What do you think about income inequality?

kluge
Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:50:57 +0000

Consolation:

Doesn’t the growing concentration of wealth in a small percentage of the US population and the shrinking middle class imply that hard work and education DO NOT “pay off” for most people in a reasonably equitable way? Doesn’t it imply that something in our society and/or economy is structured to produce that result and structured against the economic interests of the majority?

That’s a common sense, nuanced comment. But it won’t fit on a bumper sticker. That’s why so many people prefer to say things like:

Razorsharp:

class envy does not benefit anyone. As long as I have the opportunity to earn as much money as I possibly can, it makes absolutely no difference how much money someone else makes or whether they inherited it. The opportunity to make as much money as you would like is alive and well in America (and Canada).





Simba:

razorsharp: True, but it is hard work. Few of the posters would show you graphs and graphs, articles after articles showing that it is unfair for people to make too much money. Whining is easy.





MiamiDAP:

Let’s make it equal …and become Soviet Union? Isn’t it so attractive when EVERYBODY is equally poor? I am sure all americans will just love it. It is not that hard, make progressive tax much more progressive, say 99% at the very top (of course, these people will immediatelytake thier business somewhere else) and give tax “rebate” checks to those who has never paid it or paid very small tax. The less they paid, the more “rebate” they get. According to my math, it will work just fine.





Kellybkk:

People hate the rich really only out of jealousy. … No, it’s just jealousy pure and simple. The implication that “growing income inequality” somehow reflects that the rich are engineering the inequality on the backs of the poor is a fallacy.

That must be it… Anyone who’s concerned about the now-undeniable ongoing concentration of wealth in America into fewer and fewer hands is just a whiny, rich-hating, rich-envying, commmunist. Yeah, that’s it - they’re just jealous, “pure and simple”!! We don’t have to listen to anything they say - they want to turn America into Communist Russia!!! :rolleyes:

Back in the real world, the facts are straightforward. According to IRS statistics, the concentration of taxable income in the top 1% of American taxpayers has gone from 11% to over 20% in just 25 years. And that didn’t “just happen.” Sure, tax policies which are more favorable to the wealthy than anything we saw in the second half of the 20th century are part of the explanation for increased concentration of wealth - the average percentage of income tax paid by the top 1% of taxpayers - with annual incomes averaging over $1M per year - is less than 23%, and it goes down for the top 0.1%. But that’s only a part. Union-hostile laws, industry deregulation and legal philosophies which favor the more powerful are probably much more significant factors. But nothing will be done in any of those areas until recognition of the basic, inarguable facts becomes more widespread. (It won’t hurt to withhold support from the bumper-sticker sloganeers such as those cited above, either. Sneering and name calling doesn’t help - and generally signifies a lack of a valid argument.) Tax data is here: [SOI Tax Stats - Individual Statistical Tables by Tax Rate and Income Percentile](http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=133521,00.html) download table 5.

An intensely stratified society is not good for anyone. It’s not a question of “hating rich people” - I know lots of legitimately rich people and don’t hate them at all. It’s just a question of addressing societal change like responsible adults and recognizing that how we perceive our society does matter, what we consider acceptable does matter, and how we express our opinions about those things – does matter.

I’m concerned about the increased concentration of wealth not because I envy the rich, but because I’m concerned about the kind of society my now-adult children and my as-yet theoretical grandchildren will inherit from us. And if wealth continues to become increasingly concentrated I don’t like the way that society looks.