The Reality of wealth distribution in this country

[Xavier_Onassis]

http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/

[BT]

and wealth inequality is bad because?

[Plane]

It is not bad unless it causes problems.

What problem would it cause if someone invented such a great device that everyone wanted one and his saes of this device gave this one person half of all the worlds wealth?

I don't think it would cause any problem at all , one might even argue that all that value would not exist without that one guys invention.

Now what this guy chooses to do with that wealth can indeed cause problems , for instance Bill Gates contributed signifigantly to Barak Obama winning the presidency, but this was caused just as badly by a large number of smaller contributors so it is not fair to blame it all on Bill.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Jeezus!

It's bad because eventually the rich bastards have it all and even clowns like you guys are serfs. Inequality prevents progress to the degree that it exists. Read some history.

[Plane]

I do read history but I do not view the same way.

If the top ten percent went missing their productivity would also go missing.

Leaving the bottom ten percent with even less for the lesser largess.

The upper 50% definately creates more wealth than the lower 50% if that half went missing the lowest 10% would immediately starve.

If some small portion of the highest one percent invents something , or organises something better they CREATE wealth, letting them benefit in purportion is fair.

Getting rid of the upper crust is an experiment tried in several countrys in the 18th, 19th and 20th centurys increased wealth was never the result.

Think along another line , if Thomas Edison had never lived , how much less wealth would human beings have at this point?

[Plane]

Imagine if you will, a chart that is aranged to show each percenttile of the population compared with the percentile that is employed by that particular percentile.

The lowest few percent would employ nearly zero.

The highest few percent would employ a massive purportion in purportion.

But the greatest number would be employed by the percentile group in between 60% and 95%.

The very top one percent of one percent would employ a lot of the above the median earners and most of the below the median earners are employed by people who are just above the second third themselves.

This chart will not come up evenly at 100% because the self employed are all over the chart , including the very high and very low areas.

[BT]

Jeezus!

It's bad because eventually the rich bastards have it all and even clowns like you guys are serfs. Inequality prevents progress to the degree that it exists. Read some history.

1. Being rich does not make one a bastard see Bill Gates and his drive to end malaria
2. We are all serfs anyway -- to the government

[Plane]

Our constitution was written with the idea of limiting the governments ability to dominate the people, is that a dead letter or a still current idea.

[BT]

Our constitution was written with the idea of limiting the governments ability to dominate the people, is that a dead letter or a still current idea.

If a drone has the capability of flying over your head and taking you out, it is a dead letter.

If flying commercial means you are subject to strip search and invasive pat down, it is a dead letter.

If you are not secure in your electronic transactions, it is a dead letter.

ad infinitum

[Xavier_Onassis]

Yeah, sure, how many people does a hedge fund manager employ?

The wealthiest companies in the country are Big Pharma and Big Oil, and they hire comparatively very, very few in relation to the  money they pull in.

If all the fatcats were like Bill Gates, this would be a lesser problem.But the truth is, there dozens, if not hundreds of fatcats like Trump, Adelson and the Kochs for every Bill Gates. A lot of those who pull in the most money do not to anything at all. They hire managers to do all the work that their titles suggest they do. And if they vanished tomorrow, all the work would still get done.

I am not for taking away all their money, only taxing them reasonably and investing in education and other projects that would hire even more people and make this country even more productive.

[Plane]

If they get taxed as you think is reasonably , why should anyone be anything like productive?

[Plane]

Our constitution was written with the idea of limiting the governments ability to dominate the people, is that a dead letter or a still current idea.

If a drone has the capability of flying over your head and taking you out, it is a dead letter.

If flying commercial means you are subject to strip search and invasive pat down, it is a dead letter.

If you are not secure in your electronic transactions, it is a dead letter.

ad infinitum

Dont be gloomy about such flaws, we never have met our goals absolutely.

It required a lot of struggle to enfranchise most of the population, but we have progressed from a minority of literate landowner males to practicly everyone.

The problems you cite are departures from the ideal, but the struggle continues.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Inequality prevents progress to the degree that it exists.

Unbelievable!
Yeah sure lots of progress in places like North Korea where everyone is equal.
Gvt forced equality is immoral, a disgrace....because it stymies progress and ingenuity.
Look at places where pretty much everyone is equal and you will see misery and poverty.

[Plane]

Inequality prevents progress to the degree that it exists.

Unbelievable!
Yeah sure lots of progress in places like North Korea where everyone is equal.
Gvt forced equality is immoral, a disgrace....because it stymies progress and ingenuity.
Look at places where pretty much everyone is equal and you will see misery and poverty.

I am sure he does believe it.

I think he is way off from the truth, but I think it interesting that he states it as if it were axiomatic.

What if I were to state that inequality was a necessacery component of progress, because it is easyer for the talented to progress and the less talented to follow along than it is for the whole mass of us to progress at the same rate.Would he find that unbelievable?

I will not understand XOs point of view without further explanation.

[BT]

Yeah, sure, how many people does a hedge fund manager employ?

Wrong question, the real question should be how many people employ that hedge fund manager. His earnings are directly proportional to the profits he or she makes for his or her investors.

It's like asking how many people a heart specialist employs, when the real question of societal worth would be how many people employ the heart specialist.