Senator Bernie Sanders: "U.S. Headed Toward Becoming Third World Country"
"BURLINGTON, Vt. - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said a new report that paychecks are shrinking and half of all workers in the United States made less than $28,031 last year is another sign of a 40-year trend which is moving the U.S. economy in the direction of a Third World country.
The latest report from the Social Security Administration makes it clear that the American economy continues a 40-year trend of moving in the direction of becoming a Third World country where the vast majority of people are struggling to keep their heads above water while the richest people in the country have never had it so good, Sanders said.
According to a recent report, released every year by the Social Security Administration, average wages for all workers went down last year compared to 2012, except for the 110 wealthiest Americans making over $50 million last year who received a $14.2 million increase in average pay.
What this new report shows, and what many other studies have shown over the last 40 years, is that the United States is experiencing the kind of obscene levels of wealth and income inequality that are not unusual in impoverished third world countries. Since 1999, median income has gone down by nearly $5,000 and more Americans are working longer hours for lower wages.
The report also shows that last year 39 percent of all American workers made less than $20,000 and more than 50 percent of all American workers made less than $30,000.
The median wage of $28,031 for American workers is lower today than it was in 1999, after adjusting for inflation.
Sanders concluded, If we dont act boldly to create millions of new jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, increase the minimum wage to a living wage, and end our disastrous trade policies, the U.S. is on the verge of becoming a Third World economy, said Sanders. We have got to act with a fierce sense of urgency to rebuild the disappearing middle class.
To reduce income and wealth inequality and rebuild the middle class, Sanders has called for the following:
Increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to at least $10.10 an hour.
Investing $1 trillion in rebuilding our roads, bridges, airports, railways, dams, water systems, and culverts to create at least 13 million new jobs.
Rewriting our trade policies to make sure that American corporations invest in the U.S. and not in China.
Transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy and energy efficiency to create millions of new jobs.
Read the report here.
http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2013"
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/10/30/us-headed-toward-becoming-third-world-country
daleanime
(17,796 posts)"headed?"
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)Jerry442
(1,265 posts)The poor are simply too overwhelmed by the demands of trying to get through each day to engage in any kind of activism. By eliminating almost all of the middle class, the positions of the rich will be secure.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)I drove from houston to ny to jacksonville last spring for a job and I can report that the only stretch of roads that resembled anything near a first world country were in Virginia and around the DC corridor. Even the roads that were in recent repair were done so half assed that I felt like I was driving in Eastern Europe the entire time. (Efficiency of private companies and a government system so strangled by austerity and run by a bunch of Bush lackies I would suspect is the blame)
That's just the road system...
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)There may be small pockets of the U.S. that look rundown - but on the whole, there isn't anything that resembles this:
Let's stop the hyperbole. The U.S. is nowhere near a third world country.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)Look how much farer we can fall.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)I laugh when people, sitting in their home surfing the internet, hop on a message board with ZERO restrictions on what you can view, and say, "the U.S. is a third world country."
LOL
daleanime
(17,796 posts)every one else is talking about our direction, what are we working toward. I suppose it makes no difference to you if things are improving or getting worse?
Well, enjoy your laugh, (backs away from Drunken Irishman slowly while maintaining eye contact. Closes door quickly, locks it, then starts running.)
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)I'm referencing this:
"headed?"
Implying it's already there.
You said it. Not me.
TBF
(31,919 posts)but the NSA is reading every word as well. It's comforting, right?
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)house in Detroit
"Kenya Jones fills a bucket with water at a vacant house in her east side Detroit neighborhood. Jones has been without water at home for a month because her landlord has not paid the bill."
Silicon Valley Tent city
Home in Applachia
"According to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 49 million people in the United States lived in households struggling to find enough food to eat. Nearly 16 million are children, who are far more likely to have limited access to sufficient food than the general population. While 15.9% of Americans lived in food-insecure households, 21.6% of children had uncertain access to food."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/04/27/states-where-children-hungry/8151905/
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)For the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, I take it?
mckara
(1,708 posts)Or exploitation of the bottom 99 percent.
djean111
(14,255 posts)how they are going to grab the contracts, hire workers from other countries, and over-bill. It will just be the MIC in another costume, I fear.
Also, I believe the TPP has restrictions against Buying American, and I would not be surprised if there were restrictions against hiring American.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Martin Eden
(12,801 posts)... puts Bernie Sanders on the radical fringe of American politics
(and says a lot about American politics)
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)Maedhros
(10,007 posts)so that we are required to buy into the "Lesser of Two Evils" doctrine and vote against our interests.
Martin Eden
(12,801 posts)They are the Plutocracy.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)In Bernie's case, he's "unelectable" because he's "too far left." It's all part of the oligarchy's unrelenting campaign to stifle dissent and progress. They regularly savaged Kucinich from both sides of the political divide, presumably for his "wackiness," while at the same time expecting us to swallow truly insane behavior as somehow sage and effective:
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/10/dennis_kucinich_and_wackiness/
Martin Eden
(12,801 posts)Reminds me of the following quote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Follow the money. The Democratic establishment may be more afflicted with corruption than mental illness.
At least Dennis Kucinich is still alive (unlike Paul Wellstone).
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)The ruling class determines the boundaries of what is socially acceptable to think or say any anyone outside those boundaries are "crazy".
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Yay, Bernie!
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)This is who AMERICANS should get behind, not some two faced politician that will throw us a few bones and screw us over in favor of the 1% on everything else!
polichick
(37,152 posts)so people need to let him know they're with him.
k&r for truth telling.
vkkv
(3,384 posts)Publicly financed elections with NO OUTSIDE, CORPORATE or LOBBYIST BRIBES.
Leaders need to work for the people - not their election financiers.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)I just came back from 2 1/2 weeks in the Netherlands, and I can tell you that their roads, public transportation, social programs, and general attitude of the people are much much better than in the US.
I may just retire there.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)If you have, you'd know the U.S. isn't remotely at that level. The Netherlands is also one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, as well as far smaller, so of course it's going to be different. The biggest issue with the U.S., as is the case with any major country in terms of population, is that it's so diverse - both economically and culturally - that comparing it to smaller countries is useless.
randys1
(16,286 posts)There is much more to it than that, so showing those pics is not showing the whole picture.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)Economically militarily or other.
randys1
(16,286 posts)link later, too busy right now
There is a gap between what America is and what a 3rd world is, sure...but we are now in that gap, didnt used to be
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)It might not be on the level of a handful of nations - but that doesn't make it third world.
Also, I'd wager of the largest countries, the United States is by far the most balanced of any - including China, Russia and India. Population-wise, it does little to compare the U.S. to, say, Sweden.
randys1
(16,286 posts)The most repressive regimes in the world.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)No it isn't. C'mon now. You can make the point that the United States is bad without comparing it to the third world.
There is nothing third world about the United States.
randys1
(16,286 posts)or not, voter suppression is part of that, income inequality is part of your point about economics.
Many issues go into what makes a 3rd world a 3rd world, is the US at that level yet, of course not, but we also are NO longer in the condition we once were compared to other countries, we have slipped DRAMATICALLY
If Bernie said "america has slipped dramatically out of position as compared to blah blah blah" people would tune him out, he has to use these terms to get people's attention...
His point is valid just not to that extreme, yet.
Would you rather he not be pointing out the DRASTIC downgrading the American people have experienced as to income inequality, being overworked, etc.?
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)Just ask North Koreans. There are more gays in America who have the right to marry now than in any nation on this earth. In many nations, you don't even have the right to vote at all and while we throw up walls here - the election system still generally works (just ask Obama). In Saudi Arabia, women can't even drive. In some nations, women are stoned to death if they're raped. We have our issues, but it trivializes the plight of the truly unfortunate when we say the issues here in America are similar to the issues in Africa, the Middle East or some Asian countries.
randys1
(16,286 posts)American and not in small ways, big ways.
And no, we should not trivialize the plight of others, and Bernie wouldnt do that nor would I.
But, since Reagan, the harm to our middle class and since Newt and Clinton and Reagan as well as W, the harm to our poor has been overwhelming.
I mention Clinton because of his damage to Welfare...
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)Still, we're nowhere near the dystopian levels of many third world nations where you can't vote and are put to death or imprisoned for being gay.
We have work to do in progressing this country forward - namely when it comes to racial inequality and economic inequality.
randys1
(16,286 posts)positioned to do so
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)But I think it'll take more than Bernie or any president. Bernie is only as good as the congress he works with.
And I agree about Clinton. Not just welfare reform - but NAFTA.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)racism, misogyny and homophobia that has run rampant in this land since the political theft of the century in 2000, I'm not surprised at all. I also take exception to the word "headed". Just look at the voting restrictions, the lies and idiocy of the RW in this country, if bundy not third world character, I don't know who is. But Bernie always nails it.
Fred Friendlier
(81 posts)No surprise that Sanders is on top of this as Vermont reverted to third world status long ago. The tough question is what are we going to do about it, as the relative decline of labor v capital has been relatively constant regardless of who is running the government, except for a modest blip while Clinton was in the White House.
All in all a horribly unsatisfactory state of affairs.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Fred Friendlier
(81 posts)eom
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)lived in third world countries, one hell of a long fall for America to get there.
TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)Babel_17
(5,400 posts)N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,593 posts)Although this article was wrttten a couple years ago, change takes place slowly.
From our own Thom Hartmann.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12664-america-the-third-world-nation-in-just-4-easy-steps
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I have travelled more outside of the US, but when I see some areas that are crumbling and stricken with poverty in this country, I almost can't believe it. Bernie is doing a great job talking about it and I hope more people listen. Too bad the moment is over when a Republican, McCain, would accept public financing for the general because that was the last chance we had for someone like Bernie to have a fair fight. Between EW talking about the middle class and Bernie talking about inequality, I hope some people learn something.
area51
(11,868 posts)It's not actually a linear progression from 1st to 3rd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)FairWinds
(1,717 posts)for many communities in the US. A former student of mine at Ohio Univ. (in Athens county) recently
helped lead a tour of Cuba. She took along a public health nurse from the Athens area. When the
tour was over, the nurse declared that "the average person in Cuba lives better than the average
person in Athen county, Ohio.
And we hear this bogus argument all the time -
"The biggest issue with the U.S., as is the case with any major country in terms of population, is that it's so diverse - both economically and culturally - that comparing it to smaller countries is useless."
As if nation-states, cities and communities cannot learn from each other becuase they are "different".
Where do you think the US "learned" social security? (Germany)
Likewise child labor laws, retirement systems, were ALL influenced by other countries.
When I visit Canada, I'm always learning about single payer health care . .
Guess what, Canada is MORE DIVERSE THAN THE US.
My Good Babushka
(2,710 posts)The argument that we're "too diverse" is usually a Republican code for "I don't want people who aren't like me to benefit". Human needs aren't diverse. They are pretty much the same.
world wide wally
(21,718 posts)They have no intention of solving any economic problems for the American people. They are working very diligently toward eliminating any middle class, and establishing an aristocracy and a working class...ie Charles Dickens style