The rich are richer - the middle class is moving up, the poor are moving up, and we're importing more poor

Question

This has been the trend over the last 25 years - since we started cutting tax rates, deregulating and eliminating tariffs.

Why does the Left misrepresent this? They tell you "the middle class is smaller" - which it is, if you define "the middle class" in absolute terms - but only because, wherever you draw the line between middle class and affluent, more households are moving UP over that line.

There are more "lower income" households because many poor households have escaped poverty.

There are more poor households because every year 1 million poor people emmigrate here, legally and illegally combined.

Otherwise why have the growth companies been providers of luxury goods? Why have the ranks of the affluent grown? Why is poverty increasing at only 1/4 the rate at which poor people move to the US?

And what's the motive for Krugman and Co. to lie about it?

http://www.donaldsensing.com/2003/09/economic-iconoclasm.html
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/downsize/21cox.html
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1988/05/art1full.pdf
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/el97-07.html#winners
http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/1999p/ar95.html
http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/25/pf/record_millionaires/index.htm?cnn=yes
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/news/economy/millionaire_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes
http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/?cnn=yes
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/opinion/27brooks.html?ex=1259298000&en=3a3e75cbd69858d4&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/bg1773.cfm
http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/BG791.cfm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6214022/site/newsweek/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20603729/site/newsweek/?from=rss
http://www.cis.org/articles/poverty_study/povstudy.pdf
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWUwOTYzNjUwNmIzM2I3ZWEyMTE4MzJkZTJmODZmZmM=
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1229294/posts

http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_research485b
http://www.dentalplans.com/Dental-Health-Articles/Immigrants-Make-Up-a-Growing-Share-of-US-Population-Without-Health-Insurance.asp
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/forum/to...
http://www.ebri.org/files/PR_703_13June05.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/13/ap/business/mainD8AMUFG00.shtml
http://www.cis.org/articles/2000/coverage/coverage.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-28-2007/0004652893&EDATE
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/SR9.cfm

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/770110/counting_the_cost_of_health_care_uninsured_immigrants_have_domino/index.html?source=r_health

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/6/525
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/5/1/131540.shtml
http://www.reason.com/news/show/117082.html
http://www.willisms.com/archives/2006/07/breaking_down_t.html
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba460/
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/5/1/131540.shtml
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-11-10-uninsured_x.htm

NET, very few people are "remaining in poverty" and I guess that's the point. Some of Robert Samuelson's detractors point out that It may be that in some years 1 million poor Latinos enter the country and 1 million poor Latinos already here escape poverty - but that doesn't change the fact that 1 million poor people came here and the total number of poor people went up by under 250,000. If someone with no skills, no education, no wealth, risked his life to came here, doesn't speak six words of English, can escape poverty within a year, you really can't blame Bush if you haven't done at least as well.

Well Longhair sorry but the data refute your unsupported sweeping statements - yet you call the data "propaganda."

Mr. Cranky, the gap can be growing while we're still all moving up. It's not a zero sum game. If my income doubles this year and Madonna's does too, guess what, the gap between us grew - but I'm still much better off than I was!

Besides, the "income gap" is primarily between experienced and inexperienced workers. It's not a gap between two permanent groups of people, it's a gap between experienced and entry-level workers - - how fast can entry-level pay possibly rise, given that inexperienced workers can possibly only add so much value? The only place you're going to see any real wage increase is at the experienced levels, and that's what we're seeing.

Ok sly, again, we're talking about inflation-adjusted incomes here. So your point is entirely moot.

Jens how much more detail do you want, it'll take you a few days to get through what I've provided.

Of course mutant - my secret, I was a leftist who believed all the "income gap" stuff but I noticed that the support for that was all relative - it just seemed very carefully-worded - "the share of the national income received by the bottom 20% over the 1980s...." and the raw data shows that that's all a shell game - - - - almost nobody in the bottom 20% at the beginning of the 1980s was still in it at the end of the 1980s, and the income of the bottom 20% went up - just not by as much as the income of other groups - and all groups' incomes had gone down under Carter. Moreover it's the same people - for most of us, we start out in the bottom 20% and almost all of us make it at least as far as the middle 20%, most of us at least to the 2nd highest 20% at the peak of our careers. Hence my other question, where in your career would you want to realize the highest % increase in income?

Answer 1

Very good argument and powerful references. Thank you.

Answer 2

87% of US citizens lost wealth in the last 7 years, adjusted for inflation. About 10% kept status quo and 3% own 80% of the country and tripled their wealth in the last 7 years. If you belong to the 3%, hail to you, the rest is not getting anywhere.
By the way, asian immigrants are among the wealthiest people in the nation.

Answer 3

A simple, direct answer to the question, "Why does communism kill?" is-because the founder of Communism, Karl Marx, told them it was necessary to kill a large segment of the population in order to attain the basic objective of Communism.

Marx states in the Manifesto of the Communist Party:

You must, therefore, confess that by "individual" you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the middle-class owner of property. This person must indeed, be swept out of the way, and made impossible. (Published by Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1973 edition, page 66)

Answer 4

Who knows - but the thing for sure is that the new politicians have to realize which side of the bread is buttered and which is not! Politics has changed to a kind of politics that is nothing short of lies - and no one can do one thing about it!

Answer 5

And yet, prices for EVERYTHING are going up. Gas, heating oil, consumer goods, food, health care. It takes more money just to keep up. I say your stats look good, but don't look at the whole picture.

Answer 6

That's simply not true, the gap between the rich and the rest of us has been growing faster and faster each year and is now a massive chasm. Pasting 100 links on your question is just silly. Who is going to read all of that nonsense?

Also government services have dropped, so in the past when a family of 4 may have payed 1-2 thousand dollars out of pocket for heathcare, now they're paing 8 to 9 thousand, assuming they have employer based insurance. Same with college tuition and elder care.

Obviously you need to get out there in the world and start paying for these things and you will see. Or are you one of those "wishful rich" who doesn't have health insurance and is voting your aspirations instead of your reality?

Answer 7

The Democrats are making the middle class smaller. Some are saying people making over $80,000 a year are the rich and shoulld be taxed at higher rates while at the same time wanting to give free healthcare to people making up to $60,000 a year, because they're to be considered poor. So in other words, in the Democrats eyes, the middle class are people in the $60,000 to $80,000 income range------- a mighty small group of people.

Answer 8

Thats why the borders will never close

Answer 9

Just wait until it is time to collect your pension. Then you will see how well "we" are all doing.

Answer 10

Are "imported poor" people classier than domestic ones? I stick with the middle.