Corporate Profits at All-Time High; Wages at All-Time Low: Can We Call it Class War Yet?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/story/156042/corporate_profits_at_all-time_high%3B_wages_at_all-time_low%3A_can_we_call_it_class_war_yet/

_640x470_310x220

This week, David Segal at the New York Times broke the news to America that not only was Apple -- the computer and gadget manufacturer formerly seen as a symbol of good old American ingenuity -- making its profits on the backs of abused factory workers in China, but also on poorly paid store employees here in the US.

Apple store workers, he wrote, make up a large majority of Apple's US workforce—30,000 out of 43,000 employees in this country—and they make about $25,000 a year, or about $12 an hour.

Lawrence Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute notes that that's just a dollar above the federal poverty level. This for a company that paid nine of its top executives a total of $441 million in 2011.

“The discrepancy between Apple’s profits/executive pay and its compensation to its workers is a particularly glaring example of what is occurring in the wider economy,” Mishel writes.

And he's right. Also this week, Henry Blodget at Business Insider posted three charts that show just how out of whack our economic system really is. Corporate profits are now at an all-time high, while wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low, and fewer Americans are employed than at any time in the previous three decades.

[Civilization2]

1. clearly this is a class war, the 1% seem to get it, and the 99% are still sleeping,.

not sure what it takes before the torches and pitchforks come out? Or perhaps the peasants are just happy to cheer-lead for their 1% overloads,. .

[harmonicon]

3. Wars end. There was class war, but it's over.

The rich won.

[dtom67]

8. Absolutely right..

My History 101 professor( hi, Dr.Briggs ) said that throughout history , it has always been the middle-class that was the most dangerous in terms of challenging the powers-that-be. The Jacobites in pre-revolution France, The American merchant class ( The real Tea Party. ) in the American Revolt, and the cabal of Subcomandante Marcos in Chiapas in southern Mexico are examples.
I think the tipping point for any action against the " Overlords " is that point when those that have enough to live comfortably see that their welfare is threatened. Middle-class people generally feel good about themselves in terms of their place in society. If their "place" is threatened, they have the time to think about a course of action they might take to defend themselves. Whereas, those that are poor are conditioned to have low self-esteem in terms of their place in society. They have to think about trying to provide for their family; they can't afford to take a few days off work to organize protests or otherwise risk their family's welfare.
So if you really want the pitchforks to come out, it has to start in the middle.

[marmar]

2. Yes, as disquieting as it may be to our feudal lords.

nt

[dtom67]

4. This is the absolute central issue...

Fighting for the 1% is the main goal of the republican party.
They try to hide this by attempting to pit the 99% against itself. The last thing that they want is for their own base to wake up and realize that they are the 99% as well. If half of the christian conservatives woke up tomorrow and realized that they were actually voting against their ability to provide for their families welfare, you'd have to put karl Rove on suicide watch. This is why I think it is a mistake to view christian conservatives as our enemy. Many of the rank-and-file are decent people who have been sold out by their leadership ( usually for monetary gain ). These are the kind of people who define ' compassion for thy fellow man'. Yet they will vote for those who bring pain, poverty and death into our world through their ( bought-and-paid-for ) Agenda of Greed. These decent, hard-working people will vote for the supremacy of the 1%... because their religious leaders tell them to do so.

Meanwhile, on fox "news"....

They will call it "class warfare" and then try to change the focus of discussion away from financial inequality to some other issue that their base can identify with; Patriotism, gun rights, anti- abortion, anti-homosexualism , ET AL ....
and we take the bait every time.
We will pour countless hours into following their "Red Herring" topic instead of hammering these sonsofbitches about their destructive ,pro-1% agenda.
Despite what they say on fox "news", This is not a game. We are talking about the welfare of our fellow man. Promoting child hunger so that Romney and those like him can make a few more millions is insane.
As for the pitchforks....
If they do come out, let us pray that they are pointed in the right direction.

[dtom67]

11. full disclosure...

I'd like to add that I don't view Gun-rights people as our enemy either. I own a few firearms, myself. I think the GOP is the party most likely to take away your guns; Think about it, do you really think that the Rich want millions of poor people running around with guns? Although, I'm sure fox "news" would be an effective tool for getting those guns pointed away from the Rich and back toward other 99%'ers.
I do ,however, view all bigots,racists and homophobes as our enemy. But we can only defeat "them" through education for future generations.

[ananda]

5. "Shared sacrifice" is Orwellian codetalk ...

... for the sacrifice of the 99ers for the benefit
of the one percenters.

[The Wizard]

6. Pitchforks torches

and rope

[Dustlawyer]

7. It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter Heaven.

I may not have that exactly right, but it is close enough to the Bible verse to remind Christians that the pay for those Apple executives is excessive. Instead of over 40 million a year for those 9 Apple executives, reduce it by 10 and they still make 4 million A YEAR! Plenty enough to incentivize people to strive for the top and reward those that got there! Who needs 40 plus million a year! How any Apple employees could then make $15-17 an hour? Get people to honestly think about this, do they really think they will become one of those 9? Couldn't they be happy with 4 million a year if they do? It is very true that we need to stop with the rhetoric when speaking to these right wingers, myself included. While it is true that they can be smug and self righteous. We (myself included) can be the same at times. I guess another way to say it is that you attract more flies with honey than vinager. Even if they still attack you, if you refuse to take the bait, they will think about what you calmly said later and may prevent them from becoming defensive.

[liberalhistorian]

9. During the past thirty years or so,

employees have come to be seen as a liability and a drain, instead of an asset that is vital to the health and success of a company. This is why more and more profits have been going to the top executive tier and less and less to the very people who make such profits possible. The purposeful busting and strangling of unions, and the largely successful bashing of them and employees as being "greedy" whenever they try to actually get decent wages and working conditions, fits right along with this, and is both a cause and effect.

[harun]

10. Of course it is. Problem for us is only one side is fighting it as a war.

And I am not talking about violence. I am talking about politics. Political war.

When the GOP threatens to raise the age for SS, Dem's need to push for lowering it.
GOP threatens to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Dem's need to push for Medicare for All.
GOP threatens to go war, Dem's push for repeal of the 401k.

They need to know for all their nonsense we will meet with some equal and opposite resistance. Instead of just saying "Oh, sorry we had to give the GOP 99% of they wanted. Vote for us so they don't get 100%."

[Dustlawyer]

13. K&R. Right on brother, I like your thinking!

[woo me with science]

12. DU Rec