War of the future: gap between rich and poor growing
 

... in three out of four countries.

http://www.oecd.org/document/25/0,33..._1_1_1,00.html

Some days ago it was on german news, that charity food collection services that redistribute old food to poor people report the number of people taking benefit of this have doubled over the past 2 or 3 years. amonsgt those who came new to it are many people who before contributed food from their private households. since supermarket alos calculate more sharply they also have less old food remaining at the end of the day that they contribute to these charity organisations.

In Berlin, 1 in 5 children come to school hungry, and even more children would not get 1 hot meal idf they would not be fed in school, or in charity projects were their parents sent them, since especially at the end of the month there is little money left in their parent's purse. Social workers that I know from earlier times in berlin and Frankfurt say that these are not only families where the parents are unemploeyed, but have jobs - but get payed with ridiculously low wages.

What value has a system, when "economic competitiveness" can only be achieved with more and more parts of the population becoming the loosers from it, and only shareholders win here? when banks drive their cars into the abyss and are responsible for it all by themselves, the industrialised nations make sure that trillions of tax-money get activated immediately, and ttrying to force through a policy of global domination the US accepts wo wage a war that, adding all follow-up costs, costs that single countrx alone up to 3 trillion - but those peanuts like some hundred millions for social security needed in rich nations like germany or america, or for the education system, or estimated just 10 billion that would be needed to feed those 1 billion people in the world threatened by hunger and starvation (that numbers has grown, too, due to the growing food price speculations) - there is total failure and icy silence and serous concerns aboiut where to take that "much" money from. It is more important to pay "top" managers who caused the greatest economic crisis since decades their several millions per month.

If Aliens would observe planet Earth from outside, they must conclude that mankind is a cannibalistic species.

While the risk of civil wars in countries like Germany is growing slowly only, it is not impossble a scenario though, and economic depression in Germany has been the cause of extremism and war in germany in the past. In more exotic nations, unrest could lead to rebellion much faster, and it should be known by know that those people not having enough to eat and have poor education, tend to fall to political and religious extremists much easier. We raise hostile combatants for future wars we will fight, then.

In the words of one robot of the year 3000. "Well, we're boned"

I don't think this is a gap between who makes what. It is a actually a growing gap between those that sit on their ass and those that actually get up every morning and go to work.

I mean, look around you! Everyone wants to get paid a million bucks a year these days but they don't want to train / educate / or work for it. No wonder there is a gap! Everyone thinks its their right to own a house, drive a nice car, and get paid megabucks simply because they think they are all that.

Maybe this article should be titled - The wake up of Western people to the idea that they are not all that! :D

Another thing that bugs me - people expect to not have to start at the bottom anymore. So they would rather not take a job than learn the ropes. We are getting pathetic as a society and sooner or later, the party will come to an end with this spoiled brats we all have lately. They all wait for the gov to bail them out. Sorry, but you better not wish on an entity that lacks the power to do so and has no capability.

Another useless article.

-S

PS. I see you got in your customary US bashing in there too Skybird. Nice.

holy crap:o i agree with..you:o

Ditto, for the most part. That's why there are so many illegal immigrants in the US doing jobs that Americans are perfectly capable of, but not willing to do.

Not willing to do for the slave wages that undocumented workers will accept you mean...

Despite the creation of the National Minimum Wage in the UK, many thousands still accept rates that are at or close to poverty level.

That's certainly part of it, but how many Americans do you think would actually do that work for a reasonable wage?

By reasonable i assume you mean above minimum wage?

Well people work at places like Wal-mart for around that amount. Besides laws of supply and demand apply here. Illegal workers short circuit that process.

Ok. Here is a brief story of my experience.

I mowed lawns and had a paper route when i was a kid to have money.

I joined the service in 78, did two and a half hitches, then sadly got a medical discharge. Top pay at that time was close to 40K a year for me.

I got a job as a mechanical engineering designer. Pay was 7.25/hr. Not good money but the only engineering job around. So, I worked at Wendy's at night to suppliment my income.

Took a job as a letter carrier, income was back to 40k a year. Desirous to stay in Engineering I went to night school to get my degree.

Took an entry level job in Biomedical Engineering making 30K a year, now with the training and experience I make about 75K with profit sharing. Company car etc...

Point is, is that it takes a while and it takes work to get there. I could still be making a dinky wage in Florida, but I like to live life a bit and would rather rob a bank than receive food stamps being abled bodied.

Economic data over the last 20 years refutes your opinion.

People "work" at Wal-mart for "around that amount" (whatever that means) because it's not really "work". If you offered above minimum wage to those folks that work at Wally-World to do real physical labor, I doubt you'd get very many to take the job. I would hazard a guess that if you went to the local unemployment office and offered "around that amount" to the entire line waiting for their unemployment check, food stamps and other entitlements, they wouldn't be willing to do the work that illegals do either.

Laws of supply and demand do apply here. There is a demand for people willing to do physical labor for a low amount of money and there is no supply of American workers willing to do this. Either the demand side has to change (and we pay higher prices for our food because higher wages are paid to the employees) or the supply side has to change (people become willing to work for less in order to have a job). Illegals fill this gap. Remove them from the equation and one or the other (or a compromise of the two) have to take place.

why some people take delight in such matters is beyond me

I said "around that amount" because it varies depending on where you are in the country. All their wages however are within a buck or two of federally mandated minimum wage.

And yes if prices are based on illegal below minimum wage pay then yes that is a compromise that should be met. To argue otherwise is to favor slavery, pure and simple.

Damn straight! *hoists budweiser into the air. I mean look at those Rockefeller and royal family members. Those people know how to "work hard", I mean everytime I see them in the press they are at a party with a mixed drink. That there is dedication to work hard all day long and still have the energy to go party hard after a long day of work....

oh wait...

My bad for not getting the around that amount definition. You'll have to pardon me for not being very good at interpreting the language (as evidenced by my wife's continual fascination with my inability to "read between the lines" :D)

Definitely agree with you regarding how things should be in a perfect world. If the cost of an item is based on the below standard wages of the producer, then we should be willing to pay more in order for the working person to make a decent wage. However, if we take that stand, then we shouldn't be buying anything at Wally-World, anyway, since the prices of many of their products are based on the below standard wages of people overseas making those products, so the people at Wally-World would be out of work, too.

My apologies for getting off of the original subject, which is the widening gap between the "haves" and the "have nots". We could discuss the reasons for that 24/7 for years and not come to a solution. There are thousands of reasons why some have and some don't with the "fault" lying on both sides, the solution is equally difficult to quantify.

Who is taking delight in these matters?

I cant say without the forum police getting on me for 'personal' attacks but suffice it to say the usual suspects.

Care to prove that?

Let me help you - Apples and oranges man. The point the economic data forgets is that there would be an increased amount of productivity if everyone bothered to work up to their capability and follow historical ways to get where they needed to be. Your economic data simply points to what happened and has no bearing on what could be.

-S

It's an ignorant statement like this that pisses me off. I usually ignore your posts, but a statement like this irritates me !

I can speak from example ! I am a hard worker. I bust my a$$ for whoever I work for. Then, the job market got a little tough. Did the higer-ups feel it ? No ! They just moved jobs and their money overseas and laid everyone off. I have been laid off in this manner twice in my life only to end up being forced to take tougher jobs for less pay and less benefits if any benefits at all and those benefits are constantly draining due to companies trimming their fat and the CEO's giving themselves raises ! As a matter of fact, a LOT of these company CEO's are making their bonuses by making their company apear to be making profit BY laying people off !
There are a lot of us hard workers out there who actually DO go to work and work our asses off thank you very much ! Whether you like it or not, the divide between the wealthy and the poor (The middle class is dropping into the poor class as we speak) IS increasing in levels never before seen ! As companies ditch the US and move overseas and take their money with them, or keep the money in their own little circles, and pay us less for working for them, our cost of living is going up, up, up. 5% of the people in the US control 90% of it's wealth ! Think about that before you call us hard workers who are getting the shaft from the higher ups people who sit on their asses and don't work.