I have been a reader of kos for several years now, but this is my first post.
I am deeply concerned over the class warfare that is very quietly happening in America. There have been several good posts here on that topic, but given the severity of the theft, combined with our society's reluctance to discuss this topic, this subject needs to be revived every so often.
The goal of class warfare in America is to move as much wealth as possible from the middle and lower classes to the top 1% of the population. The obvious areas of impact are taxes and wages, but the wealth transfer affects all areas of our lives, including environment, education, civil justice. Since the 1970s, the upperclass have extracted a tremendous amount of wealth from the middle and lower classes. The upperclass, (or "Ruling Class"), are powerful enough to change laws, corporate policies, and media topics to divert our attention or justify their tactics.
Here are the stages of class warfare in general:
1. A few rich families own practically everything and rule with an iron fist
2. Corruption increases
3. Military expands and begins a cycle of wars
4. Poverty and suffering increase
5. Societal collapse if inequities reach a tipping point
Here are a few facts about where America is right now:
* America has the highest income inequity of the world’s developed nations.
* The richest 1% of the population controls over 30% of the nation’s wealth.
* America’s inequities are closer to those of Latin America than those of Europe (and still moving in that direction).
* The current generation will be the first in American history to fare worse than their parents.
* Social mobility has decreased — in other words, there is less opportunity to move up a class through education and hard work than there was a generation or two ago.
* The richest 300,000 Americans "earned" the same total income as the poorest 150 million put together.
* The richest one percent of the population receiving paychecks that average more than 400 times what the poorest 150 million got.
* More than half of the Bush tax cuts will eventually go to the top 5% of families. Americans earning under $75,000 will only see 1/4 of the benefits.
* Little economic growth has trickled down to ordinary families.
* Over 5.5 million people have moved from middle class into poverty since 2000.
* In 2005, 90 percent of Americans saw their real wages drop while the richest one percent got "raises" averaging $1.1 million apiece.
* One-third of the population is a PERMANENTLY impoverished underclass in America.
* Class mobility (the ability to move up or down) decreased 1970-1980, decreased again 1980 to 1990, and again 1990 to 2000.
* There is an increasing tendency for economic policymakers to cater to the super-rich.
* As the inequity gap increases, economic policy favors the super-rich, while public services for the rest of us are starved for resources. (This is a circular pattern.)
The cartoon below shows how entrenched conservative ideas are in America.
Full Size Cartoon