I was fascinated by this map of common languages spoken in the U.S. We really ARE a diverse country! And each language and person speaking it adds to the richness of our American culture.
Tag Archive for rich
You May be Richer than You Think (or Poorer)
Where we live REALLY does matter…in terms of how rich/poor our salary makes us. I thought this report was interesting in general, then revealing after I clicked the “View Interactive” button and selected my state. Try it. Find out where the money you make for working hard at your job places you. The new gilded age–Income inequality in the U.S. by state, metropolitan area, and county.
A Whopper of an Explanation of Net Neutrality
Many of us are confused by what difference net neutrality makes. If you’re one of them, take a look at this Burger King video comparing Whoppers with Internet service. It’s clever and gives a good, clear picture of how much the Internet will cost us unless we have net neutrality, and how, once again, the rich and powerful benefit and the rest of us (especially those with limited finances) are taken advantage of.
If this bothers you, sign the Daily Kos petition to Congress for them to destroy the FCC’s plan to stop net neutrality.
Money, Money, Money
Where is it all? According to Oxfam, 1% of the world’s population now owns as much as the other 99% put together. Seems a bit topsy-turvy to me, considering all the poverty, disease, and starvation in the world.
You can read the details in “Oxfam: 62 richest people as wealthy as poorest half of world’s population.”
Who Gets all that Income?
The economy may be improving, but the rich are getting richer and the rest of us? Well…. Here’s an unnerving statistic: the gap in income is currently the largest that it has been since the early 1930s–yes, the Great Depression. Today, 1% of the people are getting 95% of the income.
This is having an effect on all of us, but especially the poor who are trying to climb up out of the well the recent bad economic years have put them into.
Uncategorized
1%, Depression, gap, Great, income, poor, rich
Let’s Bank that $260 Billion!
An amount equal to ONE-HALF the GDP is held untaxed overseas by rich Americans.
The Tax Justice Network estimated that between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden offshore, untaxed. With Americans making up 40% of the world’s Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, that’s $8 to $12 trillion in U.S. money stashed in far-off hiding places.
Based on a historical stock market return of 6%, up to $750 billion of income is lost to the U.S. every year, resulting in a tax loss of about $260 billion.*
With that $260 billion a year, we could work toward balanced budgets while still funding programs that protect our poor and vulnerable citizens. If it’s taxable income, why isn’t it going into our federal bank account?
*Paul Buchheit, in Common Dreams
Entrepreneurs Come from the Middle Class
Only THREE PERCENT of the very rich are entrepreneurs. According to both Marketwatch and economist Edward Wolff, over 90 percent of the assets owned by millionaires are held in a combination of low-risk investments (bonds and cash), personal business accounts, the stock market, and real estate. Only 3.6 percent of taxpayers in the top .1% were classified as entrepreneurs based on 2004 tax returns. A 2009 Kauffman Foundation study found that the great majority of entrepreneurs come from middle-class backgrounds, with less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs coming from very rich or very poor backgrounds.
[Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams]