I've never understood the connection between taxes and disparity of income. All income stats are based on pre-tax levels, so if you increased income tax there would be no effect on income disparity. If anything, employers would likely have to raise high-end incomes to compensate employees for the fact that their after-tax salaries are lower. I can see some logic in looking at net worth and taxes, but income makes no sense.

In the old school days - the mission of the bankers was to make money for their clients, their investors and then, if all went well, themselves. The guys who were willing to take on more risk and be treated like an investor and employee went into a partnership.

The modern day Goldman Sachs - wanted the best of both worlds - a partnership comp structure without the partnership risk, the corporate risk profile without effective corporate oversight. And they got it thanks to the bully broker mentality that rocked Washington and Wall Street. They were Goldman after all.

Can't wait for the fiduciary standard to apply across the board to all bankers, dealers and managers. That and a more robust governance structure which should hone in on out of wack compensation and fees. I'm hoping Obama is done with these loons and puts the harness, muzzle and everything else he has on the whole nightmare. Your day is coming boys - and I can't wait.

Don't hold your breath.

no worries... still breathing. (thanks~) But working to make the change inevitable.

Its great that fat kitties can still get stripper jobs.

Nobody makes it rain like Lloyd Blankfein.

whats funny is that Goldman will bend over backwards to line the pockets of the gilded class while actively working to outsource the lower/middle class jobs to India.

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/careers/our-firm/locations/india/index.html

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http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06132008/profile2.html

The BBC reported startling economic equality figures in a recent documentary: the top 200 wealthiest people in the world control more wealth than the bottom 4 billion. But what is more striking to many is a close look at the economic inequality in the homeland of the "American Dream." The United States is the most economically stratified society in the western world. As THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reported, a recent study found that the top .01% or 14,000 American families hold 22.2% of wealth — the bottom 90%, or over 133 million families, just 4% of the nation's wealth.

________________

god bless america.

It also happens to be the only nation where you can move from the latter to the former. So yes, God Bless America. What the article doesn't say is that those bottom 90% in America have it better than 90% of the rest of the world.

thats your opinion that facts dont back up.



According to this study

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7511426.stm

In the industrialized countries only Russia and Mexico were worse than the USA in the gap between the Rich and the middle-class; the USA ranked 28th out of 30 countries.

also of note

•Of the world's richest nations, the US has the most children (15%) living in poverty

•Of the OECD nations, the US has the most people in prison - as a percentage and in absolute numbers

•25% of 15-year-old students performed at or below the lowest level in an international maths test - worse than Canada, France, Germany and Japan

I want America to be better. The first step is admitting there is a PROBLEM.

Clearly you exaggerate - plenty of people in this country have decent, middle class lives, have health insurance, have a steady job, own their own home, have a high school level education or higher, and enjoy a quality of life unmatched anywhere on earth.

You can cite statistics of how horrible life is at the bottom of the totem pole all you want, it's certainly true that it sucks to be poor. I can't disagree with you there, but I would say the poor in this country have more chance of getting out of that circumstance than elsewhere on earth. And while they try there are plenty of welfare programs available to keep them from starving, particularly if they are children.

I'm not arguing the US is a terrible place to live but

when you say 'quality of life unmatched anywhere on earth '...thats not true based on almost any measure, which is what that link and others show.

I cant spend all day talking about this, but the truth is outside of the US, in other developed nations, working people are treated much better and there is less disparities between rich and poor. this is a fact. Travel. Work overseas. you'll see what I mean.

Not sure which country you're speaking about exactly, but the sheer size of the US makes it difficult to compare to say, Denmark, Switzerland, Canada, etc., who don't really have the same problems as this country.

The European Union has similar issues, they just have a welfare state that props up all their problems. Look at all the ghettos outside Paris for example with Arab / Senegalese immigrants - is that really an improvement over being poor in the US? If you were talking about somewhere else, can you really say that's replicable in the states?

you say that, yet studies show that rich people have rich babies and poor people have children who will almost certainly stay poor.

There is a chance you'll win the lottery or get record contract to become rich, but chances are if you're not born rich, you wont become rich.

chances are you'll work for 45 years and maybe eek out enough money so that you can afford your medicine when you're to old to work. At the same time some connected 'executive' who ended the pension at your company will have paid themselves 100s of million dollars and retired early and will go around telling people, how you' america is the land of oppurtunity for people who are willing to work hard' or some other bs.

You see its connected. There is an inequity in wealth because the the rich are outsourcing middle class jobs (india) and taking away benifits (pensions) and fighting the govt when they try to help (healthcare). Do you not see that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

Many would say that the lavish pensions of the current baby boomers is what has bankrupted many American business and governments. It's unsustainable.

What alternative would you propose? Making outsourcing illegal?

you've got a crazy perspective.

I've shown you FACTS that the rich are getting MUCH RICHER.

I could show you facts showing that TAXES on the rich have gone DOWN.

now draw some conclusions. the rich are getting richer cause they've wrestled the benifits away from employees, the goverments are bankrupt cause they've lowered taxes on the rich.

that makes sense to me.

Down from what? 70% - 90% we had in the 70s and 80s? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarginalIncomeTax.svg

The only reason we could maintain cushy pension plans is because there was almost no global competition for things like cars, steel, heavy machinery, etc - global trade wasn't nearly as sophisticated as it is now, and 3rd world labor markets were non-existent. It just wasn't an option to outsource. We're living in a new world, the old ways won't work any longer. Manufacturing is NEVER coming back to the US.

look at that, imagine that the tax rate is lower than it was for the last 80 years...and the wealth distribution is greater than it was for the last 90. Do you think theres a connection?

of course the us has low tax rates comared to those countries with benifits for their workers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world

......the endgame of globalization and outsorcing are going to become apparent to average Americans eventually, theres no point in arguing over it, we dont agree..

ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok