America's 'night-mare of Inequality

[Bob26003]

http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=ht...rss%26feed%3D12

Welcome to Richistan, USA

The American Dream of riches for all is turning into a nightmare of inequality. But a backlash is brewing, reports Paul Harris in New York

Sunday July 22, 2007

The Observer

On the surface, Mark Cain works for a time-share company. Members pay a one-off sum to join and an annual fee. They then get to book holiday time in various destinations around the globe.

But Solstice clients are not ordinary people. They are America's super-rich and a brief glance at its operations reveal the vast and still widening gulf between them and the rest of America.

Solstice has only about 80 members. Platinum membership costs them $875,000 to join and then a $42,000 annual fee. In return they get access to 10 homes from London to California and a private yacht in the Caribbean, all fully staffed with cooks, cleaners and 'lifestyle managers' ready to satisfy any whim from helicopter-skiing to audiences with local celebrities. As the firm's marketing manager, Cain knows what Solstice's clientele want. 'We are trying to feed and manage this insatiable appetite for luxury,' Cain said with pride.

Article continues

America's super-rich have returned to the days of the Roaring Twenties. As the rest of the country struggles to get by, a huge bubble of multi-millionaires lives almost in a parallel world. The rich now live in their own world of private education, private health care and gated mansions. They have their own schools and their own banks. They even travel apart - creating a booming industry of private jets and yachts. Their world now has a name, thanks to a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank which has dubbed it 'Richistan'. There every dream can come true. But for the American Dream itself - which promises everyone can join the elite - the emergence of Richistan is a mixed blessing. 'We in America are heading towards 'developing nation' levels of inequality. We would become like Brazil. What does that say about us? What does that say about America?' Frank said.

In 1985 there were just 13 US billionaires. Now there are more than 1,000. In 2005 the US saw 227,000 new millionaires being created. One survey showed that the wealth of all US millionaires was $30 trillion, more than the GDPs of China, Japan, Brazil, Russia and the EU combined.

The rich have now created their own economy for their needs, at a time when the average worker's wage rises will merely match inflation and where 36 million people live below the poverty line. In Richistan sums of money are rendered almost meaningless because of their size. It also has other names. There is the 'Platinum Triangle' used to describe the slice of Beverly Hills where many houses go for above $10m. Then there is the Jewel Coast, used to describe the strip of Madison Avenue in Manhattan where boutique jewellery stories have sprung up to cater for the new riches' needs. Or it exists in the MetCircle society, a Manhattan club open only to those whose net worth is at least $100m.

The reason behind the sudden wealth boom is, according to some experts, the convergence of a new technology - the internet and other computing advances - with fluid and speculative markets. It was the same in the late 19th century when the original Gilded Age of conspicuous wealth and deep poverty was spawned by railways and the industrial age. At the same time government has helped by doling out corporate tax breaks. In the Fifties the proportion of federal income from company taxes was 33 per cent, by 2003 it was just 7.4 percent. Some 82 of America's largest companies paid no tax at all in at least one of the first three years of the administration of President George W Bush.

But who are the new rich? Some of the names are familiar, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates and savvy stock investor Warren Buffett. But most are unknown, often springing from the secretive world of financial hedge funds. Men like James Simons, who took home compensation of $1.7bn last year. Last year the 25 top earning hedge fund bankers in the US earned an average of $570m each. The average US household income is $50,000.

It is such men - and they are usually men - who feed the outlandish luxury goods economy of Richistan. It is they who are responsible for the rebirth of the butler industry, which was all but dead in the Seventies and is now facing a shortage of trained staff. So keen is the demand that many can expect to earn a six-figure salary when they graduate from booming butler schools.

Article Continues............

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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0223-09.htm

Published on Friday, February 23, 2007 by McClatchy Newspapers

US Economy Leaving Record Numbers in Severe Poverty

The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.

A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.

The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas.

The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. That helps explain why the median household income of working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty - the highest rate since at least 1975.

The share of poor Americans in deep poverty has climbed slowly but steadily over the last three decades. But since 2000, the number of severely poor has grown "more than any other segment of the population," according to a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Article Continues...................

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Despite more jobs, US poverty rate rises

Percentage of Americans in poverty grew for the fourth straight year, the US Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0831/p02s01-usec.html

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US child poverty on the rise—statistics mask depth of crisis

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/pove-j01.shtml

==================

US poverty rate continues to rise

Poverty levels have risen for the last four years

The number of people classed as poor in the US has increased - despite strong economic growth, say official figures.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4198668.stm

===================

http://www.citymayors.com/features/uscity_poverty.html

Hunger and homelessness

continues to rise in US cities

A report by the US Conference of Mayors

23 December 2006: More people in American cites were homeless and hungry in 2006 than the year before and children made up almost a quarter of those in emergency shelters, said the US Conference of Mayors’ annual report on urban poverty. The organisation’s President, Trenton Mayor, Douglas Palmer, said the face of hunger and homelessness today was young children and their families.

Edited July 23, 2007 by Bob26003

[AROCES]

http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=ht...rss%26feed%3D12

Welcome to Richistan, USA

The American Dream of riches for all is turning into a nightmare of inequality. But a backlash is brewing, reports Paul Harris in New York

American dream of riches for all??? What a Utopian idiot this Paul Harris is. Riches for all???? DREAM ON!!!

[Atheist God]

American dream of riches for all??? What a Utopian idiot this Paul Harris is. Riches for all???? DREAM ON!!!

Is not living the life you want to live 'The American Dream'?

There is a dangerously huge gape forming between the rich and the poor creating a permanent lower class who's wages will be locked as low as possible.

[Bob26003]

Is not living the life you want to live 'The American Dream'?

There is a dangerously huge gape forming between the rich and the poor creating a permanent lower class who's wages will be locked as low as possible.

He doesn't care.

[Ravinar]

as one of the millions of Americans that have been on the @$$ end of this polarization between the rich and the poor i have seen my mother lose her job and i see my sister work two jobs 7 days a week just to keep her head out of the gutter and feed her kid. me and my father just lost the home that was built by my grandfather and where both me and my father grew up. my father cant work any more. i have luckily found a job but i have been cheated by the education system my hole life and getting my GED is not going to be a cake walk by any means. this topic gets me so mad because it hits so close to home. i hear about how these rich b******* are living it up and all at the expense of the working man/woman. i can only say that I'm starting to feel true hate. i know I'm not the only one up sh%& creek and i know and have see people who are worse off then me. the only thing i and the rest of America can do is look forward to the up coming election year and choose who we vote for very very very carefully.

[KingTomis]

What you think voting someone else in is going to change that low paying jobs for the uneducated and unskilled will ever be anything but low paying jobs?

[Bob26003]

What you think voting someone else in is going to change that low paying jobs for the uneducated and unskilled will ever be anything but low paying jobs?

Dude, its not just unskilled uneducated................. SO many industries are being hit. ENTIRE industries have been shipped overseas. Besides, you dont understand America.

America was built when the average guy could leave high school , get a job at the factory, and make enough to support a family. The fifties and sixties.

Ever since then, the middle class has been losing traction. As the Manufacturing base was slowly picked apart and shipped overseas.

Now, stocks are through the roof and production is up do to as Greenspan puts it "worker uncertainty" meaning people are scared as hell to lose their jobs, scared to speak up and scared to organize because they know there is nothing else. At the same time , wages are down, severe and child poverty is on the rise, and we have a record number of Americans without Health Coverage.

Do you even care about Americans? Or do you think we should be working for third world wages? Or what?

Edited July 23, 2007 by Bob26003

[supercar]

The United States is one of the least impoverished places on earth.

Really,complaining about Americans being poor is self-serving when more than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day:

The following are some general facts about poverty, taken from the end of 2006.

More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. It means having to walk more than one mile everyday simply to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were eradicated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children die-most under the age of five and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.

In some deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and under 20 percent go to secondary school. Around the world, a total of 114 million children do not get even a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.

Following are basic facts outlining the roots and manifestations of the poverty affecting more than one third of our world.

* Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.

* More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.

* Everyday HIV/AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.

* Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria-more than one million child deaths a year.

* Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria. Approximately three million people die as a result.

* TB is the leading AIDS-related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people with HIV also have TB.

* More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day...300 million are children.

* Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.

* Every 3.6 seconds another person dies of starvation and the large majority are children under the age of 5.

* More than 2.6 billion people-over 40 per cent of the world's population-do not have basic sanitation, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.

* Four out of every ten people in the world don't have access even to a simple latrine.

* Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases.

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/resources/fastfacts_e.htm

It is outrageous to complain about poverty in America compared to the real poverty they have in Africa.

Edited July 23, 2007 by supercar

[Startraveler]

The United States is one of the least impoverished places on earth. . .It is outrageous to complain about poverty in America compared to the real poverty they have in Africa.

American poverty is a different breed than that in the developing world. While I'm sure the latter is a matter of deep concern to you, this thread is about the former. Among developed nations we don't look quite so hot. Impoverishment in a place where the resources and wealth to do something about it are lacking is one thing, but I don't see how it's a justifcation for ignoring impoverishment in a land of plenty.

[BrucePrime]

If you vote Democrat, poverty in America will disappear.

[Atheist God]

What you think voting someone else in is going to change that low paying jobs for the uneducated and unskilled will ever be anything but low paying jobs?

America needs 'Ron Paul' and more people like him. The only republican who i have the utmost respect for a true conservative.

The problem is that these jobs are either being exported or handed over to illegal immigrants who are willing to work for peanuts. In terms of being uneducated that is just about most kids under the age of 16 due to lower educational standards.

===

Supercar,

America may not be third world yet but it is getting there, the nations government resembles a third world banana republic already as opposed to a representative democracy in which it claims to be.

The nation has become a crumbling giant and it shows in regards to the quality of life that exists now and say 30 years ago.

[glorybebe]

America needs 'Ron Paul' and more people like him. The only republican who i have the utmost respect for a true conservative.

The problem is that these jobs are either being exported or handed over to illegal immigrants who are willing to work for peanuts. In terms of being uneducated that is just about most kids under the age of 16 due to lower educational standards.

===

Supercar,

America may not be third world yet but it is getting there, the nations government resembles a third world banana republic already as opposed to a representative democracy in which it claims to be.

The nation has become a crumbling giant and it shows in regards to the quality of life that exists now and say 30 years ago.

When a movie star makes $40 million per picture then complains when the movie is pirated-wah! Poor filthy rich movie star. Maybe if some of these filthy rich people would share a little of the wealth they rake in I would have some respect for them. Look at who the Christian Children's fund is geared towards-the average citizen who is scrimping by to make ends meet and looking at these poor babies in other countries who need food, and don't hardly get it when there are donations due to the "cost" of running a charity. It's getting to be a really sad world out there.

Edited July 23, 2007 by glorybebe

[Ravinar]

What you think voting someone else in is going to change that low paying jobs for the uneducated and unskilled will ever be anything but low paying jobs?

ya i do. i think that if we get a good president things will start to change for the better quite quickly. but that will only happen if we choose wisely.

[Athena22]

How true-the middle class citizens are being thrown away, as many must succumb to homelessness and surviving with next to nothing. I am utterly appalled at how the Bush administration (and presidents in the past) have turned their heads away from these billionaires and act as if they do not exist, and pretend that they deserve all this money. With this kind of money billionaires can easily control American politics with all their contributions.

Next presidential election, I will be voting for Obama. I hope that he is not of these people completely manipulated by the rich...

[KingTomis]

ya i do. i think that if we get a good president things will start to change for the better quite quickly. but that will only happen if we choose wisely.

Then I feel sorry for you and whoever you have to support.

[Guardsman Bass]

It's a rather unpleasant combination of Real Wages (i.e, wages adjusted for inflation) falling or stagnating for those who don't have a college degree, and increasing wage inequality.

Keep in mind that generally, high income inequalities tend to cause problems in industrialized economies.

[Atheist God]

Next presidential election, I will be voting for Obama. I hope that he is not of these people completely manipulated by the rich...

Of course he's corrupt he has a chance of winning...Everyone knows the only candidates who get 'campaign contributions' are those who are 'team' players.

If I was American I would want someone with actual experience and not corrupt.

[questionmark]

It's a rather unpleasant combination of Real Wages (i.e, wages adjusted for inflation) falling or stagnating for those who don't have a college degree, and increasing wage inequality.

Keep in mind that generally, high income inequalities tend to cause problems in industrialized economies.

Or as Adams said: Capitalism only works as long as the majority profits from it.

Modern capitalists tend to forget that.

[StalingradK]

Or as Adams said: Capitalism only works as long as the majority profits from it.

Modern capitalists tend to forget that.

And people still wonder why so many countries are going down a more socialist road. Pft.

[AROCES]

Is not living the life you want to live 'The American Dream'?

There is a dangerously huge gape forming between the rich and the poor creating a permanent lower class who's wages will be locked as low as possible.

The American dream is getting the equal opportunity to achieve the life that you dream of. NOT the dream of we are all rich and no one is poor.

There will always be those who will be poor, what America represent is proper treatment and equality in the eyes of the law, rich or poor.

The wages are not the problem, it's the affordability of commodities.

[AROCES]

He doesn't care.

Oh, I do care. But I don't live in fantasy land like yourself just to show I care.

Riches for all???

[Bob26003]

There is more than enough to go Around in America. No US citizen should be homeless or without healthcare or have to work two jobs.

[AROCES]

There is more than enough to go Around in America. No US citizen should be homeless or without healthcare or have to work two jobs.

Oh really? You have an idea then how to go about it? Karl Marx had the same utopian ideology as you have, and so does Fidel Castro and Hugo chavez.

So, who gets to confiscate and divide then, you?

Mao Tse Tung had everyone taken care of, they all had one job. The only way you can achieve your dream world is thru government control.

Edited July 24, 2007 by AROCES

[Bob26003]

Oh really? You have an idea then how to go about it? Karl Marx had the same utopian ideology as you have, and so does Fidel Castro and Hugo chavez.

So, who gets to confiscate and divide then, you?

Mao Tse Tung had everyone taken care of, they all had one job. The only way you can achieve your dream world is thru government control.

[glorybebe]

Oh really? You have an idea then how to go about it? Karl Marx had the same utopian ideology as you have, and so does Fidel Castro and Hugo chavez.

So, who gets to confiscate and divide then, you?

Mao Tse Tung had everyone taken care of, they all had one job. The only way you can achieve your dream world is thru government control.

True enough, but I still think soem of the extremely rich should help out soup kitchens and such. I know I would if I was filthy rich.