The 1% income tripled, the 99% gained only 62%

By the way... happy first night of Hanukkah for all our Jewish brothers and sisters out there... and for you gentiles too! I asked my sweetie for 8 Ipad2's, one each night.

I'm burning a Koran for the Holidays.

No, I'm not a government employee... But thanks for playing... And yes, I probably DO make more than you.

LadyJazzer wrote: No, I'm not a government employee... But thanks for playing... And yes, I probably DO make more than you.

You know Lady Jazzer... you use that phrase a whole lot... you must have a lot of people playing with you? :Whistle

AspenValley wrote:

PrintSmith wrote: It is not the companies which corrupt the government, it is the corruption in our government which infects all that it touches.

Bullsh**.

Money is what corrupts.

Always.

Bovine Scat - power is what corrupts, the enrichment is a byproduct of the corruption, not the other way around. Money may be the root of all evil, but it is absolute power which corrupts absolutely. Limiting the power limits the effects of the corruption. Corruption is not something that can be gotten rid of any more than evil or poverty can be eliminated; one can only hope to limit its effects and scope. The only means of doing so lie in addressing the cause of corruption - power, not the fruits of the corruption, which is the money derived through the corrupt exercising of that power.

PrintSmith wrote:

AspenValley wrote:

PrintSmith wrote: It is not the companies which corrupt the government, it is the corruption in our government which infects all that it touches.

Bullsh**.

Money is what corrupts.

Always.

Bovine Scat - power is what corrupts, the enrichment is a byproduct of the corruption, not the other way around. Money may be the root of all evil, but it is absolute power which corrupts absolutely. Limiting the power limits the effects of the corruption. Corruption is not something that can be gotten rid of any more than evil or poverty can be eliminated; one can only hope to limit its effects and scope. The only means of doing so lie in addressing the cause of corruption - power, not the fruits of the corruption, which is the money derived through the corrupt exercising of that power.

Spot on- reduce the power of the government- you reduce the corruption.

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: Sorry Printsmith... if you can't see the unholy alliance between crony capitalist and the Political Class (tm), then you are either more stupid then most of those Occupy Wall Street idiots who just so happen to have stumbled on one or two issues which actually have merit, or you are spokes-mouth for crony capitalists... or just dishonest. One doesn't exist without the other, it's a comme ci, comme ça relationship and it falls apart as soon as one side or the other stops cooperating. It's not rocket science, just simple thermodynamics. (wow... Science Chic will love me for managing to get in a pointy-head sort of science reference).

It isn't that I don't see the unholy alliance, it is simply that I know which of the two parties is responsible for the creation of that alliance and which one was recruited to be a part of it. I think the analogy of the mafia and the restaurant owner a very apt one Twin. One of the parties only benefits for as long as the other decides that they shall benefit. All the money in the world will be of no use if the one with power decides to make use of that power to destroy a former patron.

When the general government, flush with plenary power to either aid or crush your business, says that if you will do things their way they will protect you from loss and allow you to keep any gains, how foolish would you have to be to risk being crushed instead of simply going along to get along? Why would you worry about words said against you by the general government when it was also your patron that was seeing that no harm came to you? Why would you not loan to those who would otherwise fail your lending standards with the general government saying that they would protect you from the loss of that capital? What possible reason would you have for not loaning to anyone and everyone under such a promise? Why would you not willingly accept federal regulations regarding the harvesting, transporting and refining of oil when promised that your liability would be laughably limited for as long as you accepted and followed the guidelines? Why would you object to ever more cumbersome and expensive regulation that all but ensured no one would have the capital necessary to start a business that could compete with yours? Why wouldn't you be willing to then also pay the extortion money, also known as political contributions, that kept your patron in possession of the power necessary to continue the current condition?

Absolute power is the problem that must be solved if we hope to address the corruption and the cronyism. As long as there exists the plenary power to do whatever, whenever, the effects of the corruption will be as liberal as the power itself is.

PrintSmith wrote:

AspenValley wrote:

PrintSmith wrote: It is not the companies which corrupt the government, it is the corruption in our government which infects all that it touches.

Bullsh**.

Money is what corrupts.

Always.

Bovine Scat - power is what corrupts, the enrichment is a byproduct of the corruption, not the other way around. Money may be the root of all evil, but it is absolute power which corrupts absolutely. Limiting the power limits the effects of the corruption. Corruption is not something that can be gotten rid of any more than evil or poverty can be eliminated; one can only hope to limit its effects and scope. The only means of doing so lie in addressing the cause of corruption - power, not the fruits of the corruption, which is the money derived through the corrupt exercising of that power.

The only bovine-scat that I see here is the steady regurgitation of your dogma.

OOoooo.... "general government"

"flush with plenary power" ... Makes my heart go pitty-pat...

Is "plenary power" the "Sovereign Citizen 'word of the month""? I must add that to my "PrintSmith Glossary".

Do we really need another thread about how people don't know how to compete in general and those that do end up winning. Anyone out there ever have a little extra money and realize how easy it is to make more once you have it?

Perhaps a thread about why all the big kids in HS always make the football team would be cool next.

The amount of money you make is determined much more directly by your actions than that of the general economy. If you are self employed there is no limit to your income. If you work for others, this depends on your negotiating skills. Many people are very poor at negotiating, just look at people debate on here. So why should people that are not good at even making a deal (thier employment) be making more money.

This perpective that some big banker is there at your interview and keeping you down is just downright odd. If you work for someone else, you should generally expect your income to be low. As you and your kids interact more and more on facebook, you should expect your real world skills to go down....along with your pay relative to those that spent that time in the real world.

We are not equal in skill or ability, and most of us are not even close, many of use are 10-20x+ more capable than others, so we don't deserve the increased wealth...we simply earned it. I am not even close to the 1% and DO NOT FEEL THEY ARE HOLDING ME DOWN.

So I say who cares, quit your bitching and go make something and sell it....or stop buying from large companies...and stop working for them.