What no one's telling US workers

This is what I've been trying to tell anyone who listen for the last several years; there is no 'war on the middle class' and our government cannot 'fix it'.

While policy wonks argue about how to address income inequality in this country, plenty of hardworking Americans need to hear a more practical message.

The simmering debate over income inequality got a jolt of energy recently with the publication of Edward Conard's book "Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You've Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong." Conard is a former partner of Mitt Romney's at Bain Capital, so his book can be interpreted (rightly or wrongly) as the Bain View of the Universe.
Romney's critics have been gleefully attacking Conard's book and its elitist, trickle-down view of the economy -- which plays right into President Barack Obama's call for more fairness and higher taxes on the wealthy. But this predictable argument over the diverging living standards for rich and poor -- with liberals insisting that the rich have gotten too rich and conservatives arguing that more spending by the rich would make everybody better off -- basically misses the point. In fact, it does a disservice to hard-working people who need pragmatic guidance on how to plan for their financial future.

Conard mounts an unapologetic defense of the 1% and the economic activity they generate, arguing that spending and investment by the wealthy is the main thing that keeps the economy humming and creates jobs. The New York Times Magazine summarized his argument this way: "If we had a little more (income inequality), then everyone, particularly the 99%, would be better off."

That type of reasoning drives liberals bananas, and they do have data on their side. Since about 1980, for example, incomes for top earners have risen sharply, while they've risen much more slowly for everybody else. Over the past decade, the median income has been stagnant, producing a bulging gap between the rich and everybody else.

The big question is what to do about it, and here's where the policy wonks arguing about income inequality break ties with real Americans. Experts on both sides typically call for new policies in Washington to fix whatever they feel is wrong with unequal incomes. But policy changes won't solve most of the problems ordinary people face, and even if they did, it would take years.

Relying on solutions from Washington, in fact, may be the very thing that generates dangerous unintended consequences. If you think politicians will help you get ahead then you'll be less likely to take action on your own to make yourself better off.

What politicians and policymakers really ought to be telling struggling Americans is this: You're on your own. The government is running out of money and is borderline dysfunctional besides. Instead of new policies that will make the economy more fair, we need more self-sufficient workers who aren't looking to government for answers.

The trick is figuring out what ordinary people can do to make themselves better off. To do that, it helps to understand the real problem, which isn't income inequality in itself. It's a decline in economic mobility, which means it's getting harder for people to boost their earnings, move up the socioeconomic ladder and improve their living standards.

The economy is changing rapidly, and it's not completely clear why it's gotten so much harder to get ahead. But there are certainly clues. Education has a lot to do with it: There are very limited opportunities these days for people who don't have a college degree or whose training is outdated. Technology is another factor. People whose careers are tied to the digital revolution enjoy the good fortune of working in a burgeoning field, while many others work in shrinking fields being decimated by new technology. Workers able to ride the wave of globalization, at companies that do business around the world, have an edge.

Attitude is another factor. Too many American workers rely on somebody else for their livelihood, without the grit that it takes to adapt and recover when something goes wrong. This is the natural byproduct of a long era of prosperity in which living standards rose for nearly everybody, just because the economy was booming. It didn't take extraordinary fortitude to get ahead. Often, all you had to do was show up.

Things are different now, and the bar for success is higher. Instead of arguing over the abstract causes of income inequality or hoping for miracles from Washington, national leaders ought to be sending this message to America's workers: Get smarter. Work harder. Go where the opportunity is. Prosperity isn't going to trickle down from the wealthy, or arrive in the form of a government check. The only person looking out for you is you.

http://money.msn.com/personal-finance/what-no-ones-telling-us-workers-usnews.aspx

Repeat after me...let's us take all the money...no war on middle-class...it can't be fixed...let's us take all the money...no war on middle-class...it can't be fixed...let's us take all the money...no war on middle-class...let's us take all the money...it can't be fixed...no war on middle-class...it can't be fixed...

There are millions and millions of people with no skills whatsoever, thank God for WalMart! For hiring them for the low wage jobs they deserve and a place to spend their living wage

And those people are far more intelligent, successful, and wealthier than you will ever be.

Gonna be hot at the beach tomorrow, glad I got 18 holes in today.....

Anal of course !

wtf does that even mean

Hopefully the police or an angry father will catch you checking out the 13 year old girls.

I'm thinking it means that when we hand out welfare we remove the tools and motivation that drive people to go out and work.

Hope you did better than I did. Ran out Monday after work to play a twilight 9 and ended up channeling Rodney from Caddyshack. Quite possibly the worst 9 of my life. I couldn't have hit water if a thunderstorm broke out.

It was predominately a par 3 course I played, only had 4 par fours, I didn't play very well...paired with two high school juniors, nice kids, but one of them should give up the game...did put the ball a foot from the hole on a 167 yard hole..I don't play when the temperature gets above 90 and we've had a lot of that this summer...

You're here everyday, 24/7 under 2 screen names, so tell us; what exactly removed your motivation and drive to go out and work?

As usual, you have no perception of reality. You personify the term "tard".

Where'd you play? Bear Trap?

Oh, nevermind...Bethany Bay

TRUTH!!! hurts, don't it, bitch?

Lol what's Blargy's other screen name?

zimmie

Lol you really think so? I don't know how that individual would be able to do much else? after logging out and logging in to like what the other one posted, nah that's way too much flim flamming around..plus the satanic looking avatar and all, Zimm is kind of a holyroller typre right?

What does it mean? It means too many Americans were paid handsomely for doing nothing much besides turning a screw 1000 per day or whatever. Those days have changed with the advent of automation. Why pay unskilled labor $25 per hour, plus benefits, when a machine can do the job for much less? When you have no marketable skills, you will perish. That's the way it is. In PA, they're going to fully automate the Turnpike toll plazas. This means over 600 toll booth workers will lose their jobs. Their 'skill' was taking money and making change. What do you think they're going to do next? Brain surgery?

I always play worse when there's one or two duffers in the foursome. I took three clients golfing last week and the one guy was brutally bad. We're talking 8, 9 or 10 on nearly every hole. I just can't concentrate on my game, and I'm guessing that's what you meant.

I'm guessing you told him you were a mensa member and he couldn't stop laughing.

What do you mean by too many? I cant help but read this and think that you'd like income disparity to be even worse. I mean, what is the logical extrapolation of this line of thinking? Automate as many "unskilled" jobs as possible, so those people can either get much worse paying jobs or acquire some marketable skills. But since there isn't any simultaneous increase in the number of "skilled" jobs out there, you've got a larger pool of candidates for the same limited number of jobs. This is supposed to make things better for the country as a whole?

I think it's part of KVK's unfunny schtick. He addresses people like "NC-ham" or whatever.

It is possible that he really doesn't know that we're different people because he's just that stupid.

store clerk