— Jeremy Varon. Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies (Kindle Location 332). Kindle Edition.
About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who…
(Source: NPR)
Members of the 1% are clearly at an advantage when it comes to opportunity, and that advantage carries through when it comes to finding a job.
While it’s common for people to find employment through family and friends, there’s a direct correlation between a father’s income and the likelihood his son will work for the same employer, according to a report last year in the Journal of Labor Economics (via Miles Corak, who co-wrote the paper).
The researchers found that that among its subjects, around 40% of young Canadian men had been employed by an employer for whom their father worked.
But for earners in the top percentile, that figure jumps to around nearly 70%.
Writes Corak:
All parents want to help their children in whatever way they can. But top earners can do it more than others, and with more consequence: virtually guaranteeing, if not a lifetime of high earnings, at least a great start in life.
But most rich people work super hard for their money! They deserve it!If you don’t have a parent who’s a high ranking executive at a Fortune 500 company, blame yourself.
Hey! It’s not Daddy’s company, it’s Father’s.
-Joe
When people in the United States are asked how US wealth is distributed, they think that the richest 20% should own up to 40% of national wealth. That includes 90% of republicans surveyed. In fact, the richest 20% own 85% of the national wealth. Those surveyed also thought the bottom 120 million people should own around 10% of the national wealth. The reality? 0.3%.
The richest 1% of the US population own one third of the US’s net worth.
In 2010, the average American earned $26,487 - down over $2,000 in real terms on 2006. That’s a drop of 5.27%, including inflation. If you were poor it’s been an even bigger drop - the 24 million least wealthy households in America saw their average income go down by 10% From $12,276 in 2006 to $11,034 in 2010.
Now, one in every seven Americans lives below the poverty line - that’s a record 46.2 million people (although it might actually be higher).
• One in six Americans have no health insurance - 50 million people, a population twice the size of Texas (27m people). Of every 17 Americans, at least one will be earning below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
What about taxes? The 400 wealthiest households paid $19.6bn in taxes in 2008 - the latest year we have data. That’s 1.9% of all the income tax the IRS collects. If you are in the top tax bracket, your tax rate is 35%. But it doesn’t quite work like that.
Imagine you are a billionaire and your income comes mostly from investments. Imagine you are Warren Buffet. You would end up paying a tax rate of under 20%. In fact, Buffett paid 17.4% tax last year. This is the “effective” tax rate.
If you earn between $100,000 and $200,000 you will be paying up to 25% effective tax rate - and that’s before payroll taxes kick in. The 400 richest tax returns surveyed by the IRS paid just 18.1% in 2008.
— William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, journalist
from the Occupy Wall St Movement at Liberty Sq tonight.
Retail fashion chain Zara is under investigation by Brazil’s ministry of labour after a contractor in São Paulo was found to be using employees in sweatshop conditions to make garments for the Spanish company.
The Brazilian government listed 52 charges against Inditex, Zara’s parent company, after it “rescued” 15 workers from a factory sub-contracted by AHA, the company responsible for 90% of Zara’s Brazilian production. Fourteen of the workers were Bolivians and one was from Peru. One was 14.
Inditex said in a statement that it could not be held responsible for “unauthorised outsourcing” but would compensate the workers because AHA had violated Inditex’s code of conduct. Zara has 1,540 stores worldwide, including 64 in the UK.
The response has not satisfied the Brazilian authorities. “AHA is a logistical extension of its main client, Zara Brasil,” said the prosecutor, Giuliana Cassiano Orlandi. “The company is responsible for its employees. Its raison d’être is making clothes and it follows that it must know who is producing its garments.”
"—
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/18/zara-brazil-sweatshop-accusation
And yet… if Zara buyers support it, is it the company’s fault for doing what they pay for?
— Oklahoma State Congresswoman Sally Kern.
If interested, you can join the Human Rights Campaign in demanding an appology from Oklahoma’s state leadership here.
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