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Wealth distribution in the USA

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72K views 4K replies 95 participants last post by  Smitty_Cabinetshop 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
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#3 ·
So, what's your point?
Are you saying the distribution isn't fair? "Golly gee, I don't have as much as him, somebody should "give" me some more!"
How about the fact that everybody in the USA has the same opportunity to "earn" as much as they want! By earn I mean: come up with an idea that sells and everybody wants it, or use your natural talents to create vast amounts of income, or even take the training necessary to create for yourself a demand for your skills.
How about this novel idea: each individual in this country with the same freedoms to achieve as any others, actually take responsibility for their position in the chart you provide! If you aren't happy with your position, do something about it, but don't think someone owes you anything, because they don't.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
The issue is that there is a smaller and smaller group of people who have a larger percentage of the wealth in this country. We have a increasing number of people that are either living near poverty or close to it. the middle class is getting smaller. There was a time when the American dream was possible for everyone but thats just not true anymore. Never in this countries history has so few owned so much of wealth in this country.

 
#5 ·
This argument has always amazed me. We scream about how there is so much inequality in wealth. That most of the money is owned by a small percentage of people. So we try and create equality by creating more taxes. We try to use the Gov-ment to force redistribution. However we never stop to think about how this extreme inequality has come about.

Our Country was never intended to have the federal Gov-ment involved the way it is. When we see an auto company mismanage it's business we use the federal Gov-ment to bail them out. Why? Because we have to save the auto workers and everyone down the line. But wait a minute, If they file for chapter 11 bankruptcy they will be forced to fix their problems. Instead we listen to politicians because we have no clue. We take their word for it and praise them for saving the auto industry by using our money. But wait, who really pays taxes? Poor people? Well yes, sort of. Most pay no Federal income tax. They do pay for SS and Medicare.

So who is next? Rich People? Yup they pay most taxes. GREAT, right? Well sort of. They got rich by selling products. Do you think they are dumb enough to have their wealth taxed away? Nope. What they do is raise the price of their products to offset the taxes they are burdened with. Who is the one that pays the taxes then. Well it's us, the middle class. We buy stuff. As prices get higher we pay more, we have less. So you follow the bread crumbs and you find the middle class is always burdened the most.

This idea that the rich are causing problems is a fallacy. In my opinion. We the people are supposed to be responsible and understand basic economics, history and our Gov-ment. Most of us do not. We hear politicians belch out the words "income inequality" and we follow suit. We start demanding the Gov-ment take away money and give it to us. When it is the Gov-ment causing all the problems.

In other words, who can compete against a company that has the Federal Gov-ment backing them? No one can. How do you know that John across the street has not created the next motor that can run of static electricity and operate a car? You wont cause the Gov-ment took his money and propped up a corporation that would be his competition. The further along we get into our future the more we see Gov-ment getting involved. Until eventually they run everything, and yes it has happened HISTORY repeats itself.

The problem I contend is we the people. We are uneducated sheep. Instead of learning we blame. Instead of leading we follow. When things dont go our way we demand Gov-ment involvement. When that dont work we demand more and more involvement. We name call when someone has a different opinion. The fact is they might be right but we wont know that because we are uneducated.

Follow the crumbs. How do you feel that the new federal healthcare website cost nearly 700 million and does not work? How do you feel that the Senior Vice president of the company that built the website is an old classmate of Michelle Obama? How do you and me compete in a country where the Gov-ment does favors for it's friends or donors? I don't know the answer to that but most of you seem to think it is a workable formula since you keep voting for the yahoos. You are creating the problems.
 
#7 ·
Well said oldtool…

Dan'um: Take a deep breadth and try to swallow this. I note that you have Bill Gates at the top of your list. Rightfully so, he should be. Microsoft gave the world two things:
Microsoft was the first real software company.
Microsoft did put a PC on every desk and in every home.
At the end of the day, it's that last part that matters. By shifting the value in computing to software, Microsoft commoditized computing hardware and made computing accessible to the masses. If this isn't one of the most significant events in history, nothing is.

I could go on but, I think you get the point. When the framers of our much sought after Constitution crafted a nation they understood this . . . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. They did not say "... all men die equally…" That would be collectivism, otherwise known to the statists amongst us as Communism. I spent 25 years of my life pledging an oath to support and defend our way of life. I don't intend to give that up now. The blank check I wrote to a grateful nation, up to and including my life, is not voided yet! Wake up. I recommend you put your PC to better use.
 
#8 ·
PS: americanwoodwroker has it exactly right. One more thing - wealthy people have assets. poor people have debts. ask yourself why? perhaps you might come to the same conclusion that I have, they think differently about life and preserving wealth. they delay gratification and put the lion's share effort into hard work and ideas. for sure, the world will always have its poor. maybe a better post would be to share how you're doing your part to lift these poor out of their poverty rather than complain about your own.
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
mics54: "...redistribute the work ethic…"_

Sorry, but you are WRONG about your assumption about a poor work ethic. Look below and you will notice that the wage value of INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY has nearly DOUBLED since the 1970s while real wages actually declined.

In other words, the American worker is twice as productive as in ~1970 and during that time took the American worker received an 18% pay cut (LESS MONEY).

ORIGINAL SOURCE
Rectangle Slope Plot Font Line
 

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#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Oldtool you got the point the distribution isn't fair? you suggest that it is , its a lot of greed here . an old saying'' Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing grain''.not only do some of the wealthy muzzle this ox but creates and burdens it with debt that it will never get out of . most don't want a hand out but just a fair playing ground ,that's not there and want be .there will always be poor people not be cause they are lazy '' but if you want you can use this as an excuse for looking the other way most do ''some of these wealthy people on the title of this thread give theirs away Bill Gates gives away 48 percent of his wealth ,Buffett gives even more than that just to name a couple that give as in give away to needy i read the love of money is the root of all evil and thought this was a load of crap but after spending many hours with some of these very wealthy people none mentioned here there is something very evil with them to want to make money at any cost to other people
 
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