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The divide between the rich and the rest

How serious a problem is the divide between the wealthy and the rest of us?

  • This divide does not exist.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    109

Phys251

Purge evil with Justice
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How serious a problem is the wealth gap between the wealthy and the rest of us?
 
It's a serious problem for the rich.

They have to worry if their money is earning enough return. The have to keep up appearances. They have to make sure the Maybach and the Lear jet have leather that matches and isn't a different dye lot. They have to hire people to hire people to hire people to maintain multiple homes. They can't have real friends or trust anyone. No matter how many people the screw over they still can't be as rich as Carlos Slim, a Mexican.

I feel sorry for them. Their only real use is to keep all this excess money from causing inflation.
 
Apparently the problem is not serious enough since the Obama government has to import poor anti-Americans from around the world to make the situation a million times worse.
 
A huge problem cuz it shows that ****ing trickle down economics is a giant sham.
The rich will now spend a vast majority of their money trying to shape the "rules of the game" in their favour more than they alerady have..
Plus i dont see how you can view a vast inequality as a "good thing"


Wealth Inequality In America - YouTube
 
How serious a problem is the wealth gap between the wealthy and the rest of us?

Jealousy is the only real issue. A spotlight shined upon it in the last election; some were against Mitt simply for being rich.
 
How serious a problem is the wealth gap between the wealthy and the rest of us?

it is relative.

most western democracies would regard it as a problem, but in third world economies, its fine.

depends what sort of economy/society you want.
 
It would not be serious if the masses would just stop agreeing to bailing out failed banks and pathetic corporations.

Stop agreeing to massive deficits that mostly end up in the rich' bank accounts.

Stop trying to tax the rich by raising their income tax rates...that's not where the truly rich make their money - they make it through capital gains.

Stop bankrolling the military industrial complex.

Stop going so far into debt.

Stop looking towards corrupt politicians to fix your problems AND STOP VOTING FOR THEM.

Start using economic boycott against corporations you don't like/support.

Stop agreeing to higher tax rates/fees/costs - demand lower taxes/fees/costs.

Take more responsibility for your lives and especially for your mistakes (like too much debt).

Stop just whining about it and actually do something about it.


The only thing these massive deficits/QE's are doing is taking your tax dollars and giving them to big banks and major stockholders.
 
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A huge problem cuz it shows that ****ing trickle down economics is a giant sham.
The rich will now spend a vast majority of their money trying to shape the "rules of the game" in their favour more than they alerady have..
Plus i dont see how you can view a vast inequality as a "good thing"


Wealth Inequality In America - YouTube

Really, tell us how the trickle up economics is working in Russia.
 
It is an issue, but not for the reason that most would expect..... It's an issue because the bottom portion of this nation's citizenry have neglected their end of the social bargain. They no longer want to even try to better themselves. They slide further down into the cesspool of humanity, allowing the rich to get further and further away from them and then expect the middle and upper classes to "save" them from themselves. Sorry, not interested.
 
Apparently the problem is not serious enough since the Obama government has to import poor anti-Americans from around the world to make the situation a million times worse.

Yeah - which Obama does at the behest of Republican business owners who want cheaper labor.
 
It would not be serious if the masses would just stop agreeing to bailing out failed banks and pathetic corporations.

Stop agreeing to massive deficits that mostly end up in the rich' bank accounts.

Stop trying to tax the rich by raising their income tax rates...that's not where the truly rich make their money - they make it through capital gains.

Stop bankrolling the military industrial complex.

Stop going so far into debt.

Stop looking towards corrupt politicians to fix your problems AND STOP VOTING FOR THEM.

Start using economic boycott against corporations you don't like/support.

Stop agreeing to higher tax rates/fees/costs - demand lower taxes/fees/costs.

Take more responsibility for your lives and especially for your mistakes (like too much debt).

Stop just whining about it and actually do something about it.


The only thing these massive deficits/QE's are doing is taking your tax dollars and giving them to big banks and major stockholders.

Dude, it's not the masses who pressure the government for that stuff. Rather, it's corporate executives and people of wealth who bribe Representatives and Senators with campaign donations in order to get taxpayer money in subsidies, contracts, or bail-outs. And because they can bribe Congressmen, they get their way.
 
It's not the wealth gap per se, it's the legislation behind it.
 
Huge issue that could one day lead to the next civil war.

As fewer and fewer get more and more, while the vast majority fall out of the middle class and into the lower class....emotions and anger will increase by orders of magnitude.

Without a strong middle class - it's only a matter of time before the power keg goes off.
 
The OP question is divisive from the get go.
 
How serious a problem is the wealth gap between the wealthy and the rest of us?

Any nation that has a small percentage of the population with tremendous/growing wealth and a large majority with dwindling wealth is going to have problems. I would say that nearly any of our political issues can be dealt with if we tackle the problem of poverty.
 
Dude, it's not the masses who pressure the government for that stuff. Rather, it's corporate executives and people of wealth who bribe Representatives and Senators with campaign donations in order to get taxpayer money in subsidies, contracts, or bail-outs. And because they can bribe Congressmen, they get their way.

I know that - but if enough of the masses demanded that there were no more bailouts, there would be no more bailouts.
 
The gap is not the problem. It is a symptom of the real problems.

While there will always be a gap between the rich and the poor, how wide the gap is or becomes can be determined by the laws governing business and the demonstrated desire of the poor to actually work to better themselves or in many cases even to work at all.

Corporate protectionism, job protectionism and a business environment that curbs competition instead of encouraging it will always lead to a bigger gap and a reduction in the number of wealthy, though those who are still wealthy will have more.

At the same time as we have seen these factors increase in America, we have also seen the lower end of the scale become more and more dependent upon government and become less and less likely to actually do anything to improve their own position. We continue to see large amounts of skilled labor not being filled while unskilled labor almost disappears from the country. Jobs like nursing have large shortages of available people but jobs like cashier at Walmart have a plethora of people to choose from. Just like increased competition will lower the amount a company makes, increased competition in the job market will decrease what a worker makes.

We have such shortages in skills that require education and the discipline to actually complete the program. We have people saying companies need to pay more when those same people are not willing to educate themselves or take opportunities to make themselves more desirable in the jobs market. We also have people spending 4 years at a University to get a degree which is either almost non-employable or in a degree program that floods the labor market. Interesting that these seem to be in degree programs that are the easiest and require the least amount of discipline to complete.

No, the gap is not nor will it ever actually be the problem, it is only a symptom. The real problem is the greediness, laziness, lack of discipline and general ignorance of too many Americans that think someone else should make their life better instead of them taking responsibility and doing something for themselves.
 
A huge problem cuz it shows that ****ing trickle down economics is a giant sham.
The rich will now spend a vast majority of their money trying to shape the "rules of the game" in their favour more than they alerady have..
Plus i dont see how you can view a vast inequality as a "good thing"


Wealth Inequality In America - YouTube

And socialism is the answer?

Can you name a single country that actually started down the road to socialism and succeeded at not only achieving it but who's limited economic success was not totally dependent upon the capitalist markets in the world?

Any country you can point to, you will find if you look at it without prejudice of your socialist desires, you will find that even where a large amount of socialism exists and they are somewhat successful, it is entirely dependent upon the capitalist world market. Most places that have even attempted socialism are some of the poorest places on the planet.
 
The 'wealth gap' is only a problem in the eyes of those who look to someone else and see they themselves are lacking.

If you want more wealth for yourself, then make yourself worth it. Educate yourself, learn new skills, provide your loyalty to a company and invest yourself in it.

Time and time again I hear people howl about how underpaid they are. So, I respond, what are you doing to make yourself worth more to the company? Raises aren't given for doing the barest of minimums to keep the job, they're given because someone proves themselves to be worth more to the company. The Company doesn't exist to give you a job, it it exists to make a profit, providing dividends to those monetarily invested in the company.

Those that achieve wealth don't do it by sitting back and waiting for someone to hand it to them, they take risks, offer something new or improve upon an existing 'product', invest their time, money, lives into it. And they sure as hell don't work 40 hours and call it done.

There is no limit to 'wealth' and people claiming that the rich are keeping them down, are really doing it to themselves.
 
In every society that has ever existed from the beginning of time, there have been three main levels (probably some sub-levels, but basically three); those at the top who do very well either through inherited wealth, hard work, taking chances, being clever or a combination of all of those things; those in the middle who work hard, save some and try to move up through the classes; and those at the bottom who, sometimes through no fault of their own and sometimes through their life choices, will always remain on the bottom of society. Those at the top do very well, those in the middle do ok and those on the bottom get screwed. From ancient Egypt through to modern society, that's the way society works and will always work and there is nothing that is going to change that. Governments go throw money into schemes designed to assist the poor and some of those poor will latch onto that money and still stay where they are for life. Some will see the value of an education and work damn hard to not have to depend on that money. Society needs those at the top; they hire people, pay wages which go into the economy (perhaps not enough wages, but that's life....don't like it then move on up through hard work). I am not an economist, I don't pretend to understand money matters except paying my bills etc. I do know that society really does need the top, the middle and the bottom layers.
Everyone has the right to equal opportunity, but everyone is simply not equal. One of the first lies we tell kids, is that they can be anything they want, they just have to want it bad enough. That is simply not true. For example, I was never going to be able to be a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist no matter how much I would want to....don't have the intelligence or ability.....I was never going to be a super model....sure as hell don't have the beauty or the body for it! People have to get real.
Top, middle and bottom, that's the way it works. Should those at the bottom be helped? Certainly, been there, done that and worked my way out of it. But you can only help so much, people really have to help themselves.
 
It would not be serious if the masses would just stop agreeing to bailing out failed banks and pathetic corporations.

Stop agreeing to massive deficits that mostly end up in the rich' bank accounts.

Stop trying to tax the rich by raising their income tax rates...that's not where the truly rich make their money - they make it through capital gains.

Stop bankrolling the military industrial complex.

Stop going so far into debt.

Stop looking towards corrupt politicians to fix your problems AND STOP VOTING FOR THEM.

Start using economic boycott against corporations you don't like/support.

Stop agreeing to higher tax rates/fees/costs - demand lower taxes/fees/costs.

Take more responsibility for your lives and especially for your mistakes (like too much debt).

Stop just whining about it and actually do something about it.


The only thing these massive deficits/QE's are doing is taking your tax dollars and giving them to big banks and major stockholders.

I'd like this twice if I could.
 
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Ronald Reagan
 
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