THE “ONE PERCENT” IS NOT MAKING BANK IN PALMETTO STATE
|| By FITSNEWS || South Carolina’s richest residents – a.k.a. the top “one percent” of income earners – are far poorer than their counterparts nationwide. But they’ve also (surprise, surprise) been reaping the lion’s share of income gains in our dirt poor state.
According to data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute, the Palmetto State’s “one-percenters” earned $724,626 a year in 2012 – compared to the $35,167 earned by the other 99 percent of the population.
Nationwide, “one-percenters” earned an average of $1.3 million a year – and 99 percenters earned an average of $43,713.
South Carolina’s top income earners rank No. 45 nationally (ahead of only Maine, Kentucky, New Mexico, Mississippi and West Virginia). Of course the state’s “99 percent” ranked No. 45 as well … so it’s not like anybody’s getting ahead.
Of interest? From 2009 to 2012, South Carolina was one of seventeen states in which the top one percent of income earners accounted for all of the state’s income growth.
That’s right … South Carolina’s modest income uptick was exclusively the result of rich people getting richer.
It’s not a recent phenomenon, either. The Palmetto State was one of nineteen states to see the “one percent” soak up more than half of all income growth from 1979-2007.
Obviously we’re not using this data to sound a class warfare alarm – expect to say the crony capitalist/ welfare statist policies of “liberal” Democrats and “conservative” Republicans at both the state and national level are bankrupting the income earners who drive our consumer economy.
108 comments
If we didn’t have so many damned unions this would not be happening.
Damn straight!!!!!!!!!!
Obama pumps $85 billion a month into the Stock Mkt. The average family is having trouble paying skyrocketed gas and utility bills since Obama was elected…They have no money to invest. Many have had to take investments out of the mkt. to meet living expenses since Obama was first elected…
Only the well-off can play Obama’s spiked Market…and reap un-Godly profits…while millions cannot even get a well-paying job…
That is Liberalism manifesting…and FITS was mum about it pre-2012 election…
So don’t try to blame the people you HATE now…
You realize that gas prices have dropped, right? And that this is not “Liberalism,” which usually advocates spreading the wealth around a bit, manifesting – it’s that Libertarian “FreeMarketism” manifesting. Man, do you even read before you post?
You realize you are talking to someone who thinks liberals and libertarians are, oddly enough, the same thing, right?
gas prices shot up from $1.85 to $2.09 in my area yesterday….
Topped off at $1.84 this morning.
gas prices are different in different parts of the country…paid .24 more per gallon yesterday than I did Sunday…
Calling BS. Where do you live?
Just drove 5 miles into Columbia and saw gas at $1.97.
I am in mid west at this time…
Where in the midwest?
Between Cleveland and Cincinnati.
If you’re west of the Mississippi Ohio is in the east not midwest.
ok
That’s like the whole state silly. Like saying I’m SC, – where? Between Greenville and Charleston.
Midwest Gas Prices Lowest In Country
Associated Press
“Though motorists are paying substantially less to fill up these days, they would be seeing even further savings if they lived in the Midwest or South where gas prices are even lower. Twenty six states are reporting average gas prices less than $2 a gallon. Missouri prices are the lowest, $1.75 a gallon on average.”
11:57 a.m. EST January 26, 2015
Here we go again…
GasBuddy.com triggered an alert shortly after 11 a.m. Monday to warn of an expected spike in gas prices throughout Northeast Ohio.
Predictions indicate prices could rise by 36 cents per gallon. The average cost after the spike is projected to be $2.15.
nice thing about this blog is u don’t even have to ‘bait’ the hook,mama!
Flip – what you doin’ in Cleveland – union meeting?
Well, if you truly live in NE Ohio (ahem), then I certainly stand corrected (isn’t Google great?). I’m curious, however, about what gas prices in the Midwest have to do with a proposed gas tax in SC. Even more curious is why a resident of NE Ohio is trolling a blog devoted primarily to SC politics. And more curious still, is why you find it necessary to keep creating fake personas, Flip.
Flip? Who said I am a resident of Ohio? I spend professional and personal time in several areas of the country. What a beautiful country to travel and frankly SC is my favorite place to spend time.I love the beaches,its music and the people.
FITS? Love politics and discussions of events that shape all of our lives.FITS does a nice job of covering a wide range of those events and topics. Nothing more, nothing less and I certainly have no ill will toward anyone on here.
You must be confused about the ‘persona’ however i could see how ‘flip’ or any blogger would get tired of the hijacking of s/n’s and etc…guess I have been guilty at times.
Anyway, thanks for your reply and only the best.
Bless your heart.
That coming from a God hating bitch, means much. Thank you.
Sounds like someone could use a hug.
Hope the weather is nice in NE Ohio, Flip.
Cold.Soon to Florida and Arizona. Thanks for the offer however my wife would not like that. I doubt I am your *type* anyway. :-)
I think we’re all forgetting something. Last time I checked this site is “First In The South” not “First In Ohio.” We already get enough of you assholes down here, can’t you keep to yourselves for once?
Ohio is the Middle East, not the mid-west. It’s midway between the East, and the Mid West – hence – middle east.
That’s Flip. He’s doing something in Ohio this week.
Submitting anecdotal evidence, and then trying to discredit someone else’s anecdotal evidence? Oh, Flip, you can do better than that.
11:57 a.m. EST January 26, 2015
Here we go again…
GasBuddy.com triggered an alert shortly after 11 a.m. Monday to warn of an expected spike in gas prices throughout Northeast Ohio.
Predictions indicate prices could rise by 36 cents per gallon. The average cost after the spike is projected to be $2.15.
debating dummies is fun!
Dang – $2.15 a gallon after the spike. Better than the $4.39 I was paying Summer 2008 – that’s for sure.
Please, sir, could I have some more?
There’s been class warfare against the poor since the beginning of time. Why is it only treated as a bad thing when we’re taking about po’ folks trying to get ahead?
the title of this should be ‘poor people sucking up sc gain’…
While debate over the one percenters tax payments rages, a whole other class of people at the other end of the spectrum are being scrutinized. Not only do some people draw big checks in tax rebates every year, many are claiming and receiving money that they have never even paid into the federal government. Some say that tax credit for poorer families are just as unfair as the rich being under-taxed, especially when some of those poverty stricken families receive huge payouts in the form of tax refunds.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Is-the-Earned-Income-Credit-EIC-Fair
Those damned poors, how dare they pay into a system with money they don’t have! They have it so good, unlike those poor defenseless rich people.
Since Obama took office, 13 million more Americans have become dependent on food stamps, with the numbers now hitting a record 47 million — about a third more than when he was sworn in. In 2007, there were 26 million recipients. Spending on the scheme has more than doubled just since 2008. The explosion of the program, along with other welfare schemes, has resulted in countless commentators and critics labeling Obama “the Food Stamp President.”
By 2011, Census Bureau data released last year showed that the number of Americans receiving means-tested federal welfare benefits outnumbered those with year-round full-time jobs. Almost $1 trillion annually goes to the programs, with over 100 million Americans receiving some sort of benefits — not including Social Security, Medicare, or unemployment. Under ObamaCare, with its massive subsidies even for those earning many times more income than the poverty level, dependence is expected to surge even further.
As the number of Americans dependent on government was growing, so were the ranks of the unemployed. As a Fox News reportpointed out, in 1964, when Johnson declared “war,” almost nine in ten men between 18 and 64 years old were employed. By 2012, less than three-fourths of adult males in their prime working years had jobs. Obama and some members of Congress are now working to drive those numbers even higher with a proposal to prohibit employment at any wage under $10 per hour, all but ensuring more dependence on government if the scheme is approved.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/17367-welfare-hits-record-levels-after-50-years-of-war-on-poverty
Thanks for dutifully copying and pasting our work, brother!
you said you wanted facts…I am here to please…
We’re Birchers, mate, we don’t need no stinkin’ facts!
You probably need to do a little more research into your “facts” – see my other post.
Hey, wanna see a cool fact? Since you’re using 4 year old data –
TANF (welfare):
The 2011 survey had 5.8 million. For 2013, we found 3.7 million.
Ooops – not only are you way off, but in fact, in two years it’s dropped by nearly 45% – yeah – 45%. So I call – Bull Shit!!
That’s right. Slashed the TANF roles but didn’t address the real issue: poverty
“Eat the Poor”…class warfare much.
Nothing wrong with justified class warfare. The rich have been waging war on the middle class for 30 years.
Class warfare is for those that don’t take responsibility and blame the rich.
Warfare requires two sides. What about class warfare by the rich against the poor and middle class? Aren’t they just blaming the poor and the middle class and refusing to take responsibility?
So what do you want to do make everybody middle class?
Sorry, I don’t see class warfare by the rich…I must not be wired the same way you are. I see the rich as providing me with a good comfortable middle class life.
You are right, you are not wired like me. I see myself as providing me with a good comfortable middle class life. While I work for myself, and have employees of my own, if I were an employee of a large multinational corporation, I would still see myself as providing me with a good comfortable middle class life. I would be selling a product, my knowledge and labor for a fair price. I would owe the buyer nothing more than my best efforts. Certainly not gratitude for taking care of me or “providing me” with something I did not earn or deserve. They had a need, I was able to fulfill that need. We are equal. No offense, but yours would seem to be the mentality of a peasant. Beholden to a wealthy landowner for giving him the privilege of working and making the landowner money.
The rich wage class warfare by using their money to buy politicians to pass laws that benefit themselves at the expense of those who cannot do the same. The wealthy claim, they pay more than their fair share of government, so they pay a politician to lower their taxes and pay for the cut by either increasing taxes on the middle class and poor or cutting benefits to the middle class and poor. Or they pay to get lucrative government contracts or subsidies.
I disagree with their assessment. Government does not benefit all citizens equally. The rich benefit far more from our society than do the poor and the middle class. They should pay a higher percentage of the cost of maintaining that society. That is imminently fair.
We are returning to the days of the Robber Barons in this country if we do not stop the flow of money politicians. Modern Russia is an Oligarchy, ruled by wealthy industrialist. There is no justice unless you are in the right class. We can be there in a few short years if we do not stop billionaires from buying politicians.
“While I work for myself”…as I always have also…even as a union member…even when I didn’t have a D&B Number. Maybe I should have said the rich provided me the opportunity…
No offense take, I just considered your mentality also. I’ve never been beholden to an employer and have had many but have done my best make myself a valuable asset to that employer.
“They should pay a higher percentage of the cost of maintaining that society.”…and they do.
I’ll even go one step further, everyone should have skin in the game. If everyone paid the same income tax rate and *all* deduction eliminated, the rich would be paying even a higher percentage of the cost of this society than they do now.
We can’t return to the days of your so called “Robber Barons” they did it without the Government, they built their own infrastructure. I find it ironic that when the Government broke them up, they only increased their wealth. Do I agree with everything they did, no but if not for them we would not be the nation we are today.
There is one thing (and probably more than one) that we agree on, money to politicians be it conservative money or liberal money.
“Do I agree with everything they did, no but if not for them we would not be the nation we are today.”
We can agree on that premise, but I think we would have been better without them. Their monopolies and business practices stalled innovation and suppressed competition.
As for doing that without government. You are so wrong. They controlled the government and used it fully to their benefit. The railroads (private companies) used their influence to get the government to give them eminent domain powers. They went across this country stealing land from farmers and ranchers, and frequently killing people who got in their way.
Mining interests used their money and power to get the government to let them mine gold, silver and minerals from public lands without paying anything for the privilege and to prevent their competition from doing the same.
Timber companies bribed government to give them access to timber on government land, at no cost to them.
They used inside information to manipulate the stock markets to put competition out of business or take over competition.
The robber barons benefited heavily from government. Their industries were not taxed. They were allowed to pollute with impunity. They were allowed to displace people who were in their way. The government assisted them in putting their competition out of business. When labor unions arose to protest unfair treatment, the government put them down by force. The government paid for infrastructure to make the transport of their goods more efficient. They used their influence to get no bid government contracts to provide goods and service to state local and federal government. Frequently payments to politicians were not even hidden. Just a cost of doing business in those days.
The super wealthy of the late 19th and early 20th century were desperate to establish an aristocracy in the United States. They looked at the British Aristocracy with their titles and inherited status with envy. But for one of their own turning against them, they may have succeeded.
Your view of the hard working honest industrialist building an industry by the sweat of his brow, with no help from anyone, and benefiting us all is, mostly propaganda. Most were ruthless, unethical businessmen, who bribed, bullied and in some cases murdered their way to the top. These were dark times in America for the poor and the middle class was very small.
And yes, we could go there again. That is why the Koch brothers have allocated a billion dollars to bribing politicians next year. Money freely flowing to politicians is toxic, regardless of its source. Our freedom is at risk.
OK Tom, if you say so.
I noticed you only mentioned the Koch brothers.
I have not seen what other have committed to bribing politicians, but I think I ended with, Money freely flowing to politicians is toxic, regardless of the source. I would include any billionaire trying to benefit from political payola.
Really you haven’t seen it, that’s not surprising.
Yes. It’s called the EITC. It was a Republican idea for welfare reform until they decided that they could use it to demonize the poor once more to get their loyal idiots to the polls.
Used to be a check for $1000 if you worked and had a couple of children…now you get a check for $6000 +…biggest fraud problem irs has…
Yes, EITC fraud is a much bigger problem than offshoring trillions in corporate profits.
Let me spell it our for you.You are subsidizing the companies that pay minimum wage because you can’t live on it or anything close to it. Second job, OK. Kids can take care of themselves. Read the book, “Nickled and Dimed in America”
Perfect time to raise the gas tax and cut income taxes. This is for the best…uh, small businesses…creating jobs….uh, LOOK OUT! It’s a group of young brown people angry about something!!! ISIS!!! bengahzi? Anybody?
Let’s just get rid of the income tax altogether. What could go wrong?
Absolutely, nothing! Just tax mopeds, golfcarts, trailers. Things I never use on public roads. Raise fees on drivers license and renewals. There are many ‘small’ ways to make up the difference ;-)
And yet, Haley wants to give the one percent a $145,000 income tax break, while raising the gas tax on everyone.
See a pattern?
Funny, I seem to remember not long ago many wanted a gas tax increase.
You know, because of how bad the roads are in South Carolina because Haley won’t raise the gas tax.
Who asked for a 10-cent increase, though?
Over 3 years, correct? Not a bad deal if you are getting $300 a month in food stamps and FREE Medicaid?
10 cents per gallon, not a bad deal? And yet below you whine about 24 cents?
You sound like a liberal defending this crap, does that hurt your brain at all?
I wasn’t complaining about gas price. I was just noting that gas prices rose 10% overnight in my area…I can afford $5.00 a gallon gas…can you?
Gas has never been five bucks, ever. Besides, if you don’t want gas to be $5 a gallon then stop justifying tax hikes, that certainly isn’t going to help them go down now is it?
huh?
Calif. gas prices spike at $5 per gallon – USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/…gas-prices…5…gallon/1616773/
USA Today
Oct 6, 2012 – Gas prices soared to $5 or more per gallon in Calif. …
Strawmen don’t get too far away from OZ.
No, they live in northeast Ohio.
**cough cough**
Guest – you live in CA?
I live in the United States, not California.
You can bring up $5 a gallon in California if you want but here in SC we haven’t gotten close to it. Of course with you supporting nearly doubling our gas tax that will change soon enough. Frankly I’m tired of you liberals jacking up my gas bill. Next time Haley should run as a Democrat.
I do. She wants to give the people that WORK and create jobs a income tax break while making sure EVERYBODY pays their ‘fair share’…including those riding the perpetual welfare train for a couple of generations…sounds fair to me…
The 1% does not WORK. It inherits and invests. If you think the 1% got rich by working, you are their stooge.
On the contrary, we work quite hard to trick people like him into voting for our guys to give us all the breaks. Don’t worry, when our shoes need shining we’ll create a job for him. We may even give him a whole dollar!
The threshold for being in the 1% by annual income is $380,000. So business owners, double income families, electricians, plumbers, etc…, can definitely qualify and for sure are working.
So if a wealthy person spends money it creates jobs, but when someone else does, it doesn’t?
How much one pays in taxes should be based on many things, including the ability to pay them without sacrificing basic living necessities to do so.
When there was no income tax, most of the country’s wealth accumulated into the hands of a select few, while the vast majority of people lived in poverty with virtually no hope of moving up.
By creating a middle class, the progressive income tax led to a market where most people could actually afford to buy the products that were manufactured by the titans of industry.
That’s right … South Carolina’s modest income uptick was exclusively the result of rich people getting richer.
It’s called ‘Trickle Down’ economics and it is why the middle class has been disappearing for 35 years.
And by trickle down Regan ment he and his rich buddies were going to piss all over the poor
The longest sustained recovery in the history of the USA was under Reagan. A rising tide (trickle down) lifts all boats. Can’t help it, facts are facts.
Keep punching that “R” button for more of the same.
Keep pushing that “D”. Then come here and whine. You love the “R” and we love you, useful rube.
In S.C. they always have…and always will my man.
What about Obama’s jobs bill? Things have really turned around for the middle class during this democrat’s presidency.
Laughing so hard it hurts.
Curtis Loftis, state treasurer, is a 1% guy, and he is probably the most conservative, anti spender in state government and has spent 4 years pulling apart the deals cut by rich insiders (and they hate hem for it) So don’t think because someone has money that they are bad actors. Watch what they do and then decide.The get along with everyone, lets make a deal crowd is what kills us. We need honey badgers in office kicking ass not kissing faces and I don’t care if they are rich or poor, black or white. Just kick ass.
You must be kidding, right? Oh the poor liberals who make money selling platinum albums, beautiful art/architecture. Those vulture capitalists. How are they so different? I guess some liberal who buys a a game for poor kid makes all the difference? Or maybe some Independent who chimes in given the chance? What solution do you propose? Or should we keep punching that R button?
Well, what did you expect from a “socialist” president?
Yes, the socialist president of South Carolina?
“South Carolina’s richest residents – a.k.a. the top “one percent” of income earners – are far poorer than their counterparts nationwide. But they’ve also (surprise, surprise) been reaping the lion’s share of income gains in our dirt poor state.”
Duh. That’s a feature of Republican policies, not a bug.
It’s not just the elected officials causing this. State agencies are throttling competition and covering up any bad press for anyone who will pay them. Office of regulatory staff consistently covers up the reasons why sce&g raises its rates on wastefulness, it has stifled competition with Uber and it is salivating at the extra fees associated with cell phone carriers.
Interesting
The only reaL debate this article stirred was about Gas Prices.
Keep at it Dumbasses.
My friends and I are doing fine.
We work “hard” you know!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
The outcry against class warfare is nothing more than the upper class demanding the middle class surrender and disarm.
How dare you besmirch the good name of “job creators”. We should be rolling out the red carpet and throwing wads of cash at them in the hope some of it will catch the wind and float back to us.
$724,626 in SC will go about as far as 1.3 million in , say ,NYC-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-bB5l5j2sk
There is a study that has been done that demonstrates how small business brings in more capital, which IMO equates to more taxes, but I need to find that again before going off on a tangent.
It is no mystery that SC offers horribly low wages, makes an effort to make up taxes in tourism – again MHO. The 1percenters that most media site love to complain about, in SC, it is MHO, those damned Yankees the south NOW hates, but they have good work ethic. They do know how to get shit done even if they don’t buy the bible belt BS.
“Of interest? From 2009 to 2012, South Carolina was one of seventeen states in which the top one percent of income earners accounted for all of the state’s income growth.” Wonder how this stacks up in comparison to those businesses that moved south? Hmmmmm…..
Interesting benchmark, still looking: http://taxfoundation.org/blog/less-one-percent-businesses-employ-half-private-sector-workforce?mc_cid=916041bf41&mc_eid=0635de37be
I never fault anyone for being successful. Their are plenty of 1 per centers who believe that bible belt “BS”, including the owners of Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby. Fitsnews like to encourage class tensions by raising the issue of cronyism. I have never seen any analysis of how much top incomes are due to cronyism.
Margret Thatcher was a believer in that Bible belt BS.
http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103793
I can’t think of a single politician who doesn’t profess some kind of religion. Name someone agnostic or atheist in office? I can’t think anyone. I do find this interesting in the article you posted above, Margaret Thatcher didn’t seem to have an issue with abortion “The abortion law is only related to the early months and I voted for abortion under controlled conditions.”
Also interesting in other news, see number 9 on “SC Rep. Jonathon Hill’s survey for judges”
http://www.islandpacket.com/2015/01/28/3561769/sc-rep-jonathon-hills-questionaire.html
Jonathan Hill questions are worrisome to me. I see a future where those same questions would be used to exclude Christians.
This study leaves out the majority – it’s just a bitch against the 1%, who likely didn’t make that freaking 1% in SC, at least didn’t get the education for it. Any freaking idea what your 1 percenter pays for? The effing taxes at the federal level are out effing rageous! Roughly 1/2 your income goes to pay for shit you could care less about.
The problem isn’t how much money the 1% makes, look at Margaret Thatcher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5t6rC6yvg
Would you rather the poor be poorer?
This is as it should be. We depend on the super-rich in order to bring in businesses that will give us jobs for the people. The more big corporations we bring in, the better. If we had enough employers like Amazon and Boeing, we could have 100% employment. We need to raise taxes even more on the working people and bring in even more corporations so they’ll have jobs to in the first place. A little impoverishment never hurt working folks and would result in wages being lowered even further so we can bring in even more businesses. The first and best responsibility of government is to provide jobs for the people. Our general assembly can best direct the economy by making sure as much of the earnings of the people are funneled through the government first and that the people only keep what they need to survive.
“The first and best responsibility of government is to provide jobs for the people.” You need to read the constitution. NONE of our founding fathers would have said that!
I said “government.” The Constitution is nothing but toilet paper. I’m talking here and now and survival of the species. You idealists are all the same: throwing words around as if they mean anything. Force, killing people and breaking things, is what governance is all about and it needs to be used wisely and aggressively to be effective.
Sorry but this is America and you have every right to get as rich as you can–provided you do it legally. The rich should be an inspiration and a goad to progress. It’s your life. Go make money.