First View of 2010 Paychecks: We’re Doomed

If you want to understand the motivation of the 99% and the whole #Occupy movement, you need look no further than the Social Security Administration’s just-released data on 2010 paychecks.  Avert your eyes, TeaOP, it’s data!  You will not be able to comprehend it, so move on to the next post.  Reuters has done a nice job building a little graph that shows not only the decline in take-home pay, but also the decline in employment levels.

It’s amazing to me that more people aren’t marching in the streets.  As David Cay Johnston at Reuters observes,

The number of Americans with any work fell again last year, down by more than a half million from 2009 to less than 150.4 million.

More significantly, the number of people with any work has fallen by 5.2 million since 2007, when the worst recession since the Great Depression began, with a massive taxpayer bailout of Wall Street following in late 2008. This means 3.3 percent of people who had a job in 2007, or one in every 33, went all of 2010 without earning a dollar.

Where are the jobs, Governor Walker?

Where are the jobs, state legislators?

Where are the jobs Congress?

Where are the jobs, President Obama?

You will all be held to account in 2012.  Each and every one of you.

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24 thoughts on “First View of 2010 Paychecks: We’re Doomed

  1. Thank you for that data that proves the Keynesian schemes don’t/didn’t work.
    But heck, all we have to do is look back at why the Soviet Union crumbled, how Mao’s Five Year Plans worked or how about North Korea.
    But leave it to idiots like Reich to keep on pushing governmental centralized planning.

    1. Yeah,

      Much better to let the free market determine things.

      For example, Wal-Mart has played a big role in helping communist China lower its unemployment rate to 4.4%.

      I’m sure Von Mises would approve.

      1. Why don’t you take a look at economies that actually have something resembling a free market, like Hong Kong.

        I suppose it is possible you are one of those people who doesn’t like the low prices at Wal Mart that actually helps the poorer people live a better life.
        Perhaps your motto is: Remember the poor – it costs nothing.

        1. Yes, let’s look at Hong Kong, shall we? From the CIA Factbook:

          Hong Kong has a free market economy highly dependent on international trade and finance – the value of goods and services trade, including the sizable share of re-exports, is about four times GDP. Hong Kong’s open economy left it exposed to the global economic slowdown, but its increasing integration with China, through trade, tourism, and financial links, helped it recover more quickly than many observers anticipated. The Hong Kong government is promoting the Special Administrative Region (SAR) as the site for Chinese renminbi (RMB) internationalization. Hong Kong residents are allowed to establish RMB-denominated savings accounts; RMB-denominated corporate and Chinese government bonds have been issued in Hong Kong; and RMB trade settlement is allowed.

          Hong Kong benefits greatly from their ties to the mainland both in terms of trade and tourism, but mostly because they benefit from China’s currency manipulation. Without China (a Communist planned economy in case you’d forgotten), Hong Kong would be a backwater. But because the Chinese use Hong Kong as both a trading partner and a monetary exit-point for the RMB, Hong Kong benefits.

          And China wants to see more use of the RMB by Hong Kong.

          The government is pursuing efforts to introduce additional use of RMB in Hong Kong financial markets and is seeking to expand the RMB quota for 2011. The mainland has long been Hong Kong’s largest trading partner, accounting for about half of Hong Kong’s exports by value.

          My god but you’re a fucking moron. You seem to think that the rest of us are as stupid as you and that we somehow can’t do research to prove you wrong, again and again and again and again.

          Don’t you ever get tired of being so absurdly wrong all the time???

          1. We need to stop wasting out time proving he’s wrong and just note the idiocy, Phil. Really, Orly isn’t worth it.

            1. “This twit has reduced himself to unrepentent trolldom and needs to be banned.”

              I agree with you, Steve.

              You should share that sentiment directly with Zach. E-mail him, and let him know what’s up with this guy.

          2. CIA FACTBOOK? Now there’s a reliable source, especially when it comes to China. Known liars, spies, plotters in overthrowing governments, assassins, etc. Excuse me if I believe nothing they say.

            Question: Has Hong Kong become more like the old China or has the old China become more like Hong Kong?

            As one of the world’s leading international financial centres, Hong Kong has a major capitalist service economy characterised by low taxation and free trade, and the currency, Hong Kong dollar, is the ninth most traded currency in the world.[11] Hong Kong has remained as the world’s freest economy, according to Index of Economic Freedom since the inception of the index in 1995.[12] The economy, governed under positive non-interventionism, is highly dependent on international trade and finance and in 2009 the real economic growth fell by 2.8% as a result of the global financial turmoil. Despite the downturn, Hong Kong’s economic strengths, including a sound banking system, virtually no public debt, a strong legal system, ample foreign exchange reserves, rigorous anti-corruption measures and close ties with the mainland China, enable it to quickly respond to changing circumstances.[13]

            Hong Kong’s gross domestic product, between 1961 and 1997, has grown 180 times while per capita GDP rose by 87 times.[14] Its economy size is slightly bigger than Israel and Czech Republic[15][16][17] and its GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is the 7th highest globally, more than Switzerland and Netherlands and slightly lower than the United States.

            By the late 20th century, Hong Kong was the seventh largest port in the world and second only to New York and Rotterdam in terms of container throughput. The Kwai Chung container complex was the largest in Asia; while Hong Kong shipping owners were second only to those of Greece in terms of total tonnage holdings. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the 6th largest in the world, with a market capitalisation of about US$2.97 trillion.

            Hong Kong has also had an abundant supply of labour from the region nearby. A skilled labour force coupled with the adoption of modern British/Western business methods and technology ensured that opportunities for external trade, investment, and recruitment were maximised.
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Hong_Kong

                  1. Is there ANYONE you don’t parrot?
                    I mean, how does it look for you to be parroting someone you just called “unbelievably stupid.” I’d say it looks unbelievably stupid.

                1. “Get back to me when you actually have something to say.”

                  Well, Orlin, here’s something [that EVERYONE here is thinking]:

                  You’re an idiot, with all of the intellectual and emotional sophistication of a 3rd grader.

                  Seriously, homeboy, you need to step off, and let the adults converse.

    2. You compare apples to tree frogs here. Try to at least compare something you understand. Idiot.

      1. Failed policy is failed policy. Centralized planning is centralized planning. Tree frogs like apples.

          1. And like all puritans who want to tell everyone how to live, in misery, you have no sense of humor.

            1. So you’re pro-choice, pro-drug-legalization, pro-euthanasia, pro-assisted-suicide, pro-gay-marriage? Really?

              1. I am pro leave it up to the individual. What you collectivists forget is that the country was founded on individual liberty and being self-governing. I certainly don’t need a bunch of loony socialists or a corrupt, despicable government/oligarchy to tell me how to live my life.

      2. “This twit has reduced himself to unrepentent trolldom and needs to be banned.”

        I agree with you, Steve.

        You should share that sentiment directly with Zach. E-mail him, and let him know what’s up with this guy.

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