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Once upon a time there was something called "The Gilded Age" here in America. The term was coined by Mark Twain and it referred roughly to the time period between 1870 and 1900. It was a time when a small number of American families lived in ostentatious opulent splendor - enormous palaces with many servants, bedecked with fabulous jewels, throwing sumptuous parties for their pets, buying European royal titles ... and paying no taxes. It was also a time when millions of working Americans were crowded into tenements, tiny rowhouses, sharing rooming-houses, or living in basements or attics of their employers. They had no health insurance or paid vacations.
It was not a good time for most people.
This is definitely another Gilded Age. No doubt about it.
This land is my land, this land is your land... but who really owns it?
'A study just released finds that "America’s 20 wealthiest people now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American population combined, a total of 152 million people in 57 million households.”
So now the data is ok, you object to the fact that only some inherited their money? You do know...thats not the actual topic here. The topic is...the richest 20 own more wealth then the bottom 150 million.
I would bet it was even worse in 1900, when Vanderbilt, Morgan, Rockefeller, and Carnegie controlled most of the wealth in the US.
I don't get what the argument is here. The world doesn't owe anyone a living and some people rise to the top through a combination of luck, hard work or both isn't any of my business or yours.
Nothing is stopping anyone from seeing the next big thing on the horizon and figuring out a way to capitalize on it.
So what's the point of this, are we supposed to tax them harder and "spread it around"?
All this class warfare garbage does is tell poor people that it's pointless and the cards are stacked against you and it tells rich people, why bother creating more wealth, more jobs and more innovation because we want to tax you up the wazoo so we can spread it around to everyone else.
I'm certainly not rich but I don't have any problem with rich people. I see it as potential instead of envy.
I'm just glad I live in a time and place where we aren't stuck in some kind of caste system and you really CAN go from rags to riches.
I guess the problem with that is it engenders an attitude that everyone is entitled to some equally divided portion of it.
I don't get what the argument is here. The world doesn't owe anyone a living and some people rise to the top through a combination of luck, hard work or both isn't any of my business or yours.
Nothing is stopping anyone from seeing the next big thing on the horizon and figuring out a way to capitalize on it.
So what's the point of this, are we supposed to tax them harder and "spread it around"?
All this class warfare garbage does is tell poor people that it's pointless and the cards are stacked against you and it tells rich people, why bother creating more wealth, more jobs and more innovation because we want to tax you up the wazoo so we can spread it around to everyone else.
I'm certainly not rich but I don't have any problem with rich people. I see it as potential instead of envy.
I'm just glad I live in a time and place where we aren't stuck in some kind of caste system and you really CAN go from rags to riches.
I guess the problem with that is it engenders an attitude that everyone is entitled to some equally divided portion of it.
Unfortunately the problems are multiple. It causes issues in the society, and government of those involved.
But additionally, more and more of the people at the top are there due to inheritance. thats what the massive inequality results in. Rent seeking is also a major issue.
I could go on, but I have family matters to attend to, hopefully I will come back later.
"So by global standards, America’s middle class is also really, really rich. To make it into the richest 1 percent globally, all you need is an income of around $34,000, according to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic. The average family in the United States has more than three times the income of those living in poverty in America, and nearly 50 times that of the world’s poorest. Many of America’s 99 percenters, and the West’s, are really 1 percenters on a global level."
Yay, we'd be rich in Haiti!
I hope you're not serious with this post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphamale
It has always been this way...everywhere...every time period.
"So by global standards, America’s middle class is also really, really rich. To make it into the richest 1 percent globally, all you need is an income of around $34,000, according to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic. The average family in the United States has more than three times the income of those living in poverty in America, and nearly 50 times that of the world’s poorest. Many of America’s 99 percenters, and the West’s, are really 1 percenters on a global level."
um, no. of 7 billion people globally, the top 1% would number in the neighborhood of 70 million.
if median US income is in the neighborhood of $50,000, the top 70 million would have to make more than $34,000 per year.
and what about Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)? $34,000 has more purchasing power here than in most other parts of the world.
... I don't get what the argument is here. The world doesn't owe anyone a living and some people rise to the top through a combination of luck, hard work or both isn't any of my business or yours.
Often it is $$$ INHERITANCE $$$ ...
... but sometimes it's a combination of deceit, fraud, graft, insider trading, nepotism, embezzlement, and downright theft.
Capiche?
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