Income Inequality

[Mercury]

Play-Doh will be great again:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/201 ... again.html

Play-Doh will soon be squeezed out of a factory in the U.S. again, as Hasbro Inc. brings manufacturing of the popular moldable clay back to America for the first time in years.

Hasbro said it is working with a manufacturing partner to make Play-Doh at a facility in East Longmeadow, Mass., starting in the second half of 2018. Although the preschool clay was invented in Cincinnati in the 1950s, it hasn't been made in the U.S. since 2004.

The shift is a rare move in an industry heavily dependent on overseas factories and comes as toy companies reassess their manufacturing footprint, given President Donald Trump's push to adopt tax and trade policies that favor domestic production.

...
Hasbro picked up Play-Doh as part of its acquisition of Tonka Corp. in 1991 and it is now one of its core brands, alongside Nerf blasters and My Little Pony dolls. More than 3 billion cans of Play-Doh have been sold since its introduction, and Hasbro says it produces more than 500 million cans each year.

Companies are exploring new places to make toys as the Trump administration and Congress weigh a dramatic overhaul of U.S. tax policy. One proposal from House Republicans would prevent companies from deducting the cost of imports when calculating their taxes, while exempting proceeds from exports. That plan has been under attack from retailers, senators and oil refiners. Mr. Trump has offered ambivalent positions on the border-adjustment idea, but he has consistently said he wants policies that favor domestic manufacturing.

Such a change would have serious implications for the $25 billion U.S. toy industry, which has long made the vast majority of its product overseas. The research firm IBISWorld estimates that 98.5% of all toys sold in the U.S. last year were made elsewhere.

Toy companies are assessing the different scenarios. Mattel Inc. executives said last month that if the government imposes a major tax on imported products, the company would have to adjust its manufacturing footprint. Mattel closed its last U.S. production site -- a Fisher-Price factory in Murray, Ky. -- in 2002.

"Shorter term, there's not much we can do about that," said Kevin Farr, Mattel's finance chief, on an earnings conference call. "Longer term, I think we would react to it."

[jbird4049]

Dude, I've written about this many times. Folks who can make money will eventually get all the money unless it is forcibly redistributed. There is no magic "fairness" about moneymaking, or anything else for that matter. You live in a Liberty society, people will do what they're good at.

True, during rapid economic growth the income gap widens, in a severe recession it becomes smaller. But there's more to it.

Rich will prosper if the poor get wealthier, and that doesn't happen simply by income transfers with taxes given as aid, but if they can get jobs that can give an middle class income. But typically anything hinting towards that is just said to be socialist. One way is that the working class is so qualified that it can fill jobs that are in such a demand that they can simply move somewhere else if the salary isn't good enough. Then de facto the employers have to pay more. Or then it's the classic argument: that wages paid to the employees is a decent share of the income.

Now basically you do have a system, promoted as liberalism and free market, where on class of people really can get it all and decrease the share of vast majority of workers thanks to global competition.

With a global labour market you would need also global regulation on that market. But that's naturally the thing the fat cats never want to see.

Many say our country is not socialist, and that it would be bad thing to happen. I think we already have a form of socialism for the wealthy. Most all the laws, all the rules, all the social norms support them. All their needs are taken care of. All the risks that life can carry are removed. They cannot lose, and that is called good.

We do not live in a "Liberty society". We live in a nation of, for, and by the corrupt oligarchy, and it is only is getting worse.

[Penner]

I think we had a thread on the DCF on Income Inequality. What is the opinion here?

Is a a non issue?

If not;

What made the trend change?
Can you fix it?
or
Can only a major disaster such as a big war, natural disaster or pandemic break the current trend?

I think of what John C Dvorak says about globalism on the No Agenda Show. He claims it's ultimate goal is to protect the rich people from the things that can take away their wealth.

Anyway the American middle class is getting screwed. Biggly.

I just saw this and I am just going to answer your question here without really reading through pages of comments but yes and no. I would say that income inequality really gets people attention when the economy is in the toilet. So, yes and no....

[jbird4049]

I think we had a thread on the DCF on Income Inequality. What is the opinion here?

Is a a non issue?

If not;

What made the trend change?
Can you fix it?
or
Can only a major disaster such as a big war, natural disaster or pandemic break the current trend?

I think of what John C Dvorak says about globalism on the No Agenda Show. He claims it's ultimate goal is to protect the rich people from the things that can take away their wealth.

Anyway the American middle class is getting screwed. Biggly.

I just saw this and I am just going to answer your question here without really reading through pages of comments but yes and no. I would say that income inequality really gets people attention when the economy is in the toilet. So, yes and no....

I would add that when people notice the increasing corruption as well.

Inequality feeds corruption which feeds inequality which...during which noticing the crippling of economic growth , or the increasingly dysfunctional economy, becomes increasingly unavoidable. Well except for those insulated from it, and then you get Clinton & CO. incomprehension of their defeat.

[Ex-California]

Dude, I've written about this many times. Folks who can make money will eventually get all the money unless it is forcibly redistributed. There is no magic "fairness" about moneymaking, or anything else for that matter. You live in a Liberty society, people will do what they're good at.

True, during rapid economic growth the income gap widens, in a severe recession it becomes smaller. But there's more to it.

Rich will prosper if the poor get wealthier, and that doesn't happen simply by income transfers with taxes given as aid, but if they can get jobs that can give an middle class income. But typically anything hinting towards that is just said to be socialist. One way is that the working class is so qualified that it can fill jobs that are in such a demand that they can simply move somewhere else if the salary isn't good enough. Then de facto the employers have to pay more. Or then it's the classic argument: that wages paid to the employees is a decent share of the income.

Now basically you do have a system, promoted as liberalism and free market, where on class of people really can get it all and decrease the share of vast majority of workers thanks to global competition.

With a global labour market you would need also global regulation on that market. But that's naturally the thing the fat cats never want to see.

Many say our country is not socialist, and that it would be bad thing to happen. I think we already have a form of socialism for the wealthy. Most all the laws, all the rules, all the social norms support them. All their needs are taken care of. All the risks that life can carry are removed. They cannot lose, and that is called good.

We do not live in a "Liberty society". We live in a nation of, for, and by the corrupt oligarchy, and it is only is getting worse.

The Military Industrial Complex is the greatest socialist program that has ever existed.

First there are the jobs, active, reserve, and ancillary

Then there are the industries that exist solely to feed the machine

Then there are companies that only exist due to military contracts

Then there are the exports to other countries

Add to that what amounts to "factory towns" nationwide and we have socialism folks

[Speaker to Animals]

MIC is technically military Keynesianism.

[Penner]

I would add that when people notice the increasing corruption as well.

Inequality feeds corruption which feeds inequality which...during which noticing the crippling of economic growth , or the increasingly dysfunctional economy, becomes increasingly unavoidable. Well except for those insulated from it, and then you get Clinton & CO. incomprehension of their defeat.

Yes, I would agree but it's usually when people are at their lowest/angriest they strat to noticed how unfair income inequality really is. It's like the only time people want to bring up the issue is when everything and everyone is in the toilet and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

To be fair, though economic was never considered to be a "sexy" topic to study/understand but it's one of the most common things people would talk about and say they care about the most.

[SuburbanFarmer]

I would add that when people notice the increasing corruption as well.

Inequality feeds corruption which feeds inequality which...during which noticing the crippling of economic growth , or the increasingly dysfunctional economy, becomes increasingly unavoidable. Well except for those insulated from it, and then you get Clinton & CO. incomprehension of their defeat.

Yes, I would agree but it's usually when people are at their lowest/angriest they strat to noticed how unfair income inequality really is. It's like the only time people want to bring up the issue is when everything and everyone is in the toilet and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

To be fair, though economic was never considered to be a "sexy" topic to study/understand but it's one of the most common things people would talk about and say they care about the most.

It's also one of the topics that most people are misinformed about, which just leads to a big ball of anger.

The big dogs do not want the masses to know how the wheels turn, they just want good consumers.

[jbird4049]

True, during rapid economic growth the income gap widens, in a severe recession it becomes smaller. But there's more to it.

Rich will prosper if the poor get wealthier, and that doesn't happen simply by income transfers with taxes given as aid, but if they can get jobs that can give an middle class income. But typically anything hinting towards that is just said to be socialist. One way is that the working class is so qualified that it can fill jobs that are in such a demand that they can simply move somewhere else if the salary isn't good enough. Then de facto the employers have to pay more. Or then it's the classic argument: that wages paid to the employees is a decent share of the income.

Now basically you do have a system, promoted as liberalism and free market, where on class of people really can get it all and decrease the share of vast majority of workers thanks to global competition.

With a global labour market you would need also global regulation on that market. But that's naturally the thing the fat cats never want to see.

Many say our country is not socialist, and that it would be bad thing to happen. I think we already have a form of socialism for the wealthy. Most all the laws, all the rules, all the social norms support them. All their needs are taken care of. All the risks that life can carry are removed. They cannot lose, and that is called good.

We do not live in a "Liberty society". We live in a nation of, for, and by the corrupt oligarchy, and it is only is getting worse.

The Military Industrial Complex is the greatest socialist program that has ever existed.

First there are the jobs, active, reserve, and ancillary

Then there are the industries that exist solely to feed the machine

Then there are companies that only exist due to military contracts

Then there are the exports to other countries

Add to that what amounts to "factory towns" nationwide and we have socialism folks

We've just wasted an entire country, seriously damage another, and have ongoing drone strikes, old fashioned iron bombs, and constant military ground operations by both special forces, and regulars. It appears that the majority of the deaths are civilians especially the "surgical" drone strikes, which only just creates more people wanting to kill Westerners in general, and Americans in particular.

All this for 1 1/2 decades, and counting, and for around three trillion bleeping dollars. That's if we stopped today. But we have even more people wanting to kill us than we had on 9/11.

I think Doc is right

It is military Keynesianism.

It would have been great if we had spent all that money here. Our infrastructure is falling apart, and we have some serious bottlenecks especially in train tracks.

[jbird4049]

I would add that when people notice the increasing corruption as well.

Inequality feeds corruption which feeds inequality which...during which noticing the crippling of economic growth , or the increasingly dysfunctional economy, becomes increasingly unavoidable. Well except for those insulated from it, and then you get Clinton & CO. incomprehension of their defeat.

Yes, I would agree but it's usually when people are at their lowest/angriest they strat to noticed how unfair income inequality really is. It's like the only time people want to bring up the issue is when everything and everyone is in the toilet and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

To be fair, though economic was never considered to be a "sexy" topic to study/understand but it's one of the most common things people would talk about and say they care about the most.

It's also one of the topics that most people are misinformed about, which just leads to a big ball of anger.

The big dogs do not want the masses to know how the wheels turn, they just want good consumers.

Kinda hard to be good consumers if you don't have money or even a job.