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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEconomic Recovery, my ass.
Today, twice as many college graduates as 5 years ago, are making the minimum wage. The gap between rich and poor with the continuing dissolution of the middle class continues at breakneck speed.
An economic "recovery" that doesn't include the poor and the middle class is a sham. Sure the stock market is thriving and housing prices continue to rebound, but that doesn't substantially help the poor or the middle class.
Unemployment benefits are being slashed. Food Stamps, slashed, and cuts to many other programs result in a social safety net with enormous holes. How is that an economic recovery?
The unemployment rate has supposedly fallen to 7% but that figure ignores the reality: It doesn't include part time workers or the long term unemployed.
Only 21 states have a minimum wage above the federal minimum and more and more workers are stuck in minimum wage jobs.
There is a concerted push to enact the TPP and other "trade" agreements that will compound the economic injustice. Congressional leaders of both parties are hard at work at passing Trade Promotion Authority within the next several months.
This is an economic recovery that benefits those at the top and cruelly disregards the vast majority.
That's the simple truth of the matter.
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Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)
daleanime
(17,796 posts)
reformist2
(9,841 posts)
pampango
(24,692 posts)in the developed world. A basic income (and other safety net rights) would go a long way to a fair distribution of our national wealth ($51,704 per capita). We could allow a family of four a basic income of $100,000 and still be at 1/2 of the per capita average (so the rich could still feel superior 
).
cali
(114,904 posts)wage- let's call it the 10/10 campaign- and defeating the TPA, have at least some reasonable chance of success. The proposal of a a guaranteed basic income simply doesn't- much as I'd like to see it.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)Don't get me wrong - I'm all for increasing the minimum wage and all, I just no longer see it as a real solution to the problems most Americans face. After all, what good is a $15 an hour minimum wage job, if the line of applicants is out the door???
cali
(114,904 posts)basic income, it's vital and thus it's what needs to be focused on now.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)reformist2
(9,841 posts)...tech bubbles, housing bubbles, bond bubbles all helped replace the old-fashioned way the economy used to work, and made us feel that things weren't all that bad. But in time each bubble bursts, and they're running out of bubbles to inflate....
fasttense
(17,301 posts)and like its economic predecessor, capitalism only works for the kings.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)It is the only way it can turn out when wealth has a continual groath...matamaticly it ends in those who have the most with it all...and that includes real estate.
And once the top one percent own all the land and your houses you have feudalism and we work and live at their pleasure.
People are poor when they have no land.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)I always thought that capitalism was such an awful economic system because it evolved out of feudalism and slavery. But perhaps you are correct capitalism is just a milder form of the same economic systems - feudalism and slavery.
bhikkhu
(10,711 posts)which is, essentially, to create and concentrate wealth. The job of government, on the other hand, is to balance things out, to provide a safety net for those capitalism leaves for dead, to enforce a decent amount of security for workers and some modicum of income equality.
davidthegnome
(2,983 posts)It's pretty much always been this way - the rich getting richer and the poor being ignored until they force attention, usually through some form of rebellion.
Yeah, the economic recovery is a sham, for the vast majority of us. I don't really trust the stock market, either, as a lot of the numbers we're seeing are artificially inflated due to the fed pouring money into it. I don't know enough about the TPP to really have a grasp on what the heck it is, other than some trade agreement written by lobbyists, which doesn't really inspire faith...
For all that though, I can't imagine it being different. The poor always get screwed, whether it's through a draft, a King's levy, taxes designed to target the poor, poor working conditions and terrible wages... this is just the way things are. We can make small improvements here and there that will eventually lead to larger ones, but I don't think we can change the way things have always been.
When has any economic recovery benefited the poor more than the rich? Perhaps it happened once, but not in my lifetime, I don't think.
truth2power
(8,219 posts)videos. He explains what's going on in a way ordinary people can understand.
http://rdwolff.com
I wonder why Richard Wolff isn't on the Sunday talk shows explaining how "we can do better than Capitalism".
Oh, wait...never mind. 
druidity33
(6,444 posts)kidding, i kid.
I've been focusing on local politics lately and been happier and less stressed than when there are national elections. I worked to help Sen Warren get elected in MA and have been mostly happy with her so far. Just trying to speak with RWnutjobs around here (Western MA) is difficult. And frustrating. Well, those were tangents, sorry...
cali
(114,904 posts)druidity33
(6,444 posts)but my town and the one next to it just barely voted Obama in (i think it was 50 to 48), though Elizabeth Warren won by a larger margin. It's a very rural area, low population, lotta guns and hunting and a lot of out of staters that come here to ski in winter. Beautiful area but a mixed bag. This is the first town i've ever lived in that has a view tax, for instance.... and they don't call it "tax"achussetts for nuthin'.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)love your helpful comment though, hon.
Here's what I've done: I've contacted both the WH and my members of Congress repeatedly about both the TPP and raising the minimum wage. I've written LttE and I've posted a shitload about the TPP and TPA in an effort to inform and rally.
Thinking you know what another person may or may not have done regarding an issue in none too swift and antagonistic all hell.
Now what the hell have YOU done?
KG
(28,751 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)the fuck have YOU done that makes YOU so precious that you feel entitled to lecture me.
do elaborate. I await with bated breath, friend.
toby jo
(1,269 posts)Thanks for what you've done. It's those little persistent calls and actions that , at least in my opinion, push the wall back. If every one of us would just push, eh?
whopis01
(3,491 posts)I read it as KG was adding to your comment saying that the other poster (the one you were responding to) was the one that only berated people on a message board.
Maybe I am wrong, but I think that post was in support of your comments, no against them.
KG
(28,751 posts)that elaborate enough?
It's just the internet!
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)And don't forget emails to congress and online polls and...
Calling others "hon", that too.
cali
(114,904 posts)ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)advice to you have for others who would like to do something?
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)comfort of denial. I cant believe that everyone cant see the problem. A man came into our foodbank recently. He was using a walker. He was recognized and asked what the trouble was. He said he got careless and got frostbite in his foot. He lives in a tent to afford his diabetes medicine. Donations are down and the demand is up. The status quo is killing people and yet there are some that dont yet admit there is a problem.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)We're doing better than ever.
Sincerely yours,
The 1%
cali
(114,904 posts)presenting this terribly off base information.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)I'll eat one of your kidneys for lunch, paired with a fine Sauternes.
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)FRED
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/
Poke around in there a bit...
Skittles
(153,111 posts)yes INDEED
90-percent
(6,828 posts)The Stock Market is very healthy and breaking records all the time. This is not an accurate reflection of reality for many of us.
MY CONCERN IS THIS
The market has merely been fluffed up by the Oligarchs that really run things and there's going to be a bubble bursting soon THAT NOBODY COULD HAVE PREDICTED!
And it will be another one of those bubbles where all the Wall Street Insiders magically knew when to bail before the bubble burst, leaving municipalities and 401K tenders watching their fortunes disappear. Yet again!
My guess is there will be a student load bubble burst, but there's so many other possibilities.
I do not follow the market at all. I tried to grow my 401K for about 15 years and always always made bad guesses so I got into money market or something else conservative and forgot about it.
So, what bubble and when, fellow DU'ers?
-90% Jimmy
Shemp Howard
(889 posts)90-percent, I think that you are correct about there being a stock market bubble.
But I think that this bubble has a long way to run yet. And here's why. For investors, there's nowhere else to go but the stock market. Money markets are paying 0.1 %, and the longer (riskier) bonds are paying around 3%.
Money markets, CD's, and bonds will not even allow you to keep up with inflation.
Now let's suppose that the Fed raises interests rates, and money markets start paying 5%, like they did in the past. Then any minor shock to the system would burst the bubble. But not now.
But I'm just some guy typing away on a 10 year old computer, so I'm probably wrong. And like 90-percent, I'm pretty much in conservative investments. I follow the stock market, but at this point I do not trust it. So the market goes up, and I go fishing.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)
airplaneman
(1,239 posts)My two cents. My 401K was butchered by the 08 crash setting me back four years. Then from about the beginning of 2011 to today I have been adding money but my total has not gone up at all. I got out of the stock market a year and a half ago on my 401K and some stocks I do have are still worth 2/3 what they were before the 08 crash. Its clear to me that if someone is making money it is not me. I guess you have to pay the market makers to be sure to be in the right places at the right time. Yes the stock market is a bubble but a rigged one at that. The rich always know when to get in and where and when to get out. The rest of us are the pigs to get slaughtered. 15 years ago I believed I could make money in the stock market and retire in my 60's. Today I don't believe I can retire unless I am willing to live in poverty or are unable to work anymore either by health or nobody wanting me anymore. I think the stock market is very likely to head downward this year but may hit 20,000 first. Once you miss out on a big gain it is probably not going to happen again. I too have most my money in conservative assets.
-Airplane
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)While Americans spent a little more on recreational pursuits, the bulk of the increase in consumer outlays was directed toward health care and gasoline – necessities that deprive households of discretionary income to spend on other goods and services.
The economy still feels depressing because for many people, it is. Those at the very top have bounced back for the most part, largely due to the soaring stock markets. Yet we have not seen a similar rebound among the middle and lower classes in most cases. Stocks may be rising, but only half of Americans actually own them.
Sure, most big companies are flush with cash, but workers’ wages are up only about 1% from a year ago, making it harder for average folks to make ends meet. Then there are those who still cannot find work. As noted above, almost 11 million Americans remain unemployed, and 37% of them have been out of a job for at least six months.
90-percent
(6,828 posts)Thanks for all the responses to my post. It's nice to say something that resonates with my fellow DU'ers. Most of my stuff goes over like a lead zeppelin around here.
Chris Hedges has had some excellent "what is it going to take to start revolution in America" videos and because he covered so many revolutions ans social upheavals in the middle East over his career. He really knows the confluence of factors that trigger revolution. It seems to take only one or two percent of the population to get active and protest and fight to trigger substantial change.
As 2014 has been deemed by some to be the year of the return of liberal progressivism, this will be a year of profound change, and I think for the better.
We have wonderful people like Alan Grayson, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and other remarkable politicians fighting hard for the bottom 99%. May the 2014 Elections replace all gerrymandered Republicans with Bill DiBlasio clones!
Once the lies and smears the right has directed at the ACA for the last three years are proven to be demonstrably false by the experience of millions of Americans, it will become more apparent to the aging Fox News Viewers that their beloved Republicans are liars that work aggressively against the best interests of the bottom 99%. And it will be more obvious to the entire country that the Republicans grovel at the feet of the wealthy Oligarchs they serve instead of the fools that vote for them.
It will become so apparent that perhaps the wealthy will get their children kidnapped by desperate Americans with NOTHING LEFT TO LOOSE. With our media, that could be a full blown epidemic happening at this very moment that our MSM is censoring desperately, lest they incur the ire of their masters. Looks for elites to start receiving more ears from their kidnapped children this year. If this fantasy is taking form somewhere, thank God we have reporters like Greg Palast, Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill, Bill Moyers, Thom Hartmann and even the MSNBC prime time line up to tell us about it.
I can taste the schadenfreude now!
-90% Jimmy
jwirr
(39,215 posts)story to tell. For those of us who are in poverty the story is much worse due to the cuts. THIS is what rethugs call recovery. Hopefully the Obama Administration has a different definition.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Meanwhile, jobs continue to leave the country, the cost of necessities continue to rise along with local taxes etc. And yet, living wage jobs are more scarce than the truth about the economy.
cali
(114,904 posts)they omit, naturally, what they've done about these issues.
what courageous little busy bees.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Attack the stock market and you will find a ton of em.
RC
(25,592 posts)I got mine out and shortly after the stock market tanked - again.
I stuck that money onto what amounts to be a glorified CD that can't lose value. See your local or regional bank for details.
You won't make as much interest, but it will be safe. Oh, and you have to wait 6 years for it to mature, so take that into consideration.
malthaussen
(17,175 posts)I have it on good authority that some of the economic gains made by the wealthy in 1981 have started to drip on the poor people. Pennies from Heaven.
-- Mal
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"Only 21 states have a minimum wage above the federal minimum and more and more workers are stuck in minimum wage jobs. "
More and more states are increasing the minimum wage, and Senator Sanders (http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-calls-for-minimum-wage-increase) and others (supported by the President) are pushing to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10.
The 25 Best Progressive Victories of 2013
<...>
3. Minimum Wage Momentum: In recent years, Americans have shown increasing support for boosting the minimum wage and for the idea that people who work full-time should not earn poverty-level wages. A poll conducted in July by Hart Research Associates, showed that 80 percent of Americans back hiking the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and adjusting it for the cost of living in future years. Not surprisingly, 92 percent of Democrats voice support for this proposal, but so do 80 percent of independents, 62 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Southern whites and 79 percent of people with incomes over $100,000. (A November poll by CBS News found similarly widespread support for raising the federal minimum wage). The burgeoning protest movement among low-wage workers triggered increasing media coverage, including brilliant put-downs on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report of the conservative arguments against the minimum wage. All this has translated into changes in public policy. Even as New Jersey voters were giving conservative Republican Gov. Chris Christie a second term with 60 percent of the vote, they also approved, by the same margin, a constitutional amendment to raise the state's minimum wage by a dollar to $8.25 an hour. The new law includes an automatic cost-of-living increase each year. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation raising the state's minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour -- a bill he had vetoed a year earlier. In November, voters in the Seattle suburb of Sea-tac embraced the Good Jobs Initiative' to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and at airport-related businesses, including hotels, car-rental agencies and parking lots. The new law, sponsored by labor unions and other progressives, applies to more than 6,300 workers. (On the day after Christmas, ruling on a suit filed by Alaska Airlines and the Washington Restaurant Association, a King County judge barred its enforcement at the airport -- which is located in the city of Sea-tac but is owned and operated by a separate government agency -- but let it stand for the 1,600 workers employed at nearby hotels and parking lots). Seattle's new Mayor Ed Murray supported the Sea-tac initiative and raised the possibility of doing the same thing in Washington's largest city. In New York City, one of De Blasio's key policy planks was enacting a living wage of $11.75 per hour for workers employed by companies that get tax breaks and other subsidies from the city. Activists in Idaho, South Dakota and Alaska are gathering signatures to put minimum wage hikes on the ballot in 2014. Their counterparts in Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Hawaii are pushing state legislators to raise the minimum wages in their states, too. The momentum at the local and state levels is likely to put pressure on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. In his State of the Union address last January, he proposed raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $9 an hour. A week after the November elections, Obama announced that he supports hiking it to $10.10 an hour, based on a bill sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Cong. George Miller (D-CA). In August, Demos published a report, Underwriting Bad Jobs, that revealed that the federal government -- through contracting out and privatization -- is the largest employer of low wage, dead-end jobs. The think tank and its organizing allies urged Obama to issue a Presidential Executive Order raising the minimum wage for workers on all federal contracts.
<...>
20. Domestic Workers Win: Until 2013, domestic workers were excluded from protections such as a guaranteed minimum wage, paid breaks, and overtime pay. In September, the Obama administration announced new rules extending the Fair Labor Standards Act to include the 800,000 to 2 million home health workers -- who help seniors and others with self-care tasks like taking medications, bathing, and shopping -- under the federal government's wage and hour protections. A week later, California governor Jerry Brown signed the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, allowing the full spectrum of domestic workers -- including live-in nannies and housekeepers -- to benefit from the same gains as the home health workers. The California victory follows previous victories in New York and Hawaii. Campaigns are now underway in Massachusetts and Illinois. For the first time ever, these employees will be guaranteed the federal minimum wage and will earn overtime pay. These victories have implications for a much larger portion of the workforce, including independent contractors, nontraditional employees, and those on temporary assignments. Much of the credit for these historic wins is due to the tenacious organizing of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, led by the dynamic young organizer Ai-Jen Poo.
- more -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/the-25-best-progressive-v_b_4526842.html
Krugman:
<...>
The point, in any case, is that the head-banging is about to stop — not in the sense that we’ll reverse our move in the wrong direction, but that we won’t keep on moving in that direction. Here’s Goldman Sachs’s estimate of “fiscal drag” from federal policies (no link):
<...>
None of this vindicates the multiple years of sluggish recovery that should have been vigorous. And let’s be clear: this kind of forecast is much less secure than, say, my predictions that inflation and interest would stay low in a liquidity trap, which were grounded in model fundamentals.
Still, the new year starts with some good omens. Oh, and politics: between the non-disaster of Obamacare (which is producing epic levels of denial) and the prospect of a decent rate of economic growth, the midterm elections may not go the way many on the right currently expect.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/happy-new-year/
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)With 2014 midterm elections coming, I'm certain we will be hearing a lot more rose colored, faked inflation numbers, unemployment numbers and other BS before it is through!!
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
- But then, I never expected anything different since the same people are running things.
K&R
Only a couple of spins to disregard your op from the usual suspects. Must be getting tougher argue against facts.
Nice job cali!
-p
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)by production to an economy fueled by a combination of speculation and consumption has simply created a new base line reality. I suppose compared to the situation of late 2008/early 2009 when the economy was in total free fall - we have recovered. But the new "recovered" economy is just not one that is any longer capable of creating and sustaining any where near as many permanent jobs that pay a middle class income. To change this would require fundamental restructuring and rebuilding an economy based more on production. But the powerful financial interest simply see more quick profit in an outsourced economy driven by speculation and consumption - an economic model less likely to distribute the wealth in a more equitable fashion.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)how much consumption can 300M minimum-wage robot overseers make?
merrily
(45,251 posts)I don't recall whether it was on her own show (which I used to watch when I couldn't sleep) or on one of her PBS programs. Anyway, she did not define what she meant by it, but, as the show progressed, it became clear to me that she was saying, in essence, "You are going to be poor from now on." Or, as Pelosi might have put it, had she been on with Suze, "Embrace the suck."
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)djean111
(14,255 posts)Wow, is that a tired riposte to cali's OP.
In any event, in a way, this makes something perfectly obvious - voting for Dems and trusting them to work for the people - that IS their job, right? right? is not working very well at all.
More and more, looks like we just elect an awful lot of figureheads who only really "work" when someone stuffs money in any one of their orifices.
Savannahmann
(3,891 posts) 
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)and the working class.
The triumph of vulture capitalism/Randism.
Meanwhile millions are kicked off unemployment, 50 is the new 65, kids losing food assistance go to bed hungry, a realistic minimum wage would start at 15 bucks and hour and be tied to inflation and that's in effect no where in USA USA USA we #1 and college grads working at 10 dollar an hour jobs to pay off their lifetime school loans.
Yippee.....
2naSalit
(86,323 posts)is it known as economic recovery... everywhere else on the planet it's known as austerity. And because we like everything "super-sized" and blingy here, we get ours on steroids wrapped in a brightly colored foil.
WhoWoodaKnew
(847 posts)the top at the moment (I think they're all scared of losing a dime).
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts) woo me with science
(32,139 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)WOO HOO, THIRD WAY!!!!!11!!!
kelly1mm
(4,732 posts)see how to tap into the wealth. Rich people (I am acquainted with many) have two main ways they can be tapped for $$. They don't want to wait and they don't want to physically work. That is where a good income can be made in what I call a 'side hustle'. Two things I do is I part out specialty (re collectible) cars - specifically Alfa Romeos. They are relatively complex and not mainstream so not many mechanics are familiar with them. Thus, when they break, the owner lets them sit. I pick them up for $500-700 each at that point. I either get them running again (maybe 25%) but mainly part them out online on Alfa specialty sites. Usually can get between 2500-4000 out of the parts total and then sell the remaining to the metal crusher for about 250-400, depending. I do about 15 of these a year from home. Good little side income.
The biggest % 'mark-up' I do is selling firewood. Cost me about $50 per cord if I am not getting paid to take it away. Many times I get the wood from brush clearing jobs/downed trees so I get paid to take the wood from one rich person, process it, and sell it to another rich person. Then what I do is sit at the fru-fru market at the base of the lake/ski area in a pickup truck full of wood. Usually in a full day I will sell 4-5 loads total for $150 each delivered and stacked. Then I give my card and tell them I deliver anytime. I have gotten calls at 3am in the snow. That will be $300 'no problem' says Mr. Rich. Just play them is my advice. I also have other rural people aka non-rich, that I sell firewood to. They pay $200 or so per cord delivered (not stacked), or about 1/3 of the 'right now devivered/stacked/rich persons price per cord.
BobUp
(347 posts)the job creators, top 5% will begin creating jobs.
snip
It's not often that you see an entire putative political philosophy dropped from a high building until it splatters on the concrete and feral dogs and cats come to lick up that which remains, only to stagger off gagging and puking because not even they can stomach it any more. For going on 30 years now, but especially ever since That Person got himself elected twice, it has been the stated Republican economic faith that the reason that job growth is sluggish is because the Job Creators are "uncertain" about what That Person is up to there in the White House and that if we just knuckled some poor people and some old people a little, the job creators would give the country many good jobs at very good wages, even though there was absolutely no force strong enough any more to make them do it.
Read more: The Job Creators Are Not Creating Jobs - Esquire
Follow us: @Esquiremag on Twitter | Esquire on Facebook
Visit us at Esquire.com
snip
Instead of helping the needy, the GOP holds that our tax dollars should reward the deserving – the Mighty Job Creators – and Lo, There Will Be Jobs. Can we check that with actual data? Conveniently the St. Louis Fed has a lot of its data in easily plottable form, or one can download the data in Excel format and plot to one’s heart’s content.
Plotting Corporate Profits After Tax Since 2003 and Total Nonfarm Employees together, if the GOP were correct we’d see a significant and substantial correlation.
?1389075983
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/07/1267756/-Mythbusters-Are-Job-Creators-Creating-Jobs#
http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2013/06/billionaire-says-rich-are-not-job-creators
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)This crisis was the time to at least try for fundamental change. It is long gone now. Until the whole structure is changed, we will not have economic recovery. Some will claim it, but it will not be based in reality.
