand larceny of America to continue :(

<edit link>

Take your pick.

They will not stop. Ever.

Until WE stop them.

When we start to value the survival of civilization over American Idol and Sports, that's probably when the first signs of the tide beginning to turn will be seen.

I.e., waged by the elites. No wonder we're losing (if not *lost* already).

apparently too many people would rather be mained or die and sit back and watch family members be maimed and die rather than take one penny from a billionaire's pocket

if this were not the case, we'd have universal health care by now but we don't and apparently we won't -- the will of the people is not there

stupid people truly, sincerely, would rather die an early death and see the people they love die an early death than to have a fair tax on the wealthy and open health care for all

since stupid people out breed us and a stupid person gets the same vote as an intelligent, thoughtful person, it appears that the case is hopeless -- in the 60s and the 70s a "charismatic" or fundamentalistic christian was recognized to be a mentally ill crank, now they are almost considered to be mainstream although their beliefs are the same crap that no intelligent person could accept as true -- how else can we account for this except to admit that the number of stupid people in the world is increasing?

the thing i don't get is, WHY are stupid people so self-hating and so self-destructive? a cat does not have a high IQ, for instance, but a cat would never seek to destroy itself or its own family so that bill gates could keep more of his billions in his pocket -- their stupidity isn't the entire explanation for their behavior

...and wow. Deregulation for the win, right? *sigh*

Could you explain what you meant by your comment? Sorry, it didn't make any sense at all and didn't seem to have any relevance whatsoever to the article quoted in the OP.

I just don't understand how anyone could be for removing the government further from businesses. We'll only continue to see stagnant wages and decline without some serious intervention when it comes to the income gap in this country.

To sum up:
I'm all for government involvement in business to protect employees and consumers.

...for some reason... even for those of us who consider ourselves not humor-deprived. :hi: :D

(At least I'm extremely relieved that you're not in favor of further deregulation!! :D )

And I don't think I'd be posting here if I were a deregulationist...... :hi:

I read some of the comments over at alternet on this article and it's amazing how resistant people are to these facts. People keep wanting to polish the apple for corporations. I can only imagine they benefit personally for this service or they are just thoroughly conditioned.

There is some cold hard reality in this article.

This is obviously not sustainable. In fact it is out of control...

one of the things i truly hate about the country i love

Can Obama insight executive order to raise the taxes on the top 1% to lets say where they were when Nixon took office. That should have been one of The First things he did when he took office WTF ? The way he ran I thought this would have been something he would have done. I'm so crushed and confused about who he is???

Don't buy into their illusion. Establish yourself within a community that celebrates humanity, not money, and you will still have something when they discover they have nothing.

The "Economic Elite" are the Bernie Madoffs who haven't been caught. They have the political power to keep their frauds hidden, but it won't last long. You can fool the people, but you can't change the laws of nature. Nature pays no heed to wealth or politics. An economy that pays no heed to nature will fail.

Their money is an illusion. If we required them to provide services to back up their paper(and they didn't have their slaves to do it for them) they couldn't produce anything we wanted.

The article is great...too bad most people won't ever see the truth of it.

James Fallows' Atlantic Monthly article laid out the reasons why he's not very worried about an America in decline. From my blue collar perspective, he's off. And I've agreed with him for many years, right down the line.

Look at the fact the the economic policies have been basically the same in America for the better part of 50 years and you know who is in charge.

The two parties are merely the players, two sides of the same coin.

Thanks for posting this, hopefully more and more people will wake up to the fact that just about everything congress does is to ensure that 1% stays the way it is.

and their goons will continue until the middle class is destroyed.After the demise of the middle class,the serfs will be at the mercy of the barons,and to them mercy is just a word without meaning.With the help of this government the barons are on a course to destroy this democracy as we know it.The people we vote into office are just as guilty as the barons,greed is running rampart in this country .and unless we wakeup soon we all will be serfs.

who were pre-bribed and pre-owned anyway --

since it was stolen from us, it's only fair...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3w5W9kVAMDc/Sl8295EZdjI/AAAAAAAAAB0/oivobydOY-E/s320/mugging+cropped.jpg

When people are finally screwed into the ground far enough, it will happen.

Let's hope it is based on our previous model rather than the French one.

:silly: ;)

these "people" are not educatable or re-educatable...

The only thing that would be comparable is the Allies corrections to the Germans after WWII - forced re-education as to the TRUTH...

and don't give me crap about the stalinists and their "education" for LIES either...

War (which won't happen in this country.)

See this one also from Aug 2009
http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2007.pdf

And this page from Rebel Capitalist

Conpare the 1923-1929 to 2002-2007 - it's a Depression Figure

They should meet face-to-face 400 to 155,000,000 to see if the 400 might be convinced to "change" their portfolios a bit.

New wealth is being created all the time. The fact that a small number of individuals have amassed personal fortunes does not prevent anyone else from creating and acquiring their own wealth.

You shall be excommunicated via pizza!

its the only thing the motherfuckers can't buy their way out of. Not that they wouldn't try.

The Wall Street Journal reports today on a temporary suspension of the estate tax (what conservatives call the “death tax”), which will go into effect on January 1, 2010. The lapse dates back to the bundle of tax cuts passed under the Bush Administration in 2001:

Congress raised estate-tax exemptions, culminating with the tax’s disappearance next year. However, due to budget constraints, lawmakers didn’t make the change permanent. So the estate tax is due to come back to life in 2011--at a higher rate and lower exemption.

The WSJ piece is titled “Rich Cling to Life to Beat Tax Man,” and its interviews demonstrate, once again, that the rich really are different: They’re really creepy. It seems quite a few of them are making end-of-life decisions based on how it will affect their inheritance taxes.

“I have two clients on life support, and the families are struggling with whether to continue heroic measures for a few more days,” says Joshua Rubenstein, a lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York. “Do they want to live for the rest of their lives having made serious medical decisions based on estate-tax law?”…

To make it easier on their heirs, some clients are putting provisions into their health-care proxies allowing whoever makes end-of-life medical decisions to consider changes in estate-tax law. “We have done this at least a dozen times, and have gotten more calls recently,” says Andrew Katzenstein, a lawyer with Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles.

The article focuses on people who are trying to keep their so-called loved ones alive until 2010 begins. But you can just as easily imagine all the greedy bastards out there who are hoping their healthy old relatives will get really sick, really soon, so they can kick off before the year ends.

On the Atlantic’s business blog today, Derek Thompson comments on the political implications of the year-long estate tax suspension. He highlights the hypocrisy of Republican policymaking, which insists upon deficit reduction while simultaneously serving the interests of wealthy people like these, whose riches have to be wrested from their cold, dead hands:

I’ll be interested to watch how both parties deal with the tax for 2011. Naturally, Republicans are united against any action that involves not destroying the death tax forever. That includes Sen. Judd Gregg, the moderate Republican and co-producer of the fantastical commission to reduce the deficit, who hasconsistently supported every effort to whittle away the estate tax.


snip

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2009/12/happy-new-year-geezers-please-die-soon

I'm dead serious.

"Death and Destruction" aka The Military Industrial Complex?

Trillions more, 25% of taxpayer dollars allocated to military spending goes unaccounted for every year, not to mention the billions spent on overcharging and outright fraud. During the War on Terror, the Economic Elite have used our tax money to build a private army that has more soldiers deployed than the US military - a congressional study revealed that 69% of the "US" fighting forces deployed throughout the world in our name are in fact private mercenaries, 80% of them are foreign nationals. Private contractors regularly get paid three to five times more than our soldiers, and have been repeatedly caught overcharging and committing fraud on a massive scale. A congressional investigation revealed this and strongly recommended that we seize wasting tax dollars on these private military contractors. However, under Obama, there has actually been a drastic increase in total tax dollars spent on them.

They can't have mine.

If more and more young people would REFUSE to fight for the rich bloated capitalistic War Pigs, there wouldn't be enough Xe Mercs and foreign nationals to provide the cannon fodder for The Oil Wars. ... Hey, just a suggestion?

Instead of sending "our youth" like lambs to the slaughter, let's not buy into the FEAR-MONGERING over a part of the world the USA is not even A PART OF.

Let the M.E. neighborhood be other than working on the Israel-Palestinian saga?

Iraq and Afghani populace who are affected by our gung ho, shoot now, ask questions later, soldiers for hire.

Seems to me that's the biggest obstacle here.

To do so, would De Facto acknowledge a state of war and if the Middle Class; remains largely clueless or asleep, all the easier to use them as fodder for the oligarchs and corporate supremacists.

The rich have an extraordinary amount of privilege in our society. We just need to point out how most of that is unearned and unjust.

people getting directly active in the political processes. Just walking off and then away from the voting booth every 2-4 years in contrived political theatrics will not change a thing.