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Growing income inequality is driving public mistrust

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Re: Growing income inequality is driving public mistrust

#5

Post by losvedir »

I can't read the article so I'm just going by the headline...

I was thinking about this over Christmas break. My wife and I live in Hammond, IN, a poor town near Gary and we were visiting my in-laws in Boca Raton, FL.

Until then, I had thought of income inequality in terms of billionaires and outliers. But as I walked the beautiful sidewalks along the pristine manicured landscapes between the gorgeous library I was working out of to the nearby Starbucks and Jamba Juice as BMWs, Teslas, and even a couple Ferraris passed, I realized there's definitely a lower level inequality as well. Where everyone in the town is just a bit richer than everyone in my town.

We don't have spectacular libraries and great walking paths. It was just kind of weird where everyone is "rich", even if no one is a billionaire. (There very well could be billionaires, too, but I don't think they would change much of what I was thinking. Billionaire inequality issues are like having too much power, that sort of thing.)

Re: Growing income inequality is driving public mistrust

#7

Post by ericra »

Curious to not see inheritance/estate taxes listed among the possible solutions here, but I guess that a "wealth tax" could indirectly address this by whittling away at large fortunes over time while people are still alive. This may help avoid the issue of people using trusts to sidestep estate taxes (although I'm sure they would find a way!).

More generally, I highly recommend any of Thomas Piketty's books for detailed discussion about the history, causes, and consequences of inequality. They are exceptionally well-researched. And while you may not agree with all proposed solutions, they are well-written (and well-translated into English) and provide a great historical overview.

Re: Growing income inequality is driving public mistrust

#8

Post by dheera »

joshcsimmons wrote: post #4

Glad to see this getting some more mainstream traction. I'm hopeful something will change. After this past year of layoffs it seems as though CEOs despite being paid 344x the average worker aren't actually taking 344x the risk.

Aren't average workers taking more risk (of getting laid without warning, of losing healthcare suddenly, etc.)?

Re: Growing income inequality is driving public mistrust

#9

Post by ryandrake »

losvedir wrote: post #5

I can't read the article so I'm just going by the headline... I was thinking about this over Christmas break. My wife and I live in Hammond, IN, a poor town near Gary and we were visiting my in-laws in Boca Raton, FL. Until then, I had thought of income inequality in terms of billionaires and outliers. But as I walked the beautiful sidewalks along the pristine manicured landscapes between the gorgeous library I was w…

The billionaires really, really want you to perceive this distinction as a real inequality problem. When people making $30K are resenting/fighting people making $300K, the people making $300M are sitting back and laughing.

There's really not much of a difference between the lifestyles of Hammond, IN vs. Boca Raton, FL. I mean, there's a difference, but the difference is tiny compared to the difference between them and the people whose next 5 generations can buy anything they want, have any lifestyle they want, and never have to work a day in their lives. The Hammond and Boca people both have to work for a living, they both haven't saved enough for retirement, they are both leveraged uncomfortably, they both are worried about the future for their kids. None of that is true for the billionaires. Just because one has Jamba Juice doesn't mean they're very different.

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