Dear America: You should be mad as hell about this!

>I heard someone point out it's not the wealth the super rich have accumulated that's the issue, being rich is awesome, everyone wants to be rich, it's the opportunity for economic equality that's the issue everyone has. I think he called it 'economic mobility'. The opportunities just aren't the same for everyone, which is the problem. And if we don't fix it, it will only get worse until it reaches a breaking point. [/QUOTE]<

The opportunities are there. I grew up in appalachia and no-one in my family had gone to college before me. I eventually took a PhD and am publishing a new book. You don't really mean the opportunities aren't there, you just advocate equality of outcomes. The rich generally control more wealth because they have demonstrated an ability to control it better. Many of the rich who didn't, became poor. The fastest way for humanity to kill ourselves off is to regress to the mean.

Did you read the information in the link at all? Every measurable statistic says the growth of income over the past 30 years has gone to the wealthiest Americans. I really don't care if it's considered fair because they were smart enough to do it, it will eventually lead to the entire collapse of the economy, and at that point, there's only one other option left.

Originally Posted by Padawanbater2

Did you read the information in the link at all? Every measurable statistic says the growth of income over the past 30 years has gone to the wealthiest Americans. I really don't care if it's considered fair because they were smart enough to do it, it will eventually lead to the entire collapse of the economy, and at that point, there's only one other option left.

Don't you know they were saying the exact same thing 80 years ago? It was nonsense then and it's nonsense now.

The solidificaton of wealth in this country is staggering. It is a fact that without government interference that solidification will grow to finally become unbalanced. I am more likely to be able to turn my one million dollars into two million than you are to turn your 100,000 into 200,000. If I can influence my government to give me breaks (with the money I already have amassed), I will aquire more. Now the only real way to equalize this trend is to level the playing field and one way to do that is to require the total divestiture of every fortune when the controler of that fortune dies. The dead have no rights.

Originally Posted by Illegal Smile

Don't you know they were saying the exact same thing 80 years ago? It was nonsense then and it's nonsense now.

The numbers, and the results of those numbers do not lie.

Originally Posted by canndo

The solidification of wealth in this country is staggering. It is a fact that without government interference that solidification will grow to finally become unbalanced. I am more likely to be able to turn my one million dollars into two million than you are to turn your 100,000 into 200,000. If I can influence my government to give me breaks (with the money I already have amassed), I will acquire more. Now the only real way to equalize this trend is to level the playing field and one way to do that is to require the total divestiture of every fortune when the controller of that fortune dies. The dead have no rights.

But their families do. You are describing a sort of Leninism deferred. cn

LOL, so in another 10 years the rich will have ALL the money?

You know, the better question here is why, after more than a half century on government spending on anti-poverty programs, to the point where we now have half the population on government support, WHY is the poverty rate (according to UN figures) no better in the US than it was in 1980 when the rest of the world's poverty rate has been cut in half?

I know - let's just pass a law that says that everyone is entitled to an above average income!

Originally Posted by Illegal Smile

Don't you know they were saying the exact same thing 80 years ago? It was nonsense then and it's nonsense now.

Where is your data to dispute the facts presented in the article in the OP? Why are you trying to argue with me about the economic growth being distributed unevenly in favor of the wealthy over the past 30 years when these statistics are right in front of you? It seems as if you're arguing a perspective against your own interest, and having touched on politics with you in the past I'm assuming it's because we have pretty different political perspectives. Unless you're really wealthy, as the OP suggests, you should be absolutely pissed about this shit.