Five reasons American decline appears irreversible
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313Ghazi
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This post read like an Indian talking about thier economy. You have tent cities of homeless all over your country - quoting the facts and figures, boasting about the wealth of the elite won't fix that.
In fact that's exactly what got you into this mess.
How can a country as innovative, as productive and as resource rich as America have this huge wealth disparity?
Any first world nation can only consider itself a success if its McDonald's workers have money left over to enjoy after they've paid for accommodation, transportation, utilities, groceries, insurance and other necessities like clothes, mobile phones, Internet, tv etc.
If after paying for that - if you're mcdonalds worker can still have 2-300 dollars left over - then you're a successful country.
Just to clarify - I don't mean household income with 2 partners working - I mean a husband's income.
Alter_Ego
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I get it that Americans dislike government taxes and bureaucracy.
Its a deeply american thing, if i understand it correctly.
Still i am curious what you guys think will be good way to reduce income inequality? Because from what i have read from statistics, the income and wealth gap have only been increasing since the 1970s.
Hamartia Antidote
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We could disallow white collar women from marrying white collar men.
So there was a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1971 that banned companies from forcing job applicants into taking IQ tests (and other biased things) for job placements. This then led companies to require college degrees instead. More women started going to college and entering the workforce as roadblocks started being removed.
Yes income equality is a problem and the middle class is shrinking but the upper class is also expanding. The expansion is not 100% of the shrink but it a lot of it.
This surge in dual-income households is driving up home prices as you get 2 people making 2 x $125,000+ ($250,000+) and that is a powerful block of people. They think nothing of buying old houses and putting up a $1.5M home in its place.
It's not unusual in my area to now have dozens and dozens of towns where the median household income is over $100K due to these dual income households. It is absolutely crazy and was not like this at all pre-1971.
List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income - Wikipedia
Remember this is "median" not "average"
Look how long this list is!! This is just my state..it's the same in others too.
| Town | Median Household Income |
| Dover | $250,000+ |
| Wellesley | $226,250.00 |
| Weston | $220,815.00 |
| Sherborn | $218,906.00 |
| Sudbury | $217,847.00 |
| Carlisle | $216,000.00 |
| Wayland | $203,789.00 |
| Lexington | $202,852.00 |
| Medfield | $196,820.00 |
| Andover | $193,279.00 |
| Harvard | $189,647.00 |
| Boxford | $187,813.00 |
| Winchester | $184,844.00 |
| Needham | $182,813.00 |
| Hopkinton | $179,192.00 |
| Westford | $172,022.00 |
| Westwood | $171,071.00 |
| Southborough | $170,223.00 |
| Acton | $169,335.00 |
| Norfolk | $168,281.00 |
| Bolton | $167,132.00 |
| Newton | $164,607.00 |
| Nahant | $161,076.00 |
| Sharon | $157,928.00 |
| Cohasset | $156,689.00 |
| Fairhaven | $155,482.00 |
| Groton | $155,252.00 |
| Topsfield | $155,208.00 |
| Wenham | $154,375.00 |
| Hingham | $154,300.00 |
| Marblehead | $154,049.00 |
| Newburyport | $153,971.00 |
| Newbury | $152,356.00 |
| Belmont | $151,502.00 |
| Hanover | $149,048.00 |
| Princeton | $148,438.00 |
| Longmeadow | $148,010.00 |
| Marshfield | $147,841.00 |
| Medway | $147,257.00 |
| Lynnfield | $147,237.00 |
| Wrentham | $147,201.00 |
| Truro | $146,250.00 |
| Lincoln | $145,833.00 |
| Arlington | $145,552.00 |
| Reading | $145,552.00 |
| Holliston | $142,348.00 |
| Natick | $140,647.00 |
| Dunstable | $140,511.00 |
| Middleton | $140,511.00 |
| Gloucester | $140,192.00 |
| Walpole | $138,821.00 |
| Norwell | $136,875.00 |
| Douglas | $135,250.00 |
| Mendon | $133,850.00 |
| Rutland | $132,000.00 |
| Tyngsborough | $131,944.00 |
| Millis | $131,138.00 |
| Pembroke | $130,015.00 |
| Northborough | $129,780.00 |
| Georgetown | $129,153.00 |
| Boxborough | $129,132.00 |
| Avon | $127,953.00 |
| Dennis | $127,833.00 |
| Franklin | $127,608.00 |
| Bedford | $125,701.00 |
| Uxbridge | $125,229.00 |
| Harwich | $124,755.00 |
| Holden | $124,638.00 |
| Sandwich | $124,354.00 |
| North Reading | $124,196.00 |
| Paxton | $123,958.00 |
| Wilbraham | $123,750.00 |
| Burlington | $123,630.00 |
| Ipswich | $122,914.00 |
| Brookline | $122,356.00 |
| Mansfield | $122,274.00 |
| Townsend | $121,936.00 |
| Groveland | $121,711.00 |
| Wellfleet | $120,954.00 |
| Sterling | $119,000.00 |
| Rockport | $118,814.00 |
| Eastham | $118,185.00 |
| Plympton | $118,098.00 |
| Wilmington | $117,909.00 |
| Hull | $117,120.00 |
| Duxbury | $117,035.00 |
| Hamilton | $116,699.00 |
| Nantucket | $116,406.00 |
| Essex | $116,027.00 |
| Ashland | $115,959.00 |
| South Hadley | $115,890.00 |
| Chatham | $115,807.00 |
| Rehoboth | $115,156.00 |
| Webster | $114,916.00 |
| Swampscott | $114,086.00 |
| Hopedale | $113,300.00 |
| Abington | $113,155.00 |
| Cambridge | $112,565.00 |
| Maynard | $112,432.00 |
| Hanson | $112,315.00 |
| Lakeville | $112,240.00 |
| Easton | $112,116.00 |
| Tyringham | $112,083.00 |
| Pepperell | $112,043.00 |
| West Bridgewater | $111,964.00 |
| Shirley | $111,875.00 |
| Stow | $111,701.00 |
| Tewksbury | $111,696.00 |
| Sutton | $111,610.00 |
| East Bridgewater | $110,842.00 |
| Rochester | $110,736.00 |
| Berkley | $110,518.00 |
| Falmouth | $110,372.00 |
| Southampton | $110,200.00 |
| Lancaster | $109,963.00 |
| Chelmsford | $109,841.00 |
| Freetown | $109,821.00 |
| Norton | $109,375.00 |
| Bellingham | $109,042.00 |
| Salem | $108,896.00 |
| Milton | $108,047.00 |
| Yarmouth | $107,853.00 |
| Bridgewater | $107,757.00 |
| Westminster | $107,738.00 |
| Grafton | $107,237.00 |
| Berlin | $106,908.00 |
| Granby | $106,821.00 |
| Charlton | $106,558.00 |
| Hubbardston | $105,938.00 |
| Danvers | $105,654.00 |
| Edgartown | $105,541.00 |
| Clarksburg | $105,313.00 |
| Montgomery | $104,500.00 |
| Ashburnham | $104,074.00 |
| Kingston | $103,945.00 |
| Ludlow | $103,498.00 |
| Swansea | $101,703.00 |
| Ayer | $101,688.00 |
| Littleton | $101,487.00 |
| Hadley | $101,458.00 |
| Auburn | $101,402.00 |
| Lunenburg | $101,205.00 |
| Belchertown | $101,109.00 |
| Melrose | $100,337.00 |
| Dighton | $100,307.00 |
| Seekonk | $100,041.00 |
Boston is way way way down the list at $81,744.00
The shrinking "Middle Class" is usually defined in the $70,000 range. Yeah there is income equality but it is not because of the multi-millionaire 1% grabbing all the money.
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What the heck is unrealized gains tax? That would force people to sell off to pay tax, wouldn’t it?
clutch
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Here are 10 reasons how America is being destroyed from within by the Jewish Zionists with their:
1. Endless Middle East wars for the sake of Israel
2. Control of the corrupt Fiat Federal Reserve bank and the banking system and the destruction of the Dollar
3. The corruption of the Capitalist free market system and Wall Street
4. Control over the leading Corporate Institutions
5. The Jewish Leftist Woke ESG Open Borders LGBTQ+++ cultural destruction
6. Hollywood
7. The corrupt APAC Israeli Lobby and control of the democratic system both the Left and the Right.
8. Bastardization and control over the Christian Evangelical Church and their worship of the Satanic State of Israel
9. The destruction of the educational institutions universities as political indoctrination of leftist BS
10. The Media.
"The 13th Tribe" has destroyed a once great nation.
1. Endless Middle East wars for the sake of Israel
2. Control of the corrupt Fiat Federal Reserve bank and the banking system and the destruction of the Dollar
3. The corruption of the Capitalist free market system and Wall Street
4. Control over the leading Corporate Institutions
5. The Jewish Leftist Woke ESG Open Borders LGBTQ+++ cultural destruction
6. Hollywood
7. The corrupt APAC Israeli Lobby and control of the democratic system both the Left and the Right.
8. Bastardization and control over the Christian Evangelical Church and their worship of the Satanic State of Israel
9. The destruction of the educational institutions universities as political indoctrination of leftist BS
10. The Media.
"The 13th Tribe" has destroyed a once great nation.
onlinpunit
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Pakistanis are worried about decline of America !
clutch
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Pakistanis are worried about decline of America !
As should the entire world... A dying superpower is the most dangerous during its downward decent.... In this case as a loyal servant of the genocidal state of Israel.
The Zionists will make sure they will get their shekels worth out of the nation as they move on to another geographic location...
Hamartia Antidote
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It means if I bought $1M of Apple in 1980 it is probably worth $1B today and I haven't paid any "income" tax on it. So they want every year for me to calculate how much it went up and pay a tax on that increase in value as if it was wage income even though I haven't "realized" it yet as true income since it is just arbitrary paper value (almost Ebay value) that I can't even use. Plus even if i could sell it there is no guarantee I could get the full price for all my shares due to volatile price swings due to supply and demand.
So if it goes up I pay tax, if it goes down I don't get a rebate. I can only use its loss to offset any increase in other stocks. Its ridiculous because as you say I'd probably have to sell some off to pay the tax.
Imagine if they did that with people's houses. A lot of people would have to sell if their home value went up because they don't have the cash.
People can say Elon Musk is the world's richest man but he doesn't pay his "fair share" of taxes. Well almost all his net worth is just on paper which he has never cashed in. Plus it swings so much one day he is "worth" $100B the next $120B...the next $80B.
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This is ridiculous. It’s basically a wealth tax. Additionally, it will have impact on the holder’s liquidity and they will be forced to sell off some positions to pay the tax.
I was thinking the same.
Hamartia Antidote
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You are not taking into account the 750,000 people that have illegally jumped the border in the last few years (nevermind the million people who move to the US each year legally).
They have to live somewhere and for the border jumpers that's usually low income housing (many using guaranteed housing vouchers given to them by immigration authorities). This is going to affect people (ie low income US citizens) who don't have access to such vouchers.
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313Ghazi
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Yeah no doubt. I'm seeing that in the UK. A lot of legal migrants who've been scammed and gotten visas for jobs that don't exist. People are slumming it. They're not on the street but many aren't far off.
I've never been to the US, would love to visit some day, but one of my colleagues holidays there every year and he keeps saying about how bad it's got. Maybe it's a big city thing, his last 3 visits were LA, San Francisco and Miami.
I also watch Peter Santenello on YouTube. His content on the USA is great.
I feel that the UK has peaked in the late 90s and early 2000s. Since then things have been on a steady decline. I think a lot of that is due to ultra capitalism - our housing "market" mixed with austerity measure for the last 15 years, wage stagnation and inflation has crippled our economy. The figures might say one thing but Joe Publics pocket doesn't agree. It bothers me that as the sixth richest nation in the world we're in this position, with shivering elderly and hungry school children.
I suspect the issues in the US may be similar. Ultimately it's wealth disparity. The golden days for all nations are when the working class have access to some wealth - even a little.
How about increasing the minimum wage which has been stagnant since the late 70's? Just to keep up with inflation, it would be in the region of $35/hr, instead of $8/hr as it stands today. Whereas, executive pay has grown exponentially during this 40 year period.We could disallow white collar women from marrying white collar men.
So there was a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1971 that banned companies from forcing job applicants into taking IQ tests (and other biased things) for job placements. This then led companies to require college degrees instead. More women started going to college and entering the workforce as roadblocks started being removed.
Yes income equality is a problem and the middle class is shrinking but the upper class is also expanding. The expansion is not 100% of the shrink but it a lot of it.
This surge in dual-income households is driving up home prices as you get 2 people making 2 x $125,000+ ($250,000+) and that is a powerful block of people. They think nothing of buying old houses and putting up a $1.5M home in its place.
It's not unusual in my area to now have dozens and dozens of towns where the median household income is over $100K due to these dual income households. It is absolutely crazy and was not like this at all pre-1971.
List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Remember this is "median" not "average"
Look how long this list is!! This is just my state..it's the same in others too.
Town Median Household Income Dover $250,000+ Wellesley $226,250.00 Weston $220,815.00 Sherborn $218,906.00 Sudbury $217,847.00 Carlisle $216,000.00 Wayland $203,789.00 Lexington $202,852.00 Medfield $196,820.00 Andover $193,279.00 Harvard $189,647.00 Boxford $187,813.00 Winchester $184,844.00 Needham $182,813.00 Hopkinton $179,192.00 Westford $172,022.00 Westwood $171,071.00 Southborough $170,223.00 Acton $169,335.00 Norfolk $168,281.00 Bolton $167,132.00 Newton $164,607.00 Nahant $161,076.00 Sharon $157,928.00 Cohasset $156,689.00 Fairhaven $155,482.00 Groton $155,252.00 Topsfield $155,208.00 Wenham $154,375.00 Hingham $154,300.00 Marblehead $154,049.00 Newburyport $153,971.00 Newbury $152,356.00 Belmont $151,502.00 Hanover $149,048.00 Princeton $148,438.00 Longmeadow $148,010.00 Marshfield $147,841.00 Medway $147,257.00 Lynnfield $147,237.00 Wrentham $147,201.00 Truro $146,250.00 Lincoln $145,833.00 Arlington $145,552.00 Reading $145,552.00 Holliston $142,348.00 Natick $140,647.00 Dunstable $140,511.00 Middleton $140,511.00 Gloucester $140,192.00 Walpole $138,821.00 Norwell $136,875.00 Douglas $135,250.00 Mendon $133,850.00 Rutland $132,000.00 Tyngsborough $131,944.00 Millis $131,138.00 Pembroke $130,015.00 Northborough $129,780.00 Georgetown $129,153.00 Boxborough $129,132.00 Avon $127,953.00 Dennis $127,833.00 Franklin $127,608.00 Bedford $125,701.00 Uxbridge $125,229.00 Harwich $124,755.00 Holden $124,638.00 Sandwich $124,354.00 North Reading $124,196.00 Paxton $123,958.00 Wilbraham $123,750.00 Burlington $123,630.00 Ipswich $122,914.00 Brookline $122,356.00 Mansfield $122,274.00 Townsend $121,936.00 Groveland $121,711.00 Wellfleet $120,954.00 Sterling $119,000.00 Rockport $118,814.00 Eastham $118,185.00 Plympton $118,098.00 Wilmington $117,909.00 Hull $117,120.00 Duxbury $117,035.00 Hamilton $116,699.00 Nantucket $116,406.00 Essex $116,027.00 Ashland $115,959.00 South Hadley $115,890.00 Chatham $115,807.00 Rehoboth $115,156.00 Webster $114,916.00 Swampscott $114,086.00 Hopedale $113,300.00 Abington $113,155.00 Cambridge $112,565.00 Maynard $112,432.00 Hanson $112,315.00 Lakeville $112,240.00 Easton $112,116.00 Tyringham $112,083.00 Pepperell $112,043.00 West Bridgewater $111,964.00 Shirley $111,875.00 Stow $111,701.00 Tewksbury $111,696.00 Sutton $111,610.00 East Bridgewater $110,842.00 Rochester $110,736.00 Berkley $110,518.00 Falmouth $110,372.00 Southampton $110,200.00 Lancaster $109,963.00 Chelmsford $109,841.00 Freetown $109,821.00 Norton $109,375.00 Bellingham $109,042.00 Salem $108,896.00 Milton $108,047.00 Yarmouth $107,853.00 Bridgewater $107,757.00 Westminster $107,738.00 Grafton $107,237.00 Berlin $106,908.00 Granby $106,821.00 Charlton $106,558.00 Hubbardston $105,938.00 Danvers $105,654.00 Edgartown $105,541.00 Clarksburg $105,313.00 Montgomery $104,500.00 Ashburnham $104,074.00 Kingston $103,945.00 Ludlow $103,498.00 Swansea $101,703.00 Ayer $101,688.00 Littleton $101,487.00 Hadley $101,458.00 Auburn $101,402.00 Lunenburg $101,205.00 Belchertown $101,109.00 Melrose $100,337.00 Dighton $100,307.00 Seekonk $100,041.00
Boston is way way way down the list at $81,744.00
The shrinking "Middle Class" is usually defined in the $70,000 range. Yeah there is income equality but it is not because of the multi-millionaire 1% grabbing all the money.
A classic example of this absurd disparity is $10K protection money on every car Tesla has ever sold Elon Musk is trying to extort from Tesla, totallying $50bn. At the same time Tesla is trying to save a solitary $1bn by firing 14K employees. How about they fire one employee and save $50bn.
Musk's asking more money than Tesla has every profited in total, perfectly encapsulates paper American GDP.
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Hamartia Antidote
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The bottom line is while the Statue of Liberty says "Give me your tired, your poor, your blah blah blah" this country isn't handing you a job like it was when the statue was built.
Back when this inscription was added in 1903 (which BTW was long after the statue was built in the 1880s) 50% of the US population would be considered "poor". So being poor getting off the boat would not be a huge societal disadvantage nor would living in horrible conditions be considered unique. Even closets in houses built before 1900 had room just for a coat because the average person had nothing.
Things however have changed a lot in the last 100 years.
This country is not for people who have no skills/money anymore. The inscription on the statue is completely out of date...and many Liberal politicians are in complete denial of it.
You are going to be in a far far far worse situation than 100 years ago. You are not going to get a job in a factory making shoes or picking vegetables in the farms surrounding cities.
Most unskilled manual labor jobs are long gone...plus thanks to harsh environmental laws and penalties most manufacturing was sent overseas. Liberals said those jobs were "below" the standards of human (err American) dignity..so good riddance!
If you want a decent lifestyle you will either have to start a business or get a college degree. Most companies require a degree to even be a secretary answering phones. This of course is going to exclude most of the people jumping over the border fence...so right off the bat they are screwed..no matter what you do for them.
Even US citizens walking out of high school are shocked (and petrified) when reality hits them hard that if you want that glamorous house and lifestyle you better have a career plan.
I have stated in many threads how when I grew up in Boston I was surrounded by other teens who treated their education like a joke and thus ended up living a rough life. There are sites where you can look up people's names and find their current address and with Google Streetview you can see how they are living. Too many of my old friends living in basically rundown places next to highways and train tracks.
Luckily for me both of my parents went to college and made this a requirement in my life...meanwhile others unfortunately did not have parents with such backgrounds and weren't so lucky.
Sadly beyond the people previously mentioned some are simply not college material or business starters. It's not their fault. It was just the luck of nature's dice. It's hard to fault them. They see the big homes and fancy cars and well sometimes they try to take shortcuts and end up arrested.
So some cities/states feel they have a duty to not punish people like this so harshly. So I can understand this...but now you open a can of worms that you can't close. The politicians dance left and right avoiding admitting they f*cked up. They use any excuse other than the real one. They hem and haw and let the situation get worse.
So how does a society that mainly rewards the educated with a very very good life deal with those who aren't so lucky.
Can't send them to factories making widgets...there aren't many of them. Can't work the fields because it's all automated. Can't build highways because they are all built. Can't lay down railroad tracks. Flipping burgers isn't going to get you a decent house.
Going to revoke all the clean air, water, land laws so you can pile them into factories? Not going to happen.
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