Inequality in Equalland
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Inequality in Equalland
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Re: Inequality in Equalland
#2This blog post was inspired by the article and conversation here (especially pg's comment about income vs. wealth): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2039503
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#3This blog post was inspired by the article and conversation here (especially pg's comment about income vs. wealth): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2039503
Great post. An excellent explanation of why equal income still can't lead to equal wealth.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#4Thank you!
As soon as those wealth inequality posts started popping up I've been waiting for someone to point out the idiocy of lamenting the wealth inequality between 22 yearolds just entering the workforce and 65 yearolds about to retire.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#5Thank you! As soon as those wealth inequality posts started popping up I've been waiting for someone to point out the idiocy of lamenting the wealth inequality between 22 yearolds just entering the workforce and 65 yearolds about to retire.
Yes, and it's probably exacerbated in developed countries with an aging population.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#6I would like to live in Equal-land, I could live there, slouch around, work the absolute minimum and avoid work, and enjoy exactly the same benefits as those working the hardest to maintain that utopia.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#7According to Wikipedia, 87% of the wealth belongs to the wealthiest 20%. However over 80% of that wealth belongs to the top half of that group. The figures I am looking at do not break it down farther, but my understanding is that this same relative relationship holds for the top 5%, 2%, 1%, and so on.
Everyone agrees that some wealth disparity is a good and necessary part of a healthy economy. But there is a lot more going on here than the straightforward "some people are older, some people save".
The charts and tables at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States#Dis... are very interesting. Of interest to many in the HN crowd I direct you to "Current work status of head". Note the immense disparity between "self-employed" and all other categories.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#8According to Wikipedia, 87% of the wealth belongs to the wealthiest 20%. However over 80% of that wealth belongs to the top half of that group. The figures I am looking at do not break it down farther, but my understanding is that this same relative relationship holds for the top 5%, 2%, 1%, and so on. Everyone agrees that some wealth disparity is a good and necessary part of a healthy economy. But there is a lot mor…
"Everyone agrees that some wealth disparity is a good and necessary part of a healthy economy."
Nope.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#9I would like to live in Equal-land, I could live there, slouch around, work the absolute minimum and avoid work, and enjoy exactly the same benefits as those working the hardest to maintain that utopia.
You're missing the point. The point is that even when everyone is actually equal, there is still some apparent wealth inequality because different people are at different stages of life.
Re: Inequality in Equalland
#10I would like to live in Equal-land, I could live there, slouch around, work the absolute minimum and avoid work, and enjoy exactly the same benefits as those working the hardest to maintain that utopia.
I believe that was the promise of communism - which failed due to most people's inherent desire to be better than others or to excel. Also, people realized that they could/should do the absolute minimum, as there was no benefit for working harder.
They did end up adding incentives (in the USSR) which started looking more and more like capitalism.