Subject:
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The U.S. Economy: The Thousand Yard Stare Through the Years
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 22 Apr 2003 22:18:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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213 times
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Wake up, Sunshine! You are not part of the wealthy elite and you probably
never will be a member of any U.S. elite class. And yes, I posted this here
because YOU do not "get it." And yes, when "they can't see their soul[s] in
the mirror," they probably worship mammon instead of ANY possible god. And
YOU should know what they say about the possibility of having two masters...
[What follows is shamelessly cobbled together from older data available at:
http://www.pbs.org/now/ and even older material from "The Economist."]
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-Executive take home pay relative to factory floor workers pay worldwide-
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/politics_pop/index.html
[may have to "view raw" to make it line up properly]
Japan 11 times
Germany 12 times
France 15 times
Italy 20 times
Canada 20 times
S. Africa 21 times
Britian 22 times
Hong Kong 41 times
Mexico 47 times
Venezuela 50 times
U.S. 475 times
[wed this to the ongoing corporate scandals that keep rocking the economy
and you will begin to understand why The Economist thinks that investors
should be able to find better investments outside the U.S. Maybe Britain is
a good place for your money -- the CEO is not taking most of the profits and
the corporate financials have a better chance of being far more accurate
than is necessary here in the states.]
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-Barons of Bankruptcy-
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/executive.html
Gary Winnick, Global Crossing: Total earnings (salary, bonus, cash, share
sales): $512.4 million
Global Crossing: Value lost since 1999: $9.2 billion
Jobs lost: 5,020
Kenneth Lay, Enron: Total earnings (salary, bonus, cash, share sales):
$246.7 million
Enron: Value lost since 1999: $18.8 billion
Jobs lost: 5,500
Richard Lumpkin, MacLeodUSA: Total earnings (salary n/a, bonus, cash, share
sales): $116.3 million
MacLeodUSA: Value lost since 1999: 2.0 billion
Jobs lost: 2,165
Scott Sullivan, WorldCOM: Total earnings (salary, bonus, cash, share sales):
$49.4 million
WorldCOM: Value lost since 1999: $126.8 billion
Jobs lost: 24,000
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"The Off-shore Shell Game: Overview"
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/bermuda.html
[too much to redact, but really good]
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-Wall Street Email Trail: Merrill Lynch Emails-
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/emails.html
[too adult for this site]
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-Cost of War with Iraq-
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/wareconomy.html
Congressional Budget Office Projection for a six-week war: $50 billion
Congressional Budget Office Costs for First Gulf War (today's dollars): $80
billion
Five years of peacekeeping costs (Based on figures from Balkans experience):
$75 to $500 billion
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"The Balance Sheet: Voices from the Tax Cut Debate"
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/taxcutdebate.html
[too much to redact]
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More on the U.S. plutocracy:
Interview Transcript: Kevin Phillips
see: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_phillips.html
KEVIN PHILLIPS: [snip] ... So that basically, you never get one of these
reactions against big money until you've had this speculative implosion. And
normally I think if we were seeing any kind of debate in Washington, and the
Democrats have all kinds of things they could say about the Bush dynasty and
Enron, for example, it's mind blowing, but they don't.
BILL MOYERS: Why?
KEVIN PHILLIPS: I think partly because they're so interested in raising
money that they can't see their soul in the mirror.
BILL MOYERS: What has happened to the word equality? When you and I were
young men in politics it was a common reference in our political discourse.
Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, a lot of others too, but you don't hear it in
the political lexicon anymore.
KEVIN PHILLIPS: You hear it in twisted ways. There is a view in some
conservative circles that it doesn't matter much what concentrations of
wealth you have or disparities of income. It's equality of consumption. It's
the right to have Nike shoes, to listen to a boom box, to, uh, take a plane
ride. And ...
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Drink up, Joe and Jane 12-pak! Consume, Puppets! Eat, drink, and be merry
-- for tomorrow you may die defending the empire of which you are a debt-slave!
XOXOXO
-- Hop-Frog
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