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    Orlandu7Hamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 5:56pm

    “who allowed it to happen.”

    A bunch of idiots in 2000 who went around rambling about how “both parties are the same” and “it doesn’t matter who wins” so “vote Nader or sit out” come to mind.

    Not that that has any relevant parallels to the present, of course.

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      pre-emptive sighOrlandu7
      6/08/16 6:00pm

      LOL, both parties really are the same in this regard. Who signed NAFTA? Who signed the repeal of Glass-Steegal? HINT: It wasn’t Bush...

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      Hamilton NolanOrlandu7
      6/08/16 6:02pm

      I can see that whatever one’s political beliefs are now are simply projected onto this chart, rorschach-style.

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    noodlesinthefaceHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 5:56pm

    Picking 1998 in the peak of the dot-com bubble, when everyone and their dog had an E*Trade account and was investing in tech stocks, and comparing that to today feels a little like ... comparing a dot com bubble to a slowly improving economy that survived the dot com collapse, housing market collapse, and a near total financial industry collapse.

    Not saying shit ain’t as good as it used to be, but let’s be clear about what the comparison is against.

    edit: and yes, I do see the bottom line where the top 10% are better off now than they were before. That’s an issue, absolutely, but there are a lot of middle class people (and I’m one of them) who are better off now than they were in late 2000, or 2001, or 2002, or ... well, all the way since the NASDAQ cratered in April ‘00.

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      Hamilton Nolannoodlesintheface
      6/08/16 6:01pm

      Do you think the bottom 20% and the next-to-bottom 20% in 1998 were “investing in tech stocks” a lot?

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      pre-emptive sighHamilton Nolan
      6/08/16 6:02pm

      I bet you they had a ton of AOL disks. Those were flexible assets that could be used as throwing stars, coasters, frisbees, etc.

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    Jeb! & The HologramsHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 6:16pm

    Yawn. Another day, another “fuck the rich” post.

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      caekislove-caekingitupJeb! & The Holograms
      6/08/16 6:23pm

      Seriously, though, fuck the rich.

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      Jeb! & The Hologramscaekislove-caekingitup
      6/08/16 6:28pm

      Nah. We’d all do the same thing if we were rich. I’m not the hypocritical type.

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    UnitedFunkHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 5:56pm

    Certainly Mrs. Clinton and her allies had nothing to do with this! Good thing she’s on our side, right guys?!

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      lewis55number2UnitedFunk
      6/08/16 7:33pm

      I love how the internet-commenting Left has decided in the last six months that the Bush administration never happened and that all bad things in American are directly attributable, personally, to the Clintons. You’re leaving out a very important 8 years, an 8 year period that covers the majority of the span in that chart, for example.

      I’m not saying the Clintons are blameless here, but the hand wavy ignoring that George Bush is responsible for what happened under George Bush is just too rich at some point...

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      Endless Supply of Cynicismlewis55number2
      6/08/16 8:20pm

      I love how democratic apologists still blame everything on Bush despite Obama being in office the last 7 years. In reality it’s a bipartisan effort to make more money for rich people and if not to intentionally screw middle class and lower income people, to at least not give a shit about them.

      It really started in 1981 when Reagan changed the tax code. Clinton pushed it along with NAFTA and deregulating wall street. Bush passed it along with tax cuts. Obama passed it on with TARP and now the TPP. And I guarantee you, Hillary or Trump will push it along.

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    caekislove-caekingitupHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 5:56pm

    Boomers. Fuck Boomers.

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      TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)caekislove-caekingitup
      6/08/16 6:50pm

      The Silent Generation (between WWII vets and Boomers) were the first generation to be more conservative than the one that preceded it. They’re the *original* core of the Tea Party, the ones who did the yeoman work back when it was direct mail rather than talk radio. Boomers just went along with it so long as they got paid.

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      ARP2caekislove-caekingitup
      6/08/16 6:53pm

      Agreed. They’re the worst “ladder socialists” out there. Meaning, take advantage of all that socialism and then pull up the ladder and complain about it.

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    emooHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 10:14pm

    When they say the parties are the same and you’re all OMFGNOOOOO...

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      You might be wrong.emoo
      6/09/16 12:07am

      What in the blue fuck does this post even mean.

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      emooYou might be wrong.
      6/09/16 12:18am

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    fronsyGigawattHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 5:56pm

    ok but exactly what option do we have when HRC is in the pocket of the wealthy elite ?

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      caekislove-caekingitupfronsyGigawatt
      6/08/16 6:09pm

      No option other than the sweet release of death.

      You know what to do.

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      Emerald D.V.fronsyGigawatt
      6/08/16 6:14pm

      riots

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    Johnny CrapHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 6:00pm

    In other words, conditions are just ripe (minus the post-WW1 hyper-inflation) for a populist Fascist to take over.

    Yes, socioeconomic conditions in the US have worsened for many. However, the proliferation of cheap credit (the achievement of the American dream, a home for everyone!), have served as anodynes. No one gives a shit about growth of real (inflation-adjusted) wealth, until they suddenly wake up and do.

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      ToadYouOnceToadYouTwiceJohnny Crap
      6/08/16 6:06pm

      The democrats are bringing a wonk knife to a populist gunfight. I wish them luck.

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      Johnny CrapToadYouOnceToadYouTwice
      6/08/16 6:10pm

      Yes, they’re fucked.

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    Fabian KnockwurstHamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 6:00pm

    Start with the person with the highest income, tax them at 50% (no worries for Bill Gates, as the richest person at 50% still makes more than about 85% of the masses), then establish a low end income to zero taxation (oh, i dunno ~$27,750) they get taxed at 0%. Draw a line between; in fact, publish the slope/intercept to compute your income tax. Note!: this is not a ‘flat tax’ as the rate varies. No loopholes should be granted [dust hands in Stephen Colbert gesture]

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      ZoetropeCatFabian Knockwurst
      6/08/16 6:04pm

      My grand solution: Give everyone a tax deduction of a determined amount (say $1000 to start) multiplied by their age. Tax 50% of the remaining amount. That way if you’re 60 and you still only make $60k, you don’t need to pay anything. If you’re 25 and are making six figures, pay up!

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      TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Fabian Knockwurst
      6/08/16 6:48pm

      The richest person at 50% still makes more than 99.99% of the masses.

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    TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Hamilton Nolan
    6/08/16 6:44pm

    We allowed it to happen, because a majority of white Americans decided the government was only good for stealing their money and giving it to lazy minorities. Reagan didn’t teach America that government was the problem; he only codified what they had already started thinking when they lined up to protest forced busing and integration. Most of us still hold that lesson true today:

    GIF

    No single person or policy is to blame for it, and no single person or policy can remedy it. Until we stop believing that government is the problem, and business the solution, neither we nor our elected representatives can fix income inequality in America.

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      You might be wrong.TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
      6/09/16 12:03am

      Imagine being part of the 6% of people whose faith in big business was restored after the economy collapsed. Imagine having a memory that works like that.

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      eadingasTRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
      6/09/16 10:22am

      I can’t even remember what “big labor” was supposed to be. Trade unions, I assume? Boy, remember those?

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