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Why Does America Have the Greatest Economic Inequality of any Advanced Nation?

fantome profane

fantome profane

Anti-Woke = Anti-Justice
Premium Member
tytlyf said:
I'm talking about party platforms. Give me an example of a corporate democrat and a policy siding with republicans?


At this point in the process, I support Elizabeth Warren. I recall saying she should have been the presidential candidate in 2016 instead of Hillary.
You do have democratic candidates willing to shun corporate donations. I've never seen 1 person on the republican side do the same. Or even hint at it.
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Don’t misunderstand me. I am not trying to equate the two parties. They are not the same, not by a long shot.

What I am saying is what you just said, there are some Democratic candidates who are willing to shun corporate donations. This is a relatively new development. And it is a growing trend and I am cautiously optimistic about this. I am just saying there should be more, and whenever possible you should try to replace a Democratic candidate who takes corporate money with one who doesn’t.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Nakosis said:
I think there is too much vested interest in government manipulating the political elite. Hasn't worked so far. Politicians give lip service to solutions. Still waiting.
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Government doesn't manipulate the political elite. It's the other way around.
 
Nakosis

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Valjean said:
Government doesn't manipulate the political elite. It's the other way around.
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Ok, I see the politicians with power as the politically elite. Those that can throw their weight around to get other politicians to vote the way they need them too.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Nakosis said:
Ok, I see the politicians with power as the politically elite. Those that can throw their weight around to get other politicians to vote the way they need them too.
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And they vote for whatever their political donors want.
 
Valjean

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Nakosis said:
Yeah I understand.
I suspect a lot of politicians go into politics with integrity. Just hard to not slide into self interest in politics.
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Agreed. If they want to keep their job you have to play ball with the real elites -- the economic royalists.
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Ouroboros said:
Good question.

It's probably a complex answer to the question, and we can only speculate on what different aspects could be part of it.

One reason might be that we glorify wealth in America, and it has fostered a grab-n-hold attitude. Don't give, just take. And that creates a process where people will fall below over time. Some will win, and they become fewer in numbers on top, and larger number on bottom.

The other is that the religious leaders don't talk about caring for community, the poor, the sick, the people in need. They don't push their members to think in those lines, but rather they perpetuate an attitude of greed. God only loves you if you make money, and giving to the poor is a bad thing.


It's also the reason why it has become so rich. Take, not give, builds wealth.


Some would argue that this is socialism, and that's a bad word here. The majority of Americans hate the word "socialism" today, and anything that involves giving to someone for free is "socialism" to them. Also, the churches claim socialism is from the devil, which just makes it worse.

Some of my takes on it, but there's plenty more I'm sure.
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Added to your observations, it is pretty clear to just about anyone who really studies the issue that America has numerous and various laws, regulations, and policies which have created, sustained, and inflamed the problems. For instance, our tax laws are such that a wealthy person can end up paying less as a percentage of their income than lowest-paid many of their much lower paid employees. In general, billionaires and rich corporations not only write most of the tax laws America, but also employ thousands of lobbyists to influence how the government interprets and enforces those laws.

EDITED FOR CLARITY 9-26-19
 
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Shad

Shad

Veteran Member
Sunstone said:
Added to your observations, it is pretty clear to just about anyone who really studies the issue that America has numerous and various laws, regulations, and policies which have created, sustained, and inflamed the problems. For instance, our tax laws are such that any wealthy person can easily and legally end up paying less as a percentage of their income than their lowest-paid employee. In general, billionaires and rich corporations not only write most of the tax laws America, but also employ thousands of lobbyists to influence how the government interprets and enforces those laws.
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The lowest income bracket have no income taxes due to deductions. So how do you get less than 0 exactly? People need to meet a threshold to be taxed even 10%
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Shad said:
The lowest income bracket have no income taxes due to deductions. So how do you get less than 0 exactly? People need to meet a threshold to be taxed even 10%
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Of course you are right. I was being sloppy in my use of terms. I have edited my post.
 
Shad

Shad

Veteran Member
Sunstone said:
Of course you are right. I was being sloppy in my use of terms. I have edited my post.
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Keyword are the deduction. The IRS still want a filing which is a 10% rate even someone with no income. The taxes are just returned be it with benefit or not Deduction are the same method a lot of business from small to large use to recover taxes
 
Audie

Audie

Veteran Member
Sunstone said:
Why does America have the greatest economic inequality of any advanced nation?

Why is America among the worst of the advanced nations for equality of economic opportunity?

Equality of economic opportunity = your chances of getting ahead regardless of who your parents were and how much money they had.



Good background, if you need it:

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Because too many Americans think they are entitled
and / or victims.and prefer to tell themselves that
story, rather than get up and do something to change
their fate.

You give one tenth of their chances to any of
the millions of eager people in Asia, and see if
they complain!

I admit, don't try to hide my privileged background.

But I have eyes to see, I know a man who literally
got off the boat in NY harbour with nothing but what he
was wearing. Too risky to be carrying anything.

Look at him now, his college grad kids!

Sorry ah, I think too many Americas are just
fat lazy complainers.
 
Audie

Audie

Veteran Member
Valjean said:
Perhaps the rich don't want a middle class -- more wealth for them.
Corporations seek to maximize profits by keeping costs down, and workers cost. Worst case scenario: they unionize.
Worker productivity has increased manyfold in the past few decades, while wages have remained stagnant. Union membership has decreased significantly. The company keeps a larger and larger share of the profits.
A middle class is problematic. They make trouble, they want a fair share of the profit they produce. They're idealistic, and secure enough that they can afford to be disruptive -- just look at the trouble they caused during the '60s. Best keep them busy, insecure and compliant.
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( see union corruption )

More for themselves??? Wealth is not a zero sum
game!

There was not one dollar ($1.00 USD) in America
when Columbus showed up. How could anyone be
rich and hoard it?

Think of people as the ocean. The more money they
have, the denser with money the ocean the more
buoyancy it has!

Only a rich society can create and buoy billionaires.
 
Cooky

Cooky

Veteran Member
Sunstone said:
Why does America have the greatest economic inequality of any advanced nation?

Why is America among the worst of the advanced nations for equality of economic opportunity?

Equality of economic opportunity = your chances of getting ahead regardless of who your parents were and how much money they had.



Good background, if you need it:

Click to expand...

I think it's because we have such a wide variety of values and morals due to such a variety of cultures... Naturally, cultures who value education and possessions are going to produce like results in their children, and cultures who emphasize toughness in their children are going to produce children capable of surviving with minimal resources.

...There are cultures who emphasize complaining a lot and they yell at their kids all the time, and those children will be complainers and there are parents who are lazy, and their children will be lazy too.

Many other countries have a "common" culture... There, the gaps are very small.
 
Cooky

Cooky

Veteran Member
tytlyf said:
The solution is to avoid the party responsible for the problem.

Republicans are against the following:
-Raising the minimum wage
-Affordable education
-Affordable health care
-Labor Unions
-Regulations
-Tax increase for the wealthy
-Limiting campaign donations by corporations (corporations are people)
-etc
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Rather than placing blame on politicians, we should blame the parents, for clinging to inferior cultures.

Grow.
 
MikeDwight

MikeDwight

Well-Known Member
Sometimes I wonder how many people who write these articles subscribe to Forbes. If you take the life-savings of all these 'trickle-down' people, the richest person has 66 Billion in America, quickly falling off, you'd have 500 billion with the top 100.

People like quoting "The wealthiest 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of the country's wealth, according to a new paper by economist Edward N. Wolff."
That does Not mean plundering homes will produce the economy that's powering a nation. That's a 19 trillion GDP a year next to 500 billion personal savings.
 
Nakosis

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
Woberts said:
Burn it down.
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Well yes because IMO the equation is framed wrong. IOW there is no solution to an invalid equation.

It is not about the wealth. It is about the transfer of knowledge about how to be successful.

Kids learn how to be successful from their parents. While there are exceptions, generally a person doesn't succeed in a vacuum. Public schools don't provide the knowledge of how to succeed and if your parents can't provide it, you're kind of screwed.
 
MikeDwight

MikeDwight

Well-Known Member
Nakosis said:
Who could blame their parents... and so on.
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Oh, now, that's a different topic. How we all pull up from our own bootstraps, neverminded the Push not the Pull nature of Jobs, serial murderers in New York, poisoned water in Detroit. etc.
 
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