California in the 1980's (spend)

[Astral_Weeks]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

What's wrong with income inequality?

I was merely responding to another poster who brought up the topic.

Still waiting for you to reply to post No. 118.

[djsuperfly]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

according to what officials?

Yep, "according to officials." One of the most meaningless phrases in the English language.

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by Astral_Weeks

You are kidding, right?

If you really want to discuss income inequality then the USA overall is a lot closer to a Third World country as compared to our "peer" nations in the OECD.

Look at the Gini Coefficient: 0 = absolute equality & 1 = absolute inequality

The Gini Coefficient in the USA (2018): 0.486

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ni_coefficient

-Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland tend to be in the 0.25 to 0.30 range

-Canada, Australia and UK are generally in the 0.30 to .035 range

-Countries in Latin America tend to be in the 0.45 to 0.58 range

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/ind.../south-america

California (at 0.489) is on the high side for the USA but so are Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Georgia among other red states.

New metrics can be invented at any time, to support any point one is trying to make.

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by Astral_Weeks

If what you are saying is really true: it is all about personal choices and behavior....why is poverty in Japan so persistently high?

It's complicated and I'm not a world economist so I honestly don't know the details BUT the article you included in your post showed Japan's poverty rate is lower than ours.

Other possibilities:

• Huge imbalance of older, nonworking people to younger workers contibuting to the financial social security
• Still haven't recovered from the Nikkie stock market crash of the 1980s. (The US stock market fell 89% from 1929-1932 but finally recovered by 1954.) Japan is still below its peak.
• More competition from Korea and Vietnam
• China becoming stronger with a nationalized capitalism

Also personal responsibility and behavior aren't the ONLY reasons for circumambient poverty. But those are the huge reasons in the US and they two OBVIOUS reasons.

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by LiaLia

How did they get poor in the first place? Is it because they're (your much used word) "stupid"?

Yes, primarily. Smart people (actually everyone except stupid people) don't get into those positions of having to choose between rent and a car payment or food and medicine, etc. You don't have to be smart not to get into those types of situations. You just can't be stupid. Stupid: not graduation, getting into drugs, getting pregnant as a teen, committing crime, have too many kids per income dollar, not taking advantage of all the STILL very affordable means of training. Yep, STUPID is the perfect word.

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by djsuperfly

Yep, "according to officials." One of the most meaningless phrases in the English language.

That's why I use it and most of my "made up" metrics are 69 of something since that's my favorite number.

[djsuperfly]

Originally Posted by SoCal_Native

That's why I use it and most of my "made up" metrics are 69 of something since that's my favorite number.

So you admit to peddling fake news? Good to know

[SoCal_Native]

Originally Posted by ByeFe1icia

ROFL. You're so full of it.

Good, now up vote me.