Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
scientificamerican.com
Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
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Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#2And, it's only going to get worse while [1] 39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be. If your mentality is one of "Don't tax the top because that's me (or will be)", you're going to constantly vote against your own economic self-interest, and continue to support policies that help the real rich get ultra-rich.
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/the-triumph-of-hop...
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#3And, it's only going to get worse while [1] 39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be. If your mentality is one of "Don't tax the top because that's me (or will be)", you're going to constantly vote against your own economic self-interest, and continue to support policies that help the real rich get ultra-rich. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/t…
39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be
And how many people will actually be in the top 1% of earners at least once?
EDIT: 12% http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/from-rags-t...
What’s more, 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution
Not that far off.
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#4The fact that someone is rich does not mean he took anything from you, no matter how poor you are. Statements like "If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets" are not only stupid but also dangerous.
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#5I always feel a number of important metrics are left out, either by accident or on purpose, when people talk about inequality. Most importantly when it comes to wealth itself, by most measures there is a very, very long tail of people with no wealth. 'No wealth' ranges from the most poor, to those living from paycheck to paycheck all the way to those who have as much debt as their assets. Many of these people are fine because, for example, their earnings potential over the next 40 years is good. They are wealthy in things like skills, social connections, etc. and they are certainly not comparable to someone with few skills, bad health and no money. The other issue is the longer term earning potential of top earners. Apart from the fact that companies are bigger and more global and that 'hits' can be bigger (like Kesha selling more records than The Beatles), the average tenure of a CEO has also gotten shorter and is around 5-7 years which usually can be described as the prime of their career, while the average worker can be anywhere in their career including eventually being a CEO one day.
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#6Wow. Scientific American has really gone off the rails.
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#7And, it's only going to get worse while [1] 39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be. If your mentality is one of "Don't tax the top because that's me (or will be)", you're going to constantly vote against your own economic self-interest, and continue to support policies that help the real rich get ultra-rich. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/t…
You honestly believe that people think "Don't tax the top because that's me (or will be)"?
I suggest people believe their jobs and technological innovations we all enjoy are on the line if the rich are taxed more. If that is true or not is a separate conversation, but I don't think it's 39% of Americans think they will reach the 1%. That's absurd and the kind of thing you hear in mass media sound bites.
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#8And, it's only going to get worse while [1] 39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be. If your mentality is one of "Don't tax the top because that's me (or will be)", you're going to constantly vote against your own economic self-interest, and continue to support policies that help the real rich get ultra-rich. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/t…
39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be And how many people will actually be in the top 1% of earners at least once? EDIT: 12% http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/from-rags-t... What’s more, 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution Not that far off.
There is about a 10x difference between the top 5% and top 1%. So, that's sorta far off.
And then again a 20x difference between the top 1% and top 0.1%
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#9The fact that someone is rich does not mean he took anything from you, no matter how poor you are. Statements like "If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets" are not only stupid but also dangerous.
You could argue that they took something from other people by claiming a larger share of economic output for themselves. Something seems wrong when the largest share of economic growth goes to the top as we have seen over the last decades. And I believe this is not because of some economic law but because the top 1% have made the rules to their favor.
Re: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
39% of Americans either believe they are already among the top 1% or believe that they one day will be And how many people will actually be in the top 1% of earners at least once? EDIT: 12% http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/from-rags-t... What’s more, 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution Not that far off.
There is about a 10x difference between the top 5% and top 1%. So, that's sorta far off. And then again a 20x difference between the top 1% and top 0.1%
Yeah but few people when asked think like that. It's just a type of "rich".