Twilight Zone: 90% of Americans blame corporations for "increased" inequality

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A KRC survey of 1,000 Americans found that 86% believe that income inequality is a significant problem.

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:idontbelieveyou:gif:

There was a time in this country that a kid could graduate high school and get a job at the local mill or factory.

He could live a decent middle-class life and momma could stay home and raise the children. The family could take a vacation every year and they could have a couple of vehicles parked in the driveway.

Now 30 years later, a young man has to either settle for what he can get locally & struggle to make ends meet or move 600 miles from his ancestral home just to be able make a decent living for his family. And momma has to work as well. There is rarely enough money to get by.

I am not saying it is solely on the backs of the big meag-corporate but something is amiss here.

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Now 30 years later, a young man has to either settle for what he can get locally & struggle to make ends meet

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What in the fricking frick? There are no LSU alumni CPA's, engineers, teachers, lawyers, IT professionals, etc.... working in the BR area?

Interadasting

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or move 600 miles from his ancestral home just to be able make a decent living for his family.

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I moved 600 miles (and later 1,500 miles) away from BR because the money was awesome. I could have stayed there and made a comfortable living but chose not to. Who are these folks you are speaking of?

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or move 600 miles from his ancestral home

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This just doesn't break my heart.

This country wouldn't even exist

It's not corporations fault. In away they are partially responsible but the blame lies on the backs of Government. Regulation of business, raising minimum wage, high taxation. Corporations can absorb these costs or afford the machines to replace unskilled labor. Small businesses cannot so you end up with no local mills or factories for good jobs. You don't have mom and pop stores, you have wal mart. Unskilled entry level jobs are disappearing due to Government policies so people who did not go to go college or don't naturally posess skills can't start somewhere and work their way up.

People used to immigrate here with no money and live the American dream by working toward the top. Nowadays if you don't already have money then most likely you're screwed

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There was a time in this country that a kid could graduate high school and get a job at the local mill or factory.

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While a lot of this is somewhat true, unions played a gigantic role in bringing down US manufacturing.

Blaming corporations for moving manufacturing to Mexico or over seas without doling out a share of the blame to unions is disingenuous.

I work in the radio industry.

All I know is that several times a week the industry email trade magazines have stories about how djs, engineers, news people, sales people, promotions people are either getting fired, getting their salaries cut or having to take on more work (in other words, the companies fire people and then assign the work to the remaining people).

And then at the end of the year there are articles aout how the big shots at these companies get huge bonuses if they stay and golden parachutes if they leave.

It didn't use to be this way in the American corporate culture.

This is all short term thinking "make the quarterly budget no matter what the long term consequences" and so it goes.

Terrestrial radio stations are dying because technology has destroyed their business model, not because of corporate "fat cats." The same money that used to pour into radio stations now just pours to other places like Sirius/xm, Spotify, Apple, etc.

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He could live a decent middle-class life and momma could stay home and raise the children. The family could take a vacation every year and they could have a couple of vehicles parked in the driveway.

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not 100% true. people 30-40 years ago didn't own the same shite we own today. 2 cars is a stretch, but occurred. things like tv, cable tv, internet, cell phones, etc? not the same sort of spending

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I am not saying it is solely on the backs of the big meag-corporate but something is amiss here.

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it's 3 things

1. increased efficiency of industry and movement of low-skill labor. this lowers prices for the very poor people complaining. it allows them to afford the luxury goods i listed above. but in order for prices to be lower, either machines or third world labor does the unskilled work

2. we own more shite today. see my list above. it's amazing that our poor people are fat and own what would be super computers in 1994 that fit in our fricking pockets. how many people do you know who don't own 40" flat screen HD TVs (plural)? i grew up with a 28" piece of shite color tv and didn't even have cable until like 2nd or 3rd grade (in the 80s)

3. social welfare programs have raised the cost of goods by decreasing supply of available subsistence goods. section 8 is one of the worst things that ever happened to the lower portion of the middle class. do you realize how much rent/mortgage costs have risen due to section 8? you'll see the same effects with other goods like groceries (food stamps) and medical care (medicaid/medicare)

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It didn't use to be this way in the American corporate culture.

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The robber barons of the gilded age are laughing in your face