Why do we continue to allow so few to hoard to much wealth?

[Matt1970]

Ooooh look how scared

How rich are you?

Why? You want to take my hard earner money too? I make between $40K and $50k depending on the year.

 

[davmat787]

Take back what belongs to the people, and redistribute it to everyone.

Damn, you must be a real peach come Christmas morning. Rather than being thankful for what was given to you, instead you complain about the presents you didn't receive because damnit, it is just not fair!

And lets say all this money is redistributed. How long do you think it would take to have wealth disparity again? Not long I imagine, quickly there would be rich and poor again.

 

[Greenman]

Some of you seem to think paper wealth is finite, which is an odd concept.

 

[Jhhnn]

When you make more money off someone else hard labor then they do, you are guilty of exploitation. The rich make nearly all of their money through exploitation.

Wow! I didn't know the employees were forced to work with a gun to there head

Not exactly. They'll just freeze or starve if they don't work, their children along with them. It's the same difference.

 

[Jhhnn]

Some of you seem to think paper wealth is finite, which is an odd concept.

It is, at any given moment in time. Real wealth is grounded in some tangible economic asset, even if that asset is remote. The value of derivatives based on MBS is grounded in actual mortgages, houses, & the ability of mortgage holders to pay, for example.

It's called financialization, and it leaves a lot of room for mismatches between real value & paper value to occur & to be exploited via the process of liquidating paper assets for (electronic) cash assets.

 

[Incorruptible]

Not exactly. They'll just freeze or starve if they don't work, their children along with them. It's the same difference.

No its not, there isnt a man with a gun forcing them to work, they make a CHOICE

Maybe if they were allowed to start there own small business then they could be more prosperous but because of big government regulations to serve special interests they cant.

Why aren't you criticizing big government for hurting the little guy who will freeze to death?

 

[Jhhnn]

No its not, there isnt a man with a gun forcing them to work, they make a CHOICE

Maybe if they were allowed to start there own small business then they could be more prosperous but because of big government regulations to serve special interests they cant.

Why aren't you criticizing big government for hurting the little guy who will freeze to death?

Anybody can start their own small business, with some capital.

Oh, wait, there's some catch in there... something about capital, which is a little tough to come up with on a median wage of $26K...

I am in agreement with both Krugman & Stiglitz in their evaluation of the effect of govt largesse to the financial elite via their corporate steeds-

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/arc...rugman-stiglitz-can-tell-us/?pagination=false

Choice? To feed your family?

Even Gary Gilmore had a choice...

 

[Hugo Drax]

As long as welfare,medicaid,wic,foodstamps exist things should be safe. And as long as people have access to credit as well.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Why do we continue to allow so few to hoard to much wealth?

Answer: We have been indoctrinated, often through religious belief, to believe that our nation has a "Meritocracy" and that people get what they deserve even if they were born into wealth and even if that wealth derived from profits obtained from slavery centuries ago.

Furthermore, we have been taught to accept without question that whatever compensation someone receives or profits they obtain from ownership of a business has been legitimately earned and is the result of one's own human effort. You're not supposed to question whether CEOs and executives and wealthy stock owners are earning far more money than they actually deserve.

In short, Meritocracy is our nation's economic religion, and we have all been indoctrinated to believe in it since early childhood.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

So using force, unless the rich actually STOLE from everyone else then we dont have a right to steal back.

And that...is the root of the matter. How exactly did the people obtain their wealth in the first place and to what extent was the initiation or threat of physical force involved?

Let's suppose that a resource exists in a limited, finite quantity, and that I declare that all of that resource is mine and begin using the land containing that resource. Then I holler when someone else wants to use the resource and ask the government to use the threat of the initiation of physical force to protect my claim to the resource? Has my claim to this resource and land which I didn't create thus been protected by the initiation of physical force?

The dogmatic assumption that in a free market whatever resources someone has claimed and begins using legitimately belong to that person works well when you have a cuckoo-cloud fantasy world with infinite resources where resources magically fall into wealthy people's laps and where unlimited resources are available to everyone if they would just put in the productive effort needed to claim and make use of them. However, in the real world we live in a land of finite, limited resources. What gives one man the right to claim all of the resources?

In other words, the wealthy have actually used the threat of the initiation of physical force to obtain their wealth. Because resources exist in limited, finite quantities, the issue is not as black-and-white as some dogmatic moralistic "no-think" philosophers would make it out to be.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

What makes you think we aren't?

Is fighting a light saber battle of words over the Internet a "revolt"?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

That about sums it up. People that want to have the Government in charge of the careers and salaries of everybody should go live in a country for a while where that actually happens. They they will see why people do everything they can to get into the US.

Germans, Japanese, Canadians, and Scandinavians are doing everything they can to immigrate to the U.S.? The Canadians might come here to shop, but they wouldn't dream of living under our government.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Wow! I didn't know the employees were forced to work with a gun to there head

...and the alternative is...?

Since the arable farmland and access to freshwater is already owned by the rich or other people, it's kind of difficult to make it on your own without working for someone else. (Try thinking deeply about the mechanics of these issues for a change.) It's that "we live in a world of limited resources" thing cropping up again.

Oh yeah, that arable land and access to water resources is also protected by guns--so if I try to use a piece of another man's land and his water well, guns will be put to my head. So, what's the difference?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

OP's views are the basic core premise of Democrat inspired economic initiatives. It's the Elizabeth Warren-esque plea for theft without the nuance of a "Social contract" thrown in to mislead people about their true intentions and flawed reasoning.

Are you certain that Elizabeth Warren hasn't contemplated the issues along the lines that I have in my prior posts? It's easy to dogmatically dismiss her in a knee-jerk "no-think" free market dogmatist fashion, but what if there's more to her argument to back her up that certain philosophers never dared to contemplate?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Wow, I think you're really on to something here. Why do we allow beautiful people to hoard their looks, we should throw acid in their faces to make everyone equal. Why do we allow geniuses to hoard their intelligence, we should lobotomize them to make them all equal. Why should we allow athletes who work and train to make themselves better hoard their abilities? We should amputate their limbs to make it all equal!

Who's arguing that? Who is arguing that people should not be able to benefit from their legitimate productive efforts?

How does a discussion about how exactly people obtained the wealth they have and whether they earned it equate to suggesting that beautiful people should have acid thrown in their faces, that the smart should be lobotomitized, and that the strong should be crippled?

That stale soundbite is an intellectual evasion.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

As long as welfare,medicaid,wic,foodstamps exist things should be safe. And as long as people have access to credit as well.

LOL - This must be a joke. I hope it is IMHO.

Anyways in case it is not then let me ask you a few questions.

How long will this all exist when government continually devalues our currency in order to prop up its debt?

How long will creditors be willing to lend money at affordable rates to prop this mess up?

How long will this continue when other nations realize we have no intention/ability of raining in our debts and they eventually de-peg their currency from ours?

What happens when creditors assess the risk value of those who have devalued their own currency and have no intention of paying their debts back?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

In short, Meritocracy is our nation's economic religion, and we have all been indoctrinated to believe in it since early childhood.

I haven't a problem with the concept of earning ones wages through ones effort. What you describe isn't a meritocracy, it's the perception that we live in one, which is not the case.

 

[WelshBloke]

What exactly do you suggest we do about this problem then?

 

[ichy]

Ever heard of a revolt?

They do happen quite a bit in history.

You're far too much of a coward to lead an actual revolt.

 

[Incorruptible]

You're far too much of a coward to lead an actual revolt.

Well said. It really is pathetic how someone can think there revolting on an online forum

 

[a777pilot]

Well said. It really is pathetic how someone can think there revolting on an online forum

I've been called revolting many times on the internet.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Take back what belongs to the people, and redistribute it to everyone.

You know, I think we've tried that before... :hmm:

 

[jman19]

"Allow?"

By the way... we do not live in a meritocracy. Not a pure one anyway. But there is a reason why those that work hard tend to do better than those that do not...

 

[Jhhnn]

"Allow?"

By the way... we do not live in a meritocracy. Not a pure one anyway. But there is a reason why those that work hard tend to do better than those that do not...

Like this?

Mitt & friends use these-

 

[nehalem256]

You know, I think we've tried that before... :hmm:

They did that in Zimbabwe. Which as we all now is a thriving society and beacon of hope on the African continent