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An Idiots Guide to Inequality Part 1

Lafayette

Lafayette

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From here.


An “Idiot’s Guide to Inequality.” (Nicholas Kristof)

Here are five points:

First, economic inequality has worsened significantly in the United States and some other countries. The richest 1 percent in the United States now own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. Oxfam estimates that the richest 85 people in the world own as much wealth as the bottom half of humanity.

The situation might be tolerable if a rising tide were lifting all boats. But it’s lifting mostly the yachts. In 2010, 93 percent of the additional income created in America went to the top 1 percent.

Second, inequality in America is destabilizing. Some inequality is essential to create incentives, but we seem to have reached the point where inequality actually becomes an impediment to economic growth.

Certainly, the nation grew more quickly in periods when we were more equal, including in the golden decades after World War II when growth was strong and inequality actually diminished. Likewise, a major research paper from the International Monetary Fund in April found that more equitable societies tend to enjoy more rapid economic growth.

Indeed, even Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, warns that “too much ... has gone to too few”* and that inequality in America is now “very destabilizing.”

Inequality causes problems by creating fissures in societies, leaving those at the bottom feeling marginalized or disenfranchised. That has been a classic problem in “banana republic” countries in Latin America, and the United States now has a Gini coefficient (a standard measure of inequality) approaching some traditionally poor and dysfunctional Latin countries.
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"An Idiots Guide to Inequality" - Part 2

Third, disparities reflect not just the invisible hand of the market but also manipulation of markets. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, wrote a terrific book two years ago, “The Price of Inequality,” which is a shorter and easier read than Piketty’s book. In it, he notes: “Much of America’s inequality is the result of market distortions, with incentives directed not at creating new wealth but at taking it from others.”

For example, financiers are wealthy partly because they’re highly educated and hardworking — and also because they’ve successfully lobbied for the carried interest tax loophole that lets their pay be taxed at much lower rates than other people’s.

Likewise, if you’re a pharmaceutical executive, one way to create profits is to generate new products. Another is to lobby Congress to bar the government’s Medicare program from bargaining for drug prices. That amounts to a $50 billion annual gift to pharmaceutical companies.

Fourth, inequality doesn’t necessarily even benefit the rich as much as we think. At some point, extra incomes don’t go to sate desires but to attempt to buy status through “positional goods” — like the hottest car on the block.

The problem is that there can only be one hottest car on the block. So the lawyer who buys a Porsche is foiled by the C.E.O. who buys a Ferrari, who in turn is foiled by the hedge fund manager who buys a Lamborghini. This arms race leaves these desires unsated; there’s still only one at the top of the heap.

Fifth, progressives probably talk too much about “inequality” and not enough about “opportunity.” Some voters are turned off by tirades about inequality because they say it connotes envy of the rich; there is more consensus on bringing everyone to the same starting line.

Unfortunately, equal opportunity is now a mirage. Indeed, researchers find that there is less economic mobility in America than in class-conscious Europe.

We know some of the tools, including job incentives and better schools, that can reduce this opportunity gap. But the United States is one of the few advanced countries that spends less educating the average poor child than the average rich one. As an escalator of mobility, the American education system is broken.

There’s still a great deal we don’t understand about inequality. But whether or not you read Piketty, there’s one overwhelming lesson you should be aware of: Inequality and lack of opportunity today constitute a national infirmity and vulnerability — and there are policy tools that can make a difference*.
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*And the only way to fix that error permanently is rid ourselves of fixed-rate taxation above $100K of income yearly and institute a progressive taxation up to and including 100% beyond a certain megabuck income.

DISCUSS
 
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An Idiot’s Guide to Inequality.
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The title says it all. The author is an idiot.
 
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I suppose if I could sing or play football, I'd be making $20 million a year. But society needs regular people just to do regular things. Not all of us can be movie stars or start internet companies or write a best selling novel or throw a 100 mile an hour fastball.

As they say, "Sometimes life isn't fair."
 
Lafayette said:
"An Idiots Guide to Inequality" - Part 2



*And the only way to fix that error permanently is rid ourselves of fixed-rate taxation above $100K of income yearly and institute a progressive taxation up to and including 100% beyond a certain megabuck income.

DISCUSS
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Reduce the size of government, its almost unlimited borrowing and the massive taxation we have in general. We pay more in total taxes, double, than the next economy, China with 4 times the population does. Its not that we are not taxed sufficiently, its that it goes to Washington and they can dole it out to inefficient companies/entities/parties subverting competition in the marketplace.

And the only true way, as our wealth does lift all boats here with our poor in possessions and standard of living is on par with the middle class of almost the entire rest of the world, is to prevent government from having so much influence on picking the winners and losers.

YOU always ignore/lose sight of absolute vs relative poverty... which make your posts on the topic, well, Laffable.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Reduce the size of government, its almost unlimited borrowing and the massive taxation we have in general. We pay more in total taxes, double, than the next economy, China with 4 times the population does.
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This above is what is Laffable.

You are comparing economies that are incomparable:
*One is open, free-market, and the Wealth Generator has been manipulated in favor of a select 20% of American families.
*The other is closed, seemingly free-market, but with accumulation of massive riches allowed to an elite corp (within the Communist Party system)

If you want to debate comparisons, I'll take you on having chosen economic entities that are comparable - the EU and the US.

You first ...

Gaugingcatenate said:
... which make your posts on the topic, well, laughable)
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Cheap sarcasm. Who taught you the rules of debate? The boys down at the bar?

Keep the derision to yourself. Intelligent people don't need it in good debate - unless you actually like being amongst the rabble ...
 
Lafayette said:
This above is what is Laffable.

You are comparing economies that are incomparable:
*One is open, free-market, and the Wealth Generator has been manipulated in favor of a select 20% of American families.
*The other is closed, seemingly free-market, but with accumulation of massive riches allowed to an elite corp (within the Communist Party system)

If you want to debate comparisons, I'll take you on having chosen economic entities that are comparable - the EU and the US.

You first ...



Cheap sarcasm. Who taught you the rules of debate? The boys down at the bar?

Keep the derision to yourself. Intelligent people don't need it in good debate - unless you actually like being amongst the rabble ...
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What you dont get is this is the AMERICAN EXPERIMENT, not the EU, not China which is actually going way more in our direction and is lifting many boats in that country, and we should not be trying to go down the slow or fast path to communism through socialism but stick what made the country great. If you like the communist system better, try moving to China, if you like the socialist systems better try the EU or Venezuela... keep your vacuous ideas and experiments elsewhere.

What don't you get about what you failed to reply to? Your cherry picked response failed to address that our poor are comparatively the middle class in almost all the rest of the world, our innovative competitiveness has enriched us all beyond anyone's dreams a hundred or even fifty years ago. Our abundance is simply amazing and yet here you are complaining...yes, laughable. If you like you can imagine what I could really call it.

Your pushing to stubborn clung- to- jealousies of the really rich, often these folks made so by government intervention [cronyism] which is why its necessary to reduce the size of that leviathan and all that money that our government seizes and controls at the expense of us, all of us.

Dude, I taught debate. What rules are being flouted? And please do not even think of trying to assume the authority to tell me what to and not to do. You seem clueless or voluntarily blind to reality and its truth. That is truly laughable... or Laffable.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
What you dont get is this is the AMERICAN EXPERIMENT, not the EU, not China which is actually going way more in our direction and is lifting many boats in that country, and we should not be trying to go down the slow or fast path to communism through socialism but stick what made the country great. If you like the communist system better, try moving to China, if you like the socialist systems better try the EU or Venezuela... keep your vacuous ideas and experiments elsewhere.

What don't you get about what you failed to reply to? Your cherry picked response failed to address that our poor are comparatively the middle class in almost all the rest of the world, our innovative competitiveness has enriched us all beyond anyone's dreams a hundred or even fifty years ago. Our abundance is simply amazing and yet here you are complaining...yes, laughable. If you like you can imagine what I could really call it.

Your pushing to stubborn clung- to- jealousies of the really rich, often these folks made so by government intervention [cronyism] which is why its necessary to reduce the size of that leviathan and all that money that our government seizes and controls at the expense of us, all of us.

Dude, I taught debate. What rules are being flouted? And please do not even think of trying to assume the authority to tell me what to and not to do. You seem clueless or voluntarily blind to reality and its truth. That is truly laughable... or Laffable.
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Blah, blah, blah.

Moving right along ...
 
Lafayette said:
And the only way to fix that error permanently is rid ourselves of fixed-rate taxation above $100K of income yearly and institute a progressive taxation up to and including 100% beyond a certain megabuck income.

DISCUSS
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That $100K number is kind of stupid.

If the country's total GDP were divided by the country's total population and distributed equally every man, woman, and child would be entitled to roughly $50K.

This doesn't take in to account peoples' skills, abilities, education, ambition, contribution or otherwise - it's just flat rate math.

Why should a family of four earning $100K a year be entitled to not only less than their "fair share" of that total pie, but less than half of their "fair share"?
 
Lafayette said:
"An Idiots Guide to Inequality" - Part 2



*And the only way to fix that error permanently is rid ourselves of fixed-rate taxation above $100K of income yearly and institute a progressive taxation up to and including 100% beyond a certain megabuck income.

DISCUSS
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The proposed solution will not work. I don't believe our present social, political, legal and economic technologies can handle the restructuring of the property rights at this time without doing ourselves more damage than imaginable.
 
Lafayette said:
Blah, blah, blah.

Moving right along ...
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Probably your most cogent and least damaging/offensive posts yet. Usually you are spreading your manure far and deep. Perhaps should leave all that in your garden, might actually be of benefit.

Don't you ever notice that you cannot answer even the easy questions? Your lame ideology is so simple to disprove.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Probably your most cogent and least damaging/offensive posts yet. Usually you are spreading your manure far and deep. Perhaps should leave all that in your garden, might actually be of benefit.

Don't you ever notice that you cannot answer even the easy questions? Your lame ideology is so simple to disprove.
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More blah, blah, blah.

You know, in debate, sarcasm and invective are both a poor excuse for rebuttal ...
 
joG said:
The proposed solution will not work. I don't believe our present social, political, legal and economic technologies can handle the restructuring of the property rights at this time without doing ourselves more damage than imaginable.
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You may indeed be right.

It takes a mind-swell to change opinion - and not just in America. It is typical of humans to want to keep the past because they fear worse in the future.

But, there is also this dictum: No pain, no gain. More pain ...
 
Lafayette said:
More blah, blah, blah.

You know, in debate, sarcasm and invective are both a poor excuse for rebuttal ...
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I would suggest it is at least pointed enough to require thought... as opposed to ignoring all my criticisms previous, not even attempting support of your own non pragmatic reasoning and explanation as to why you are so jealous and ... and then not even responding to the true and proper method of reducing undeserved wealth by reducing government and thus reducing cronyism... you don't want to argue reality, you want to penalize all no matter the worth they actually achieve and deserve to keep.

Not to mention that its only about a million times better than a "blah blah blah...moving right along" styled stupid *** reply like you keep giving. The real producers deserve to keep nearly all the wealth they produce, YOU deserve every bit of sarcasm and invective I have so rightly bestowed upon you.
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
I would suggest it is at least pointed enough to require thought... as opposed to ignoring all my criticisms previous, not even attempting support of your own non pragmatic reasoning and explanation as to why you are so jealous and ... and then not even responding to the true and proper method of reducing undeserved wealth by reducing government and thus reducing cronyism... you don't want to argue reality, you want to penalize all no matter the worth they actually achieve and deserve to keep.

Not to mention that its only about a million times better than a "blah blah blah...moving right along" styled stupid *** reply like you keep giving. The real producers deserve to keep nearly all the wealth they produce, YOU deserve every bit of sarcasm and invective I have so rightly bestowed upon you.
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Rant on - who the hell cares ...
 
joG said:
The proposed solution will not work. I don't believe our present social, political, legal and economic technologies can handle the restructuring of the property rights at this time without doing ourselves more damage than imaginable.
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We cant even do the relatively easy things anymore, this society is fragile, suffering from very long term neglect.

Really hard to see anything but massive pain righting the ship.

I better by dead by then.
 
Lafayette said:
Rant on - who the hell cares ...
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Dude, why even start a thread if you are unwilling to be challenged and/or cannot defend in the least your viewpoint? I guess the title of the piece does describe itself pretty aptly. You are in the place for you, Europe.

I'd say don't leave the lights on, but I am sure they will go out on their own. Social Democracy :lamo :2wave:
 
Lafayette said:
You may indeed be right.

It takes a mind-swell to change opinion - and not just in America. It is typical of humans to want to keep the past because they fear worse in the future.

But, there is also this dictum: No pain, no gain. More pain ...
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....one commits suicide. ;)
 
Gaugingcatenate said:
Dude, why even start a thread if you are unwilling to be challenged and/or cannot defend in the least your viewpoint?
/QUOTE]

Because you reduce the exchange to innuendo and sarcasm without the slightest element of cogency.

Entering into your silly child's-game is about as interesting as warm-pee.

That's why ...
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Lafayette said:
Maybe "you", not me.

Sorry to disappoint you ...
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Now that is a real downer!
;)

:)
But then, maybe the pain would make you a better person.
 
Excon said:
The title says it all. The author is an idiot.
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The sort of excuse that one can expect of anyone unable to understand profound concepts.

And, yet, that is where the truths are found ...
 
Lafayette said:
The sort of excuse that one can expect of anyone unable to understand profound concepts.

And, yet, that is where the truths are found ...
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Profound?

You want to tax certain people 100% and you call that profound?

I call it utter nonsense.

So if a poor, destitute fellow wins the lottery...you want to take 100% of his winnings so he is destitute again?

So if a senior sells the family home that they have owned for 50 years and they have a capital gain of $1 million (because it turns out the land her house is in is suddenly extremely valuable)...you want to tax her all of it and she ends up with nothing?

So, if an owner of a family business that he has built up from nothing and always put every extra cent of profit back into the company now sells that business for $2 million profit...you want to take all that profit and render his life's work economically useless?

So, if a stock that a family has held for generations...suddenly skyrockets and they sell it for a multi-million dollar profit...you want to take every penny of that capital gain?

There is nothing profound about a 100% tax rate.

It is ridiculous and tantamount to theft.


Oh...and if you are only talking about taxing income and not capital gains then you are clueless on this as well as almost all the money the mega rich make are capital gains.


Man, you must REALLY resent rich people.
 
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