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This is in response to the thread about why there are so many degenerates in America. Truth is, America typically has had more social dysfunction than Western European countries.
I am reading a book that posits that income inequality causes a lot of social problems. Just to name a few examples, high income inequality is correlated with:
--high incarceration rates
--high rates of obesity
--lower life expectancy
--high rates of drug use
--high rates of mental illness
--high homicide rates
The authors contend that the middle class and weathly are negatively affected by these trends as well as the poor.
I have only skimmed the book so far. I consider myself conservative, but this book doesn't seem like the typical bleeding heart liberal book. And I'm starting to admit to myself that our economic system is indeed, rigged in favor of an elite. Don't know what the solution is, but this book seems to present at least a few alternatives to the typical bleeding heart liberal solutions of redistributing income to the poor and expecting nothing from them in return:
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
On a deep human level, this is the last thing most Americans want to see (especially Conservatives). One cannot feel good about themselves unless they have more than other people. We have never stopped wanting to 'keep up with the Jones.'
Many keep their racist tendencies dormant until they see alot of success by minorities.
A book like this will sell well in Western Europe and parts of Asia, but in North America, nah, most are happier if their families have more than the rabble. Ever meet a well-to-do Mexican? They fiercely need to seperate themselves from the struggling masses.
And young people with untainted hopes and ideals will like the sound of this. But let them get a mortgage and kids and they don't care anymore about anyone but their own.
On a deep human level, this is the last thing most Americans want to see (especially Conservatives). One cannot feel good about themselves unless they have more than other people. We have never stopped wanting to 'keep up with the Jones.'
i can't argue that there are Conservatives who feel this way, but I can speak for myself, being an Independent thinking Conservative, and I don't share this feeling...
i don't think blanketing this feeling with saying "especially Conservatives" is the right way to go about things...
it seems like you're baiting when you say things like this...which is what Politicians love to see, and is what keeps American's focusing on the bickering, rather than the actual problems at hand.
my very simplistic idea is, in order to help people that truly need help, we need to allow people that have high incomes to feel it's their money to do with as they please...and what you'll find is, when the rich get richer, they willingly spread the wealth, which in essense is what the Liberals would like to see...it's just going about it in a different direction.
Ummm... but there are degenerates all over the world, especially in third world countries. And since the human population is densest in the urban areas, you go visit the cities in South America, India and Africa. Then compare that to what you see here in the US. We actually have it quite good here.
And with such a large population, and thanks to the media glorifying the lives of celebrities, we actually could never be universally happy ALL making the same amount of money. We don't want to be average, we want to feel special and outstanding in some way by others. And if everyone could afford a $250K Ferrari, it would no longer be a special car and then it would be a $500K supercar that the guys would all be lusting after. Socialism doesn't work.
And don't blame the rich for our social problems. The poor have to take responsibility for their lack of desire to excel either academically or in some sort of blue collar skill. They have to take responsibility for having babies early in life and knowing that they can't afford to raise them properly, but thinking that somehow their problems will take care of themselves. The poor need to learn to use commonsense and be pro-active about their path in life. I really think that if the "poor" could on average wait five or eight years before having kids, and then only have one or two children per couple, that would make a huge difference in the overall quality of their lives.
I was watching one of the Extreme Makeover Home Edition shows, the one where they secretly knocked down a family's house and built a larger one on top of it in just a week. And it was a really wonderful gesture as their oldest child was a recovering cancer victim. And the company that donated the windows to the new house also decided to pay off the balance to the mortgage on their old house. But I had to question why that couple had four younger children. One was just a toddler. I understand how a sick child is a financial burden to the family, but to keep having babies throughout their ordeal? No wonder they were stressed out financially. I hope they stop having kids.
my very simplistic idea is, in order to help people that truly need help, we need to allow people that have high incomes to feel it's their money to do with as they please...and what you'll find is, when the rich get richer, they willingly spread the wealth, which in essense is what the Liberals would like to see...it's just going about it in a different direction.
That is a VERY good point!
My wife works for a rather sizable non-profit organization. The past few years have been extremely tight, because large donor giving is way down. The reason it's down is because of the stock market collapse. Essentially this indicates that the majority of income received by this non-profit entity was coming from "rich people" who were giving out of their earnings and dividends.
Not all rich people give generously, but a heckuva lot of them do. And maybe their motives are tainted by the possibility of a tax break, but what the heck. If a rich guy gives a orphanage a million dollars because he can get a tax break for doing so, I'm okay with that!
On a deep human level, this is the last thing most Americans want to see (especially Conservatives). One cannot feel good about themselves unless they have more than other people. We have never stopped wanting to 'keep up with the Jones.'
Ummm... This is too much of a broad-brush statement to hold much water.
While you're right about the human nature element, you're wrong about the "(especially Conservatives)" comment.
The truth is Conservatives - as a whole - appear to be more generous than Liberals.
Take the links for what they're worth. Be sure you add a grain of salt. But there seems to be a seed of truth in there somewhere.
Ummm... This is too much of a broad-brush statement to hold much water.
While you're right about the human nature element, you're wrong about the "(especially Conservatives)" comment.
The truth is Conservatives - as a whole - appear to be more generous than Liberals.
Take the links for what they're worth. Be sure you add a grain of salt. But there seems to be a seed of truth in there somewhere.
I'm not sure why you segued this thread into charitable giving. Sure people with higher incomes give more money, but it's from a position of power (and tax deductable). Giving charitably (to less advantaged people in this thread) is mostly a one-off stop gap. But it will pretty much keep poor people poor (which makes better off people feel good). The book in this post discusses a society where incomes become more equal. Higher income is far superior to charity because you can improve generationally. Your kids can have more than you did, and you can eventually move next door to a high-income family and live like equals.
But I've heard this many times from Conservatives; like charitable giving is all the concern they need to have for the well-being of the planet and it's people... ridiculous.
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