Graphically Speaking
If you like graphs and charts that show what has been going on, and why the 99% are in such trouble, I have two links for you.
The Business Insider has a collection that relies on the FRED [Federal Reserve Economic Data] tools that Krugman uses frequently.
Connect the Dots USA has more colorful charts, but their slide show is a PDF file. Individual slides are available on the site as JPEGs.
Yes, things are as bad as you thought, and the politicians aren’t going to do anything as long as the MOTU are allowed to buy elections.
8 comments
Someone asked, “things are so bad, why aren’t we hearing proposals for a new CCC or WPA today?” At which time I point to one of your graphs, that shows the top 20% is doing okay and the top 1% are doing *splendidly*, and point out, “the top 1% who rule us are doing fine, why would they care about the economy for the rest of us?”
WASF.
– Badtux the Waddling Penguin
History points to where things are going if those in power don’t start doing what is really necessary to fix things, but they just don’t seem to understand.
Attacking the protestors didn’t work in North Africa, it isn’t going to work in Europe, and it won’t work in the US. People will not willingly starve to death.
But for some reason our cold-blooded lizard people overlords from Planet Sociopath have decided that the old rules no longer apply in America. They trust their 24-hour indoctrination system where everything you see or hear is controlled by them, they trust their gulag system that has put more people in prison both in absolute and per-capita terms than any other nation on the planet, they trust their paramilitary security services (formerly known as “police”) that are better armed than most third-world armies and which have gained a reputation for brutality that makes old NKVD hands smile in recognition, they trust their rigged kangaroo courts that will convict a 1973 Ford Torino of carrying drug proceeds (no, I’m not joking, the court proceedings are *full* of things like “County of Maricopa vs. 1973 Ford Torino”, it makes no sense in a JUSTICE system to pretend a car does things by itself, but our courts are no longer about justice in any sense of the word), they trust the fact that they’ve destroyed most of the regional cultures of the nation and replaced it with a bland mixture of cowardice and corporation-worship with occasional streaks of random violence to keep the populace cowed…
Thing is, now that I think of it, the Soviet elites trusted those exact same things (with a few minor details changed), and we all know how well that worked. Well, actually, it worked out fairly well for them in the end — the regional elites got to run full-fledged Trashcanistans of their own without having to answer to the Russian elite in Moscow, and the Russian elite… uhm… Russia is owned by a KGB goon and oligarchs who were high in the Communist Party prior to the collapse. Hmm.
I.e., the collapse of the current structure when this whole edifice no longer is capable of maintaining the pretense of being a 1st world nation doesn’t mean that things are going to get better or that the 1% are going to quit running things. Though the fact that the U.S. had a democratic tradition at some point in the past, a tradition that Russia and the Soviet Union never really had, might change that outcome to something other than a game of musical chairs amongst the oligarchs…
We’ll see, I suppose. Cue ancient Chinese curse.
– Badtux the Sovok Penguin
A major problem that I see coming is the reliance on the real crazies as their shock troops. The Right Fringe [AKA Republican Party] is too unstable to be trusted to carry out orders without getting carried away and doing things that adversely impact the 1%, like the immigration laws. The deficit mania may weaken the forces that they depend on to keep order.
Many of the people down here dump cable when times get hard, and are closed off from the propaganda machine. The local cable provider is getting really nervous about the trend, especially the loss of all of the connections to the rental condos that aren’t renting. They make $100/unit/month for the cable/telephone/’Net connection to those units, so it adds up quickly.
Police officers are being laid off, and that reduces their protection, and adds an additional expense.
They are really worried about people actually listening to the Occupy movement, and finally figuring out that they are being screwed.
Definitely Chinese curse time.
Good point about the crazies. I saw the selection of Obama as President by the 1% as a symptom of their nervousness about the crazies. Thus far Obama has given the 1% everything that they wanted and hoped for, but they have to be nervous about the possibility of the protests becoming so widespread and their message so popular that Obama is forced by his own “hope and change” (hope FOR change?) rhetoric to do something impacting the ability of the 1% to loot and pillage the wealth that the other 99% produce but that the 1% says they’re entitled, entitled I say, to own despite having produced at most 1% of that wealth themselves with their own two hands (and probably not even that much). Oh noze! Workers get to keep more of the money made from the products they produce, distribute, or sell on behalf of their 1% owners? We can’t have that, why, that’s CAPITALISM!
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
It is about time we tried capitalism in this country, but that would mean the end of corporations, and other creatures of the government, and the 1% wouldn’t be pleased with that. Imagine a CEO being held responsible when his company killed someone. Can’t have that, it would be too dangerous.
About the effect of dumping cable…
Comcast in Panama City includes all but one of the major cable news channels in their basic package. The exception is the “leftist” MSNBC channel ,which is only available in the premium packages. Most people will probably cut back to basic before they discard cable altogether. Also, the local TV news shows and paper are little better than Fox from what I’ve seen (which I will admit is limited — don’t have the stomach for it). Then there’s whatever they hear at church, work, etc. Unfortunately, the propaganda machine is almost omnipresent nowadays.
Your local paper is part of the same libeRandian group that owns my Local Puppy Trainer, that was based in Orange County, California before it came up broke. The two are still linked, because your paper prints mine. It was part of the ‘cost cutting’ before the bankruptcy.
You have the Western-most NBC station in Florida. The next one is in Mobile. Comcast may feel that paying to carry that station is all they want to spend with NBC.
Since they bought NBC, Comcast may start carrying it, although they may want to charge themselves too much for the rights. [I’m serious about that. They are probably gouging for the rights, and have probably jacked up the price they charge all cable companies. They have to charge themselves at the same rate or face problems.]
I’m sure they will always tune into Rush.