{"id":109472,"date":"2016-03-17T04:12:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T04:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/03\/17\/the-rise-of-the-working-poor-and-the-non-working\/"},"modified":"2016-03-17T04:12:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T04:12:59","slug":"the-rise-of-the-working-poor-and-the-non-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/03\/17\/the-rise-of-the-working-poor-and-the-non-working\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise Of The Working Poor And The Non-Working Rich"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rise Of The Working Poor And The Non-Working Rich<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

riotrite<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

robertcmmacgregor<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Many believe that poor people deserve to be poor because they\u2019re lazy. As Speaker John Boehner has said<\/a>, the poor have a notion that \u201cI really don\u2019t have to work. I don\u2019t really want to do this. I think I\u2019d rather just sit around.\u201d<\/p>\n

In
\n reality, a large and growing share of the nation\u2019s poor work full time
\n\u2013 sometimes sixty or more hours a week \u2013 yet still don\u2019t earn enough
\nto lift themselves and their families out of poverty. <\/b>
\n<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s also commonly believed, especially among Republicans<\/a>, that the rich deserve their wealth because they work harder than others. <\/b><\/h2>\n

In reality, a large and growing portion of the super-rich have never broken a sweat. Their wealth has been handed to them. <\/b><\/h2>\n

The
\n rise of these two groups \u2013 the working poor and non-working rich \u2013 is
\n relatively new. Both are challenging the core American assumptions that
\n people are paid what they\u2019re worth, and work is justly rewarded.<\/p>\n

Why are these two groups growing?<\/p>\n

The ranks of the working poor are growing because wages at the bottom have dropped<\/a>,
\n adjusted for inflation. With increasing numbers of Americans taking
\nlow-paying jobs in retail sales, restaurants, hotels, hospitals,
\nchildcare, elder care, and other personal services, the pay of the
\nbottom fifth is falling closer to the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the real value of the federal minimum wage<\/a> is lower today than it was a quarter century ago. <\/p>\n

In addition, most recipients of public assistance must now work in order to qualify. <\/p>\n

Bill
\n Clinton\u2019s welfare reform of 1996 pushed the poor off welfare and into
\nwork. Meanwhile, the Earned Income Tax Credit, a wage subsidy, has
\nemerged as the nation\u2019s largest anti-poverty program. Here, too, having a
\n job is a prerequisite.<\/p>\n

\nThe new work requirements haven\u2019t reduced
\nthe number or percentage of Americans in poverty. They\u2019ve just moved
\npoor people from being unemployed and impoverished to being employed and
\n impoverished. A very clever scheme by Republicans.<\/b>
<\/h2>\n

While poverty declined in the early years of
\nwelfare reform when the economy boomed and jobs were plentiful, it began
\n growing in 2000. By 2012 it exceeded its level in 1996<\/a>, when welfare ended.<\/p>\n

At
\n the same time, the ranks of the non-working rich have been swelling.
\nAmerica\u2019s legendary \u201cself-made\u201d men and women are fast being replaced by
\n wealthy heirs. <\/p>\n

Six of today\u2019s ten wealthiest Americans are heirs
\n to prominent fortunes. The Walmart heirs alone have more wealth than
\nthe bottom 40 percent<\/a> of Americans combined.<\/b><\/h2>\n

Americans
\n who became enormously wealthy over the last three decades are now
\nbusily transferring that wealth to their children and grand children.<\/b><\/h2>\n

The nation is on the cusp of the largest inter-generational transfer of wealth in history. A study<\/a>
\n from the Boston College Center on Wealth and Philanthropy projects a
\ntotal of $59 trillion passed down to heirs between 2007 and 2061.<\/p>\n

As
\n the French economist Thomas Piketty reminds us, this is the kind of
\ndynastic wealth that\u2019s kept Europe\u2019s aristocracy going for centuries.
\nIt\u2019s about to become the major source of income for a new American
\naristocracy. This is what the Koch\/Walton Republicans have schemed for; the Gilded Age.
<\/b><\/h2>\n

The tax code encourages all this by favoring unearned income over earned income. <\/p>\n

The
\n top tax rate paid by America\u2019s wealthy on their capital gains \u2013 the
\nmajor source of income for the non-working rich \u2013 has dropped from 33
\npercent in the late 1980s to 20 percent today, putting it substantially
\nbelow the top tax rate on ordinary income (36.9 percent).<\/p>\n

If the owners of capital assets whose worth increases over their lifetime hold them until death, their heirs pay zero capital gains<\/a> taxes on them. Such \u201cunrealized\u201d gains now account for more than half the value of assets held by estates worth more than $100 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At
\n the same time, the estate tax has been slashed. Before George W. Bush
\nwas president, it applied to assets in excess of $2 million per couple
\nat a rate of 55 percent. Now it kicks in at $10,680,000 per couple, at a
\n 40 percent rate.<\/p>\n

Last year only 1.4 out of every 1,000 <\/a>estates owed any estate tax, and the effective rate they paid was only 17 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Republicans
\n now in control of Congress want to go even further. Last Friday the
\nSenate voted 54-46 in favor of a non-binding resolution to repeal the
\nestate tax altogether. Earlier in the week, the House Ways and Means
\nCommittee also voted for a repeal. The House is expected to vote in
\ncoming weeks.<\/p>\n

Yet the specter of an entire generation doing
\nnothing for their money other than speed-dialing their wealth management
\n advisers is not particularly attractive.<\/p>\n

It puts more and more
\nresponsibility for investing a substantial portion of the nation\u2019s
\nassets into the hands of people who have never worked.<\/p>\n

It also endangers our democracy, as dynastic wealth inevitably and invariably accumulates political influence and power.<\/p>\n

Consider
\n the rise of both the working poor and the non-working rich, and the
\nmeritocratic ideal on which America\u2019s growing inequality is often
\njustified doesn\u2019t hold up.<\/p>\n

That widening inequality \u2013 combined
\nwith the increasing numbers of people who work full time but are still
\nimpoverished and of others who have never worked and are fabulously
\nwealthy \u2013 is undermining the moral foundations of American capitalism.<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just pointing out real quick that the moral foundation of American capitalism is enslaving human beings. <\/p>\n

The actual info here is on point though. Organize!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rise Of The Working Poor And The Non-Working Rich riotrite: robertcmmacgregor: Many believe that poor people deserve to be poor because they\u2019re lazy. As Speaker John Boehner has said, the poor have a notion that \u201cI really don\u2019t have to work. I don\u2019t really want to do this. I think I\u2019d rather just sit … <\/p>\n

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