"Logistical issues" have been sorted out, thanks to Google for the response, and now I've got some filler content on Wisconsin. I shall start posting the heavy, theoretical content tonight, so prepare yourselves. Thanks for your patience!
The United States has by far the largest economy in the world. We're the world's wealthiest nation. The closest country in terms of total economy is China (formerly Japan), and they're only about a third of our total wealth. We're the wealthiest nation in the world, and yet we're ridiculed around the globe for our enormous disparity of wealth.
There is no doubt that our middle class is shrinking. More and more people are being forced towards the upper or lower class, and more and more often, it's the lower end that is seeing most of these displaced folk. A lot of people were hurt by the recession. However, plenty of people made plenty of money: for example, the gentleman that bet against the subprime loan business. He's set for life. Unfortunately, the recession bumped hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people down to that 11 grand poverty line for an individual.
These people living on $11,000 and some-odd dollars per year are considered unable to survive on their own by the federal government. $11,000 US Dollars. Unsettling statistic: 50% of the world's population lives on less than $1 a day. The poorest of the poor in this country cannot even fathom that. It's beyond the realm of comprehension.
That's not to say that someone who lives on $11,000 dollars a year is living the life. They're lucky if they can get by in this country. I'm going somewhere with this, bear with me. The shrinking middle class is what has kept our country running for decades. The middle class has borne the brunt of the taxes, sustained the economy, and generally kept everything running. Some theorists today would assert that there is an all-out class war on the middle class.
Let's focus in on a single state: Wisconsin. This has been the site of protests, rage, and character insults with one man at the center - Gov. Scott Walker. Governor Walker is asking the public sector workers in Wisconsin (who make an average of $50,000 per year) to take a pay cut and start contributing more towards their own health care premiums and also taxing their pensions.
I commend Ed Schultz from MSNBC's The Ed Show for really plugging the urgency of the situation, no matter how much I disagree with his views. Whether or not it's "all-out class warfare by a young hotshot Republican power monger", I think it's concerning. Don't get me wrong, I think Walker is stepping in the right direction here. He doesn't have a choice. Wisconsin has one of the biggest budget shortfalls in the Union, and their public sector employees make more than their private sector counterparts. The reason it appears that this is an attack on the middle class is because this is Walker's only realistic option. People are clamoring for him to tax the rich. If the rich folk don't like the taxes in a particular state, they can up and leave the state without any serious trouble. People in the middle class can't reasonably uproot themselves and their families and move to a state with a more favorable tax code. The mass exodus of the rich will greatly reduce the state's tax base for that bracket. Restricting welfare is not the answer either, as no one wants to cripple the lower class more than they already are.
No, where Ed is right is when he says this is concerning. I don't believe it's avoidable, but the middle class is going to be paying for this out of control spending by both sides of the aisle. The rich are essentially untaxable, as are the poor, so the folk in the middle have to drag the state up by it's bootstraps. Other states are following suit: Ohio and New Jersey, namely.
It's alarming. It's scary. This is fundamentally going to shrink the middle class and bump more people towards the bottom. Ed's correct in saying that it's worrisome, although I disagree that it's class warfare or union-smashing.
Everyone should focus on Wisconsin, in between following up on Libya and Egypt. This is a preview of what's to come. We're all going to have to make some painful cuts.
This is a message to the complainers in Wisconsin: if you're taking a 5-6% pay cut from the average of $50,000 (between $2,500 and $3,000) and you suddenly can't afford your house and car payments, you may have bought too much. If you're unable to survive on, say, $45,000 a year, I question your fiscal responsibility.
I commend Governor Walker for taking the unpopular steps to balancing Wisconsin's budget. I also commend Ed Schultz for understanding the magnitude of the situation, no matter how misguided his partisan sniping might be.
This is real, people. This is real stuff, and it's going to affect you eventually.
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The situation in Wisconsin is avoidable. This is class warfare, but the result of it is to make 90% of us poor. Look at the difference between the "bottom" 90% and the top 10%, then look at the top 1%, then the top 1% of the top 1%. The life expectancy of the bottom half is significantly lower than the top half. All thsi goes back to the nutty idea that government and taxes are bad, and that we ought to cut both as much as possible. But that means cutting wages, and that leads to everyone's wages getting cut. Madnesses if we want to raise our standard of living. The Koch brothers and their friends need to answer for the mess we are in. Book on the general idea that the people who lobby government have gotten laws and regulations which increase income disparity, and so they could undo the mess they have created: Winner Take All.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that an employee should pay more of their health care costs is twisted logic that is perpetuated by a lazy news media. The employer pays wages and pays benefits. A cut is a cut whether the employer reduces payments for wages or payments for health care. With after tax pay considered, a loss of $2500 is a big bite.
Do we want to raise our standard of living? It's already so high that the poorest of our poor can't even fathom living on what over half of the world's population does. If we raise the standard of living, that also pushes more and more people underwater.
ReplyDeleteI would say that it is, at present, avoidable, but something like this is imminent. You can't blame the state government for the rich who pack up and move whenever taxes are jacked up on their bracket. No, the only reasonable target for this is the middle class, and he's even restricted it to those who are making the most in the public sector.
Also, I'm not sure how that's going to make 90% of us poor. I know there's not 90% of the population working in the public sector in Wisconsin.