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Some suggestions:
1-No big houses.
2-No big cars.
3-No foreign adventures.
4-Curtail wastage.
5-Domestic peace.
I don't think that the poor can have any of the things on your list anyway. Why would you want to take these things away from the poor?
The best way to reduce the wage gap is to start teaching our young kids that they can have a better life by making better choices. Teach them that they can have a better life than their parents had. So many times I read or hear someone explain that they can only have the life they were dealt and that is just not the truth.
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
I don't think that the poor can have any of the things on your list anyway. Why would you want to take these things away from the poor?
The best way to reduce the wage gap is to start teaching our young kids that they can have a better life by making better choices. Teach them that they can have a better life than their parents had. So many times I read or hear someone explain that they can only have the life they were dealt and that is just not the truth.
Because some define "the poor" as those poor middle class souls who can only afford an average sized house and average sized cars and average trips to domestic Disneyland? Because some have no idea who "the poor" really are because they don't see them living in the streets, eating out of soup kitchens, and vacationing in domestic cardboard boxes? Many have no perspective.
Your above bolded is the best way to reduce the wage gap. Great post.
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
Yes, also levy a 25% upbringing advantage tax on those who had the luck of being born to good parents, as that can also create an unfair advantage in life.
....A wealth of research strongly suggests that marriage is good for children. Those who live with their biological parents do better in school and are less likely to get pregnant or arrested. They have lower rates of suicide, achieve higher levels of education and earn more as adults. Meanwhile, children who spend time in single-parent families are more likely to misbehave, get sick, drop out of high school and be unemployed.
It's also something people can do for themselves, instead of waiting for some magical other "out there" to come in and fix things.
why is the gap something that needs to be focused on? why is it a problem?
what if the gap gets greater but more people on the lower end are doing better? is it still bad because the gap is growing?
I am conservative leaning, especially in matters of economics, but I definitely do think a big wealth gap is a problem. Go to Brazil or many other Latin American countries and you'll see why. The well off live behind bars to protect themselves from theft and violence. Widespread poverty absolutely affects everyone negatively in those countries, including the well off. You can see the stress in people's faces. No, the U.S. isn'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:
#1,2,3 & 4. Actually these things help reduce the gap. When rich people waste their money on such things, they become poorer and thus close the gap. Similarly, when poor people save, they become richer and close the gap.
I think we need to find out what caused the gap. Is it something cause by people on just one side of the gap, and if so, which side caused it? Was what they have done to create this gap, fair and equitable?
If only it were that easy. A large part of the wealth gap is just math in action.
If you are poor and save/invest nothing, you'll never have any money working for you.
If you are even of an average or above average income, and you save...or even better invest 10%, 20%, 30% or more of your income, you have money working for you. Investing 20% of your income in a mix of stocks and bonds and getting 7% or 8% returns over 20 years compounds very quickly.
Just to give you a real life example. A plain vanilla balanced mutual fund (60% stocks & 40% bonds) like Vanguard Balanced Index has returned 7.94% over the last 20 years.
So if you invested $250 per month in such a fund, you'd have $147,129 after 20 years (probably a bit more if you're dollar cost averaging every month) and $863,415 after 40 years.
The problem is, America has lost it's savings ethic, and that has most definitely contributed to the wealth gap.
You can certainly blame the feds for our paltry levels of savings; the fact that you have to withdraw your IRA savings at a certain age makes no sense, and there shouldn't be any limits on how much you can save either.
Government policies which deliberately debase the value of the dollar are certainly another cause.
I am conservative leaning, especially in matters of economics, but I definitely do think a big wealth gap is a problem. Go to Brazil or many other Latin American countries and you'll see why. The well off live behind bars to protect themselves from theft and violence. Widespread poverty absolutely affects everyone negatively in those countries, including the well off. You can see the stress in people's faces. No, the U.S. isn'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:
you certainly don't want a huge lower class living terrible conditions, but im not so sure that bringing the top lower will have the corresponding result of a higher bottom. today, poverty still means having heat & a/c, computer with internet, cell phone, plenty of food, shelter often a car, etc. etc. im not sure how you really raise that lower group up without any negative consequences. I know some people have mentioned education but what if free college for everyone just means that you end up needing a 4 year degree just to work a cash register.
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