If you answers to one or more of these questions make you feel queasy, you are probably part of the rapidly disappearing middle class (median family income $42,400/year). 12.1% (34.6 million people) of the U.S. Population doesn't have to worry about those problems because many of those problems are beyond their financial reach because they fall below the poverty line of $18,392 ($353.69/week) for a family of four per year. One half of those families made less than $9,196 per year.
What you may not realize is that the conditions above are the result of the implementation of a worldview held by the rich and powerful, not only of this country but also of the whole world. It is likely that if we continue on our present path that America will not be any better off than most Central American countries. What does that look like? A Guatemalan friend once explained the income range in his country. He said "15% of our population is very rich, 15% are poor and the other 70% are very, very poor.
The best example of how trickle down economics works is an old joke about the three Scots, who made a pact that whenever one died, the survivors would pour a bottle of fine Scotch over the grave of the deceased. When finally one of them died the other two gathered at the gravesite with the agreed upon bottle. The one holding the bottle thought for a minute and than looked at the other and said "Do you think he'd mind if we strained it through our kidneys first?"
The rest of this excellent article can be found at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_john_kel_051015__b_wake_up_and_live_.htm
Note: http://www.opednews.com
http://www.opednews.com...
The World Wide War On Working People
Posted on Monday, October 17 at 13:08 by PatmContributed By
Topic
Article Rating
(0 votes)
Options
Stumble It!Comments
view comments in forum
Page 1
Each of the people he mentioned was already successful in Canada before going to the really big opportunity that the US entertainment sector offers. There they join the other huge money earners who don't have to worry about living life at the poverty level. Their fame and stardom not only makes money for them but also in buckets for those who employ them. They are conduits for money making which is why they were invited into US celebrity in the first place. The fact is that whether we like it or not, and some of us don't, the US is the centre of movie making, popular music and commerce. Canadians who go to the US to work, pay huge taxes back into the system and probably don't need to worry about medical bills either.
But my question is what does any of that have to do with the article which after all was written by an American about the growing underclass that results from the current economic ideology driven by big business and abetted by a socially irresponsible US government. Things are only slightly better in Canada and that due to a more humane form of governance.
The point of the article is that New Feudalism is a growing world-wide problem and the US is not exempt. And it shouldn't be, since its corporations are the main cause of the problem. Although vast profits are being made and US executives in particular, are paying themselves obscene amounts of money, while outsourcing work to low wage suppliers while their fellow citizens become collateral damage. And who does the US government help? Yup, the rich guys with ever lower taxes and the corporate welfare bums with subsidies. The ordinary slobs are in free-fall. The USA used to be a reasonable equitable society where ordinary folk could get ahead. To-day it is starting to look like a Dickensian melodrama. What ever happened to the American dream?