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One of the reasons for the increased gap is because more people now have this mediocrity mindset. As I said in a previous post, you can see the mindset creation in many (not all) schools. Students want the reward without much work (the bar is set low). Would be interesting to research if there is correlation between implementation of No Child Left Behind and the increased wage gap.
NCLB does not support the highest achievers, it promotes mediocrity and low performers. What happens to those potentially high achievers who do not have access to challenging programs in their schools or astute parents? The wealthier ones can move into 1)private schools 2)higher tax base public schools, which of course furthers the class divide.
Others may become disenfranchised with education altogether. Fewer may be creatively challenged to use their brain prowess to create products, industry, etc. Is there a major middle class brain drain occurring in our schools which contributes to the wealth gap? Fewer intellectuals created = fewer in the upper/middle classes.
This is a global, intellectual age. For those who do not squander their intellectual capital (with the help of bad schools/bad parents), the rewards of the 1% can be great. The barbell wealth system is our new reality, for a long time IMO. The way to improve things is through 1.) good formal education and 2.) good parenting/mentors. There is a reason why cultures, who highly value these things, do so well.
Any wealth she did create on her own (besides leveraging her connections because of her family) is due to the support of the low IQ population.
Low IQ people are also an excellent source of wealth for others.
What? She's not in mensa? Doesn't it take a lot of brain power to make a naked video, properly wear couture, and have people compete to be your bff? Didn't she also once try to trademark a ubiquitous word... can't remember the word though... Was it "Duh?"
Some suggestions:
1-No big houses.
2-No big cars.
3-No foreign adventures.
4-Curtail wastage.
5-Domestic peace.
We need laws of what can be considered journalism, and or entertainment. There's far too much false information being portrayed as truth, and fact when in reality it is twisted half truths to gain an agenda. Also, limit CEO salaries to a percentage of their employee's wages similar to Japan. The single largest component of the US economy is consumer spending. Growing the middle class will increase consumer spending and grow our economy.
Some suggestions:
1-No big houses.
2-No big cars.
3-No foreign adventures.
4-Curtail wastage.
5-Domestic peace.
I think the single best thing we could do to reduce that gap is raise import tariffs so much that America would have to bring all of its manufacturing back to America. When we no longer have to deal with "Made In [some uber-cheap-labor country that ain't America]", we'll have more people working decent jobs (less poverty) and less people profiting from overseas labor (less super-rich).
Who is Paris Hilton, why should I care who s/he is, and what does it matter?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxus
She comes from a wealthy family.
Any wealth she did create on her own (besides leveraging her connections because of her family) is due to the support of the low IQ population.
Low IQ people are also an excellent source of wealth for others.
Okay, apparently it's a she.
You beat me to it.
Hell, retards with IQs of 50 are smart enough not to hand over their money to her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948
levy a 75% smart tax
redistribute their unethical wealth to violent ignorant people that are as victims entitled to the best of everything free of charge
Uh, I think that has been the plan for quite some time. You can see how well it has been working in Chicago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger
... but I definitely do think a big wealth gap is a problem.
No, the problem is people like you who do not understand the difference between Wages/Salaries, Income and Wealth.
Those are three different things.
't at that point yet, but there's no denying we're headed in that direction.
Here are some social and economic reasons why extreme inequality is a bad thing:
No one cares what some slanted biased agenda-driven think tank says.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl
... in the last 30 years CEO pay rose 725% (between 1978 and 2011), while worker pay rose just 5.7% in the same period. That. Is. Not. Right.
Pay did not increase, rather how CEO pay is reported was changed, making it appear that it increased substantially, when in fact it did not.
If you knew what you're talking about, you'd know that, and that is also a good reason why we ignore slanted biased agenda-driven think tanks, since they are notorious for lying by omission.
What else has changed in the last 30 years?
How about the rise of Multi-National Corporations?
The Laws of Economics cannot be violated without suffering substantial negative economic consequences to everyone.
The Laws of Economics, to wit in this instance, the Law of Supply & Demand is what determines the salaries and compensation for CEOs directing Multi-National Corporations.
So why aren't you a CEO?
Because the number of people who have the talent, experience, education, skill and training to direct a Multi-National Corporation is very limited in Supply, and the Demand is very great...that's why.....the same logic and reasoning applies to athletes, entertainers, musicians, doctors, lawyers, and even people in skilled and semi-skilled trades.
You and the others are nothing more than grotesque Penis-Envy and Breast/Butt-Implant Envy whiners cloaked in the stench of Liberal mantra.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl
Certainly it could become less popular for people to have bigger homes and more cars than they need, but there's no way that could be legislated, nor should it. People need to be free to decide what to spend their money on, even if the majority thinks it's something stupid. Telling the those who can afford mansions that they can't live in them is as big a waste of time as telling the poor they should drink orange juice instead of Mountain Dew.
Thank you......you have just proven the others and myself correct on all accounts.
And you just contradicted yourself...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl
They can never have enough and they will never stop taking it unless they are stopped by a nation that declares, "It's not fair."
FYI: This is the Economics Forum, and not the PU&C Forum.
Statements like "It's not fair" do not belong in the Economics Forum, since the Laws of Economics don't really give a damn what is fair or not, just like the Laws of Economics don't care what color you are, where you come from, who your god-thing is (or isn't), your gender, your political and ideological beliefs, your intelligence, your comeliness, your Body Mass Index or anything else.
Which builds Wealth: Paying $3,489 for Plasma TV -- $1,700 for the TV plus $1,789 in credit card interest payments....
....or.....
....buying a smaller TV for $400 and then taking the $3,000+ you saved and buying Certificates of Deposits, continuously rolling them over, while using the interest to buy stocks/bonds?
Which builds Wealth: Putting 0% down on a $250,000 house and paying $250,000 for a McMansion, plus paying $318,000 in interest....
...or...
....Saving money to put 35% to 45% down on the $250,000 McMansion and paying only $79,956 in interest....
...and then use $238,044 saved to invest or save or both to build Wealth?
It's not nuclear physics, but it does require Common Senseâ„¢.
Economically...
The top 1% hold 42% of the nations wealth, then the next 19% hold 53%, leaving the bottom 80% with 4.7%.
The bottom 99.5% get their wealth from income via jobs.
The top .1% should be the one we should be most concerned with and account for the majority of that 42% attributed to the 1%.
The wealth they have currently is increasing not because of working income but from the Financial Industry that is in bed with the government.
Quote:
In 2008, only 19% of the income reported by the 13,480 individuals or families making over $10 million came from wages and salaries. See Norris, 2010, for more details.)
Quote:
The Upper Half of the Top 1%
Membership in this elite group is likely to come from being involved in some aspect of the financial services or banking industry, real estate development involved with those industries, or government contracting. Some hard working and clever physicians and attorneys can acquire as much as $15M-$20M before retirement but they are rare.
Those in the top 0.5% have incomes over $500k if working and a net worth over $1.8M if retired. The higher we go up into the top 0.5% the more likely it is that their wealth is in some way tied to the investment industry and borrowed money than from personally selling goods or services or labor as do most in the bottom 99.5%. They are much more likely to have built their net worth from stock options and capital gains in stocks and real estate and private business sales, not from income which is taxed at a much higher rate. These opportunities are largely unavailable to the bottom 99.5%.
It is the government policies in bed with Wall Street that is increasing the wealth gap.
So the solution to decrease the wealth gap is not to take from the rich, but to attack the government policies head on. Put an end to the Lobbying Industry from the likes of the corporate and banking sectors.
Boot out all the Wall Street and Big Corporate Heads out of Washington DC as well.
Create policies beneficial to all American's instead of the few elite at the top which account for the increasing gap.
Here is the reason for the increasing wealth gap:
When a government is for sale to the highest bidders, the rest of the nation looses:
Lobbying - Ranked Sectors
Sector Total
Misc Business $5,667,046,665 Finance/Insur/RealEst $5,612,000,794
Health $5,609,708,244
Communic/Electronics $4,593,320,868
Energy/Nat Resource $4,171,251,922
Other $3,008,073,599
Transportation $2,895,880,208
Ideology/Single-Issue $1,861,359,705
Agribusiness $1,689,948,822
Defense $1,607,506,970
Construction $616,177,140
Labor $560,315,564
Lawyers & Lobbyists $402,019,106
Quote:
Folks in the top 0.1% come from many backgrounds but it's infrequent to meet one whose wealth wasn't acquired through direct or indirect participation in the financial and banking industries. One of our clients, net worth in the $60M range, built a small company and was acquired with stock from a multi-national. Stock is often called a "paper" asset. Another client, CEO of a medium-cap tech company, retired with a net worth in the $70M range.
The bulk of any CEO's wealth comes from stock, not income, and incomes are also very high. Last year, the average S&P 500 CEO made $9M in all forms of compensation. One client runs a division of a major international investment bank, net worth in the $30M range and most of the profits from his division flow directly or indirectly from the public sector, the taxpayer. Another client with a net worth in the $10M range is the ex-wife of a managing director of a major investment bank, while another was able to amass $12M after taxes by her early thirties from stock options as a high level programmer in a successful IT company.
The picture is clear; entry into the top 0.5% and, particularly, the top 0.1% is usually the result of some association with the financial industry and its creations. I find it questionable as to whether the majority in this group actually adds value or simply diverts value from the US economy and business into its pockets and the pockets of the uber-wealthy who hire them. They are, of course, doing nothing illegal.
There is the ruthless at the top and then the rest of us 99.5% that have to go to work for a living and not rely on other peoples money to extract their wealth from.
Because that is all Wall Street is.
A parasitic industry that exists to siphon off the wealth and productivity from the 99.5% and give it to the top .5%
Companies can exist without Wall Street but Wall Street cannot exist without Companies feeding it.
Lax Immigration standards with our southern neighbors and foreign economic policy all to rig the market to the benefit of the top .5% also have contributed to the wealth gap.
The Big Wall Street Banks don't subscribe to any political persuasion so this is not a partisan issue. Anyone will do that will answer to their demands.
Top Contributors to Obama
Goldman Sachs $1,013,091
JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799
Citigroup Inc $736,771
Time Warner $624,618
Morgan Stanley $512,232
Latham & Watkins $503,295
Top Contributors to Mitt Romney | OpenSecrets
Top Contributors to Romney
Goldman Sachs $1,033,204
Bank of America $1,013,402
Morgan Stanley $911,305
JPMorgan Chase & Co $834,096
Wells Fargo $677,076
Credit Suisse Group $643,120
Citigroup Inc $511,199
Barclays $446,000
Rothman Institute $259,500
Any wealth she did create on her own (besides leveraging her connections because of her family) is due to the support of the low IQ population.
Low IQ people are also an excellent source of wealth for others.
The point remains that many of the wealthy were born into wealth, and that is the surest indication of future success. No one would accuse Al Gore or G.W Bush of being high I.Q individuals, they succeeded based on their family's wealth and connections.
Just pointing out that the average 1 percenter is probably no more intelligent than the average 99th percenter.
Not to say that eugenics isn't a good idea...
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