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In reply to the discussion: Centrists are by no means even close to a threat to Democracy. Lack of centrists is [View all]Uncle Joe
(58,349 posts)41. Prolonged massive economic disparity is the greatest threat to Democracy
History has proven this over and over.
You're not imagining it: the rich really are hoarding economic growth
(snip)
The chart above shows how much the incomes of each group grew, on average, every year from 1980 to 2014. The two lines show both pre- and post-tax incomes.
The implication is clear. People at or below the median income saw their incomes rise by 1 percent or less every year during that period. That isnt nothing, but its hardly great. At the very bottom, some people have seen incomes fall pre-tax; while most poor households get government assistance to help with that, programs like food stamps or the earned income tax credit fail to reach about 20 to 25 percent of the people theyre meant to help.
But the rich? Boy, the rich made out like bandits. The top 1 percent, but really the top 0.1, top 0.01, and even top 0.001 percent (that last group included only 2,344 adults in 2014) saw really fast, dramatic growth in their incomes after 1980. Contrary to some recent commentary, the large increase in inequality isnt due to the top 20 percent; affluent, educated professionals with low-six-figure salaries and nice homes in good suburbs arent driving this. Their incomes are growing about 1.5 percent a year not bad, but not that much better than the middle class either. The major spike is in the top 1 percent (adults receiving an average of $1.31 million per year each out of national income) and above, where annual income grew by 3, 4, 5, even 6 percent.
This doesnt appear to have been the way the economy worked from, say, 1946 to 1980. On the request of the New York Timess David Leonhardt (who has a knack for smart suggestions for research from empirically minded economists), Piketty, Saez, and Zucman reproduced the same graph for every 34-year period from 1946 to the present. Heres how the 1946-1980 graph compares to the 1980-2014 graph:
(snip)
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/8/16112368/piketty-saez-zucman-income-growth-inequality-stagnation-chart
It can and does exacerbate all other tensions, stress, and cultural fault lines, that's the dark truth behind trickle down economics.
Thanks for the thread blake
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Centrists are by no means even close to a threat to Democracy. Lack of centrists is [View all]
blake2012
May 2018
OP
The problem is that today's centrists... the few that are around... are yesterday's far right.
lapfog_1
May 2018
#1
Yesterdays Radical Left is todays centrism Yesterdays centrism is today's Radical Right
LostOne4Ever
May 2018
#7
By their very definition, moderates are slower adopters of change than radicals
blake2012
May 2018
#9
No. If deals were to be made, it is with moderates on the other side of the aisle
blake2012
May 2018
#17
I very clearly did not give the farther left in Dem caucus the false equivalence
blake2012
May 2018
#42
This cartoon sums up what compromise has looked like over the last several decades:
Garrett78
May 2018
#62
I truly think that part of the problem is that the Internet tends to keep the two sides from talking
Stonepounder
May 2018
#15
Perfect illustration and I agree about not only the internet but our overly curated lives
blake2012
May 2018
#18
the problem with centrism is that it exists between the left and wherever the fuck the right decides
JCanete
May 2018
#16
Agreed. Which is why MLK said the arc of history is long but bends toward justicd
blake2012
May 2018
#20
My values have gotten more liberal since the 80's and others have too. Key policy areas show
blake2012
May 2018
#21
Well I disagree with your post of equivalence, being mad and getting mad are two different things
Uncle Joe
May 2018
#46
Almost all our problems are caused by the religious takeover of the republicans
GulfCoast66
May 2018
#55