OP you're an idiot.

As the post above the middle class needs to start taking some of the blame.

Everyone i know is up the ass in debt, driving nice cars, nice homes all WAY ABOVE what they can afford. Little to no savings, always newest cell phones the list goes on.

Middle class people want to live like the rich, be paid like the rich when well they do not deserve it.

the middle class has chased out companies with unions and choked themselves with ridiculous pensions and job creation in the public sector.

people need to start looking in the mirror. it is always easy to blame people for your faults. all the rich people i know are smart as hell, worked hard and deserve to be there. they do not owe stupid, lazy, whiny middle class who overspent their entire lives a single cent.

some of you losers need to get your lives together. you make me fucking sick.

Best post on the topic. :thumbsup


Blows my mind that people don't see the economy will only recover if people use their credit cards like they did 1995 -2006 , basically everyone spending 10k they don't have. When people stop spending what they don't have that is a recession in our economy.

People got scared in 08' cut credit card spending and paid them off (De-leveraging) companies did the same (De-leveraged) and now we are in a shit hole because of it.

Only thing the govt' can do is beg people to spend money they don't have and run up Credit card lines and only pay the minimum balance.. that will 100% fix our economy.

If people put money into savings we are all screwed, what kind of economy is that?

its so silly.

yes, blame everyone and anyone but yourself for your inability to succeed in society.

blah! I'm succeeding very well in our society... what's makes you think I'm not? I'm just complaining about what I see going on....

You'll be okay son...

complaining about that which is not happening tells a different story

I hope you're right, BUT i doubt it... it's happening...

I personally think that over the next 20 years you will still have the poor, the middle class and the rich. However the net wealth of the poor and the middle class will be the same as the middle class is just having debt piled onto them at a rate they can never repay.

A lot of the middle class was spending the equity in their homes. Free money, yea! That stopped pretty quick thus the reduction in consumer spending.

.

The Baby Boomers. It's all their fault. None of this shit happened when the grown-ups ran the place. Well, LESS of this shit went on, let's say.

Bottom Line: OP is right about ONE thing here: what's happening now in America is happening because it's been planned for years and years, and has been executed well so now we have everything in place to make the rich richer and fuck everyone else.

Carry on.
(PS: And I'm one of the top 1%-ers saying this a la Warren Buffett so stfu. And no, I'm not saying I'm like Warren Buffett when it comes to $$$. Sigh...)

Your observation that the middle class is disappearing is accurate. Elizabeth Warren gave an excellent talk on this that I found very interesting.

But, corrupt and evil minded people exist across all cohorts at a fairly even distribution.

People tend to move away from what they hate. So if a country increasingly hates the rich, as is the trend now, it will lead to poverty. This is a sad reality.

It is popular in today's society to romanticize being poor as virtuous and noble, and being rich as evil. This seems counter-intuitive to me as wealth and higher standard of living go hand in hand; and I'd rather have a higher standard of living than a lower one.

The basis of capitalism is trading value for value. Unfortunately there are many things that people associate with capitalism that are not really capitalism. The only weakness of capitalism that I am aware of is that capital tends to concentrate and that can lead to making it harder for other people to effectively compete. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any better system.

It is difficult to find anyone who would disagree that trading value for value is immoral.

The reason I think many are against capitalism is because they see huge corporations getting rich at the expense of the American taxpayer. Is this trading value for value though? No.

The term for corporations using their influence to create unfair advantages for themselves through legislation and regulation is corporatism. This is especially pronounced in the telcom, food manufacture, and banking sectors. I think that is what most people who say "The rich are evil" mean.

There are also others that are simply jealous or envious.

You can't be sick enough to make another person healthy.
You can't be sad enough to make another person happy.
You can't hate enough to make another person loved.
You can't be poor enough to make another person rich.

True wealth comes from the efforts of our hands and minds, amplified by technology. Money is merely a means of exchange. It is not a store of wealth.

I see no rational reason to hate the rich. I do, however, hate the corrupt and parasites that increase their standard of living at the expense of others (cough wall street).

Also, to say there is no crisis or problem seems like a funny thing to say. Obviously the threshold of what a crisis is subjective to each individual but to stick your head in the sand and saying nothing is wrong doesn't mean that is the case. It also prevents you from identifying "quality of life detractors" and find ways to improve things; you can only improve something once you acknowledge the problem.

The biggest problem I see is that we have a run away banking/legal/political system that sucks the life out of the working class, and gives it to corrupt bankers, politicians, and their cronies.

I think brandon stills hit the home run. Kudos to metaman that part of the problem is abuse of credit.

I dont think these trends will lead to revolt. Between fast food, HDTV, & video games, even the poorest americans are too fat & happy to do anything. Voters keep voting for change, but the govt is monopolized by 2 idealogies. Until populism regains traction, the new economy will endure.

The only path to wealth is through the ivy league, or become a star.