Wednesday, November 25, 2009

One of FDR's Legacies Goes Broke

The FDIC is broke. If you're American, get your money out of the bank. Buy gold and protect your wealth. The government cannot do it for you.

24 comments:

Douglas Porter said...

Because your ideology.

Josh said...

huh?

Douglas Porter said...

It is broke because you think it is alright for corporations to hire wage slaves in China and Mexico and you think it is right for unskilled laborers to be given visas enmasse. This erodes the tax base, forces the elite to create an economic bubble hand-in-hand with the financiers. Your ideology.

Josh said...

Didn't the enmasse immigration for unskilled workers from europe to the US fuel the building of the US economy during the industrial revolution?

Douglas Porter said...

Yes, but mostly for the rich folk.

Don't make stupid comparisons. It was the 19th fucking century for crying out loud.

Sheldon Furlong said...

Tsk tsk the language but yes many, gave much, so few could benefit, even more!

having said that the average current North American peasant lives a tad better than the average 19th century one. That is until we die of cancer or heart disease at 56!

Douglas Porter said...

In the context of the New Deal, you mean..

Josh said...

The quality of life for the average american did not increase between the end of the civil war and 1890?

Douglas Porter said...

"The quality of life for the average american did not increase between the end of the civil war and 1890?"

American, or worker?

Douglas Porter said...

The average worker's wage in 1927 was 15 thousand a year for a family. Get your head out of your bum.

"When the newly arriving Irish immigrants looked for work, they found only the lowest unskilled jobs available to them. Men were hired for low-paying, physically demanding and dangerous work. Wages for unskilled jobs during the 1840s were under 75 cents a day for 10-12 hours of work. (W., p. 43) The men built canals, railroads, streets, houses and sewer systems. Many others worked on the docks or canals."

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

75 cents a day in the 1840s is the equivalent of 16 dollars a day in 2007 money.

Douglas Porter said...

"Women who worked in factories found the work to be dirty, low-paying and dangerous. In Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore in 1833, Irish women who worked making cotton shirts were on a piecework system. They were paid between 6-10 cents a shirt and worked about 13-14 hours a day. Since they could only make nine shirts a week, the maximum pay was about 90 cents a week"

90 cents a week circa 1840 equals 20 dollars a week in 2007 dollars.

12 dollars a week in 1892 amounts to 236 2007 dollars.

http://www.rossonhousemuseum.org/1890s_wages.html

So, forgive me if I think your "argument" is completely silly, Josh.

Douglas Porter said...

What your argument amounts to is a rich kid spewing spoiled nonsense, because he is totally divorced from the causes of his wealth.

Josh said...

The pay for a worker increased from 20 dollars a week to 236 dollars a week in a fifty year span?

Sounds like a pretty awesome increase in quality of life to me.

I'm pretty sure prices dropped during this period as well, which would only further increase the standard of living of these lucky individuals.

Josh said...

Actually, I better understand the causes of wealth than you do.

You believe it simply comes from a printing machine and an equal living condition could be paid for everyone without any negative or damaging consequences. You seem to think we can steal from those who build wealth and still be prosperous. You have a complete disrespect for where wealth comes from.

Your quotes make it sound like the immigrants came to America to live in destitute; such a sob story. Only, wait, what were they living in before they decided to make the dangerous voyage across the atlantic?

Douglas Porter said...

"The pay for a worker increased from 20 dollars a week to 236 dollars a week in a fifty year span?"

No, they were different jobs. The Irish was a poor immigrant laborer.



"I'm pretty sure prices dropped during this period as well, which would only further increase the standard of living of these lucky individuals."

I'm so glad they were lucky when compared to the slaves back home, Josh!

"You believe it simply comes from a printing machine and an equal living condition could be paid for everyone without any negative or damaging consequences."

Well, I don't know about the printing machine crap, but I definitely believe that Bill Gates does not need his billions and that each worker that produces a product is entitled to his or her fair share of the profits.

"You seem to think we can steal from those who build wealth and still be prosperous."

It is not stealing. We make the products that produce their wealth. Get your head out of your ass.

"You have a complete disrespect for where wealth comes from."

Right now the wealth is coming from a Chinese wage slave who makes 20% of the PPP of the average union benefiting American.

Douglas Porter said...

Again, you are divorced from the causes of the Sit Down Strikes, and hence can make the stupidest arguments.

Douglas Porter said...

Wealth DOES NOT COME FROM the rich. It comes from a social production process. If you want to deny this, then go ahead, but your libertard utopia will lead to revolution.

Josh said...

Define "fair".

Douglas Porter said...

Nope. I don't have to. Everyone knows what fair means.

Josh said...

How very fortunate it must be to be in favor of "fair" wages as a solution to the current "unfair" wages, without providing a definition what "fair" is.

Everyone thinks the income gap between the richest and poorest is unfair, but if you asked 10 different people what a fair income gap would be, you would get 10 different answers...you'd agree that this certainly is not an example of everyone knowing what fair is, but only that everyone (except the richest 1%, but they don't count) knows what fair is not, right?

Douglas Porter said...

"How very fortunate it must be to be in favor of "fair" wages as a solution to the current "unfair" wages, without providing a definition what "fair" is."

I have a definition of what it is. As I said, everyone knows what fair is. You just want to use the issue to cloud the issue. That is YOUR type of tactic.

"Everyone thinks the income gap between the richest and poorest is unfair, but if you asked 10 different people what a fair income gap would be, you would get 10 different answers...you'd agree that this certainly is not an example of everyone knowing what fair is, but only that everyone (except the richest 1%, but they don't count) knows what fair is not, right?"

No, there is an average.

Josh said...

"I have a definition of what it is."

Please, share.

"No, there is an average."

Does the average remain constant?

Douglas Porter said...

"Please, share."

Nope, not going to participate in your sophistry.

"Does the average remain constant?"

Yes.

Josh said...

Asking you to define the core principle of your argument is me practicing sophistry?

Certainly if you claim that everyone knows what fair is you must be able to define it. (again, I seem to be abnormally deficient on this topic as I couldn't hope to define fair in the context you use the term).

The average salary remains constant? You really think this?