Election Day 2012

[Angantyr]

We're talking about policies during the presidency here where even ostensibly less (than their opponents) big-business pawns such as Obama (or other democrats) are in the pocket of for example Wall Street.

No one (and this wasn't brought up even once during the presidental campaign) seems to acknowledge the biggest problem the West is facing right now; growing inequality and lack of social mobility, a problem that has only worsened since the 80s, no matter under which president, republican or democrat. America is today, together with the UK and Italy, the OECD country with the least social mobility (of course these are also the countries where the myth of the 'self-made man' persists the most).

The American Dream is now a myth (Business Insider article)

American inequality in numbers

• 400 of the richest Americans have in total a larger fortune than the 150 million Americans who earn the least.
• 0.1 percent of Americans with the highest incomes had in 2007 an average income that was 220 times that of the average of the 90 percent lowest incomes.
• 93 percent of the income growth that was given in the US from 2009 to 2010 went to the 1 percent with the already highest incomes.
• 10 percent with the highest incomes earned in 2010 as much as the rest of the population together.
• 90 percent with the lowest incomes have since 1980 experienced an income growth of 15 percent while the 1 percent with the highest incomes have in the same period experienced a total growth of 150 percent and the top-most 0.1 percent a growth of 300 percent in income.

Sources: Joseph Stiglitz ’The Price of Inequality’ and the New York Times


This is what Chomsky refers to when talking about a business party; a party that doesn't caretake the interests of the people at large, but mainly the interests of the small business elite that within the current system have better opportunity than ever to dictate policies as they see fit.

[Kafein]

The lack of social mobility and the skyrocketting relative inequalities is a huge problem, but people often misinterpret what "the poor gets poorer" means.

Compare the life of a poor family from the 1970's and the same poor family in 2010. Only one has easy access to a washing machine, has a TV and a computer, can save up for short vacations... the other doesn't.


I do not believe money grants political power as much as some may think but I would like more effort being done to make sure it doesn't, and I don't see that happening any time soon. Another problem is that in some economic sectors, businesses naturally regroup in big structures, which can become defacto authorities in their field, or become so big that the whole society can't let them down even though they are run for individual profit.

[LordBerenger]

Election is over and PROBAMA won 2012 elections.

Case Closed.