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Of course I'm not proud of that. But will you admit that that means that 84% of people live above the poverty line, and, when compared to most other countries, that's actually pretty good?
Everything I can find online says that half of the world's population - 3.5 billion people - live in what is considered "poverty" for their country. Can we not be a little proud of the fact that the American system has kept so many Americans relatively wealthy, especially when compared to the rest of the world?
We both agree that a 16% poverty rate is unacceptable. The solutions are where we disagree. Because the system isn't perfect, does that mean it needs a complete overhaul?
Hell, I'll keep going. When will we call healthcare reform what it really is.....private health insurance windfall? But let's be polite and call it healthcare reform....my doctor didn't get reformed WTF?
Huh?
I'd say I'm shocked that the minute anyone has something positive to say, they get attacked. But I'm not really shocked. It's a statement about the way things are today. Both sides think that if you're not angry/sad/negative/depressed or whatever, then you're not paying attention or you're just plain stupid.
Getting your beauty sleep Matt?
I'll say this, I'm disgusted by the wimpiness of my "side", I relate more to the angst of my Teabagger sister and brother in law...I just can't get them to pull their heads out of the Koch's big ass.
I worked my ass off for forty years and have retired independently wealthy...but that doesn't mean my brain stopped working Matt my boy, billionaire sponsored social injustice is out of control.
When the Teabaggers figure out their being jerked around by fools like you, maybe then we'll see real change.
Just trying to look at the positive side of things. Everything in politics and on the internet seems so negative. Trying to set a good example by pointing out success, I guess.
I know people, including one relative, who are in their 20s and have more or less given up trying to find a career, own a house, etc... A lot of it has to do with the fact that all they've been hearing is how impossible those things are to achieve now. "The American Dream is dead..." and variations of that. If you hear something like that enough, you start to believe it.
Maybe some positive reinforcement is in order, for a change.
According to the article, most of those millionaries were small business owners who grew their wealth over three or four decades, and are now retired or close to it. "Small Buisiness Owners" includes private-practice lawyers and doctors.
Of course, having a six-figure income, and no student loan debt because you went to college a long time ago, and a house that's paid-off probably doesn't hurt when it comes to building that kind of nest-egg.
It's only when you start talking about the multi-millionaries and billionaires that you get into the "get rich by offshoring, buying politicians, etc..." stuff.
In the comments on the original story, a lot of people were saying that having a million dollars doesn't even make you rich any more, just upper-milddle class. I'm not sure if i would go that far though.
We don't need religion, Matt. We need real leadership. What's more, we need to listen to the scientists and act accordingly, to try and reverse this rush to doomsday. Fuck religion and fuck the "afterlife". "God" only saves those who save themselves. - AIW
Are you equally proud of the fact (U.S. Census Bureau) that 16% of Americans live in poverty--that is over 50 million people.
There is a direct link between the amount of poverty in this country and the growth of millionaires and billionaires. The economic "recovery" was mostly for the rich. The top 1% captured 121% of the gain; the rest of us didn't do very well--only a few percentage points improvement.
Those millionaires and billionaires aren't getting rich by working hard. They are getting rich by paying low wages and no benefits, by putting their "headquarters" offshore (a p.o. box in Cayman Islands or cash in a Swiss bank account), by mergers, and by various nefarious, unethical, and even illegal (how many financial people and banksters who caused the great recession actually went to jail for their felonies--and they were felonies?) Our government isn't interested in trying to stop this. Guess why? The rich own the elected officials.
Wake up. Quit spouting nonsense and read the facts.
Here we go again, Thom! Another jumbo-size GOP temper tantrum… Has it been too long since their diapers were changed?
I just had a brilliant idea. Why don't I get the mailing addresses for all the Repugs in Congress and send 'em each a pacifier smeared with oil, along with a little note that says "Suck this!" - Aliceinwonderland
I just hate to see people making things up out of whole cloth. Americans are not fat and happy. Nobody I knew in the 1960s and 1970s lived any kind of life like the one you describe. There is not the slightest bit of evidence.
Must be a republican. They like to make things up.
Mark, as usual you're spot-on, with your no-nonsense bluntness. Living in a society as sick as this one sure gives us a lot to talk about.
Just a couple hours ago I saw a young man having a nervous breakdown, right in the middle of the grocery store. It was a little scary, because he's a big guy. He was just starting to get worked up when I walked past him, and then all hell broke loose. He began yelling that he was having a heart attack (which I doubt), flailing his arms and thrashing around. By the time I'd finished gathering my stuff and paying the tab, there was a fire truck and an ambulance parked in front of the store. This poor guy was in handcuffs, sitting on the sidewalk, surrounded by a bunch of firemen and police officers, still yelling "Help! Help!" He obviously needed help. What seemed just as obvious was that the kind of help he needed wasn't what he was getting right then.
Anyone acting out like that in public would have to be severely disturbed and in a whole lot of pain. I wonder if that young guy is a war veteran, suffering from PTSD and having a flashback. Wouldn't surprise me one bit. One could return from war without a scratch and still be mentally destroyed.
I felt so sad for him, I wanted to cry. - AIW
If the Earth really is doomed, as far as humanity is concerned at least, you would think there would be a rush of people eager to believe in an afterlife - just for hope and sanity purposes. But the opposite is true, in this country at least - Atheism is growing the most.
There was an article on Yahoo news a few days ago, about what cities had the highest concentration of millionaires. These were people with assets, not including their house, of over one million dollars.
According to that article, there are 6,200,000 millionaires in this country.
That number meant a lot to me. For all the bad news about the economy, for all of the crap I keep hearing from both sides about how the American dream is unattainable - there are still that many people who seem to have achieved it.
I know you all will see things differently, but it actually made me proud to be an American. The conditions here are still ripe for success.
Anyway, I relate that to your quote because it's hard to ask people who are doing just fine to even believe there is some sort of "enemy in the gates". That's a whole lot easier for people who have little or nothing to lose to believe.
A combination of factors led to this. Technology, for one, which gives us access to people's "anonymous" thoughts - things they would never say in real life - doesn't help. It's so easy for people on the fringes to find others like them, so they feel like they are in fact the normal ones, and everyone else has it wrong. So much of what is said online would never be said face-to-face.
The enemy is already inside the gates, anybody want to fight back?....doesn't seem like it!
Horrors.
Damn right! (Just speaking for myself, of course...) I take this to mean you'd rather have a bunch of self-serving, no-count insurance hacks in charge; am I correct OU? - Aliceinwonderland
Chuck, is this the same government you want to put in charge of single payer health care?
Another reason for the mass shootings is the general nastiness of our society. Just as Columbine made us aware of the problematic aspects of bullying in youth and adolescence so should we be aware that the bullying phenomenon is not confined to youth and adolescence but that ours has become a bullying society in general.
That, combined with the prevalent selfishness and unconcern and intolerance for others, makes the result easily predictable.
Most Americans have no idea what's happening and much less care. Self proclaimed Maoists in the United States believe that the American worker has been bought off. They (American workers) are fat and happy and don't care what's happening.
The result of having such a prosperous society in the '60s and '70s, in which nobody had to worry about anything but getting high and getting laid, coupled with the tremendous juggernaut of a consumeristic marketing industry was that Americans were made incapable of anything but getting high and getting laid or of any patience, concentration or discipline.
No doubt this is a reason for the many mass shootings that are so in the current vogue. As their lazy, narcissistic, self indulgent expectations are increasingly upset and thwarted, that is the only revolution or rebellion contemporary Americans can manage to pull off.
We are like the prostitutes who are pimped by the drug dealer. We can't get free from our slavery because of our addictions.
Call e mail www.whitehouse.gov 202 456 1111 Demand Obama listen to the people Not his pro war 'advisers ' Bush & LBj listened and look what DISASTERS that caused... Iraq Afghanistatan & Vietnam . get out of Middle East Too many lives & trillions have been wasted . Afghan Iraqi soldiers have shown they are NOT trainable ' Let Sunni & Shites ' fight their own war . USA gave too much already GET OUT NO MORE WAR NO US SOLDIERS NO DRONES NO BOMBS NO MONEY NO MAIMING BRING OUR TROOPS HOME
Other than the politically correct conotation........WHO CARES!!!
This nation has a MAJOR problem with not addressing or paying attention to REAL issues due to the national psychotic preocupation with sports. With critical serious problems facing this nation due to the monumental failures of capitalism this question does not deserve consideration let alone scrutiny.
WHO CARES !
DAM -- With the strange use of commas in the second amendment, I think it could be interpreted in several ways. I think the way Thom is interpreting seems quite acceptable to me. The wording that would support it would be "The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed in anyway that would inhibit a well regulated militia." I think that book about Scalia is about how to sort out the commas.