Alright. Here it goes: I prefer to use articles that draw on a number of primary sources. I believe they provide a bigger picture and a more accurate view of the topic; plus econ papers are about as dense as science papers, they author saves us the time from having to digest the primary source (unless of course I have a reason to doubt the validity of the primary source).
I am not offering a solution, merely highlighting what I believe to be serious problems that our current economic state has.
http://www.gfmag.com/global-data/eco...ome-inequality
I find this particular represention of wealth distribution across the world to be very troubling. The US, and a hand full of other developed nations, have a wealth distrbution that mirrors those of poorer, less-developed nations. I find it rather interesting that the US appears to have similar distributions as those of communist and socialist nations as well.
Communism and Socialism is supposed to help distribute wealth somewhat evenly across the whole population. However, due to a perversion of the system and corruption, the wealth is hoarded by the guys at the top. It appears that our capitalist society is following the same lines. While i'm ont saying that the 3 types of economic systems are simliar; I'm saying the perversion and corruption of the 3 yeild the same effects.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank...ic-inequality/
Pay particular attention to the fourth graph. 3,600 people hold 35% of the TOTAL wealth in the US. We condemn other economic systems, yet the distribution of wealth is begining to mirror the "others".
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3629
I find the juxtaposition of the increase in income gains between the different social classes to be quite striking. Streck-Fu mentioned earlier about mobility between the different social classes and tossed a few common names about including Bill Gates. It is impossible to justify the success of our economic system based off the successes of a very select few. While it is not impossible for those in the bottom 40% to work their way to the top, they do not relfect the overall population, they are the
exception. You have the bottom 40% of the population holding only 30% of the wealth. That's about 126 million people. You cited a couple of names, and in light of the fact that they came from the bottom 40%, 2 from 126 million, you're going to have to do better than that.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3629
Here is a good explanation and summary to statistical analyses regarding the income gap since the 70s.
I do not know of solutions; I merely recognize a problem. Here is my dilemma: I cannot possibly justify ordering somone to give their hard-earned money away (we all experince this every year in April); yet, how can you justify the sequestration of wealth while the majority of the population suffers? Whether people care to admit it or not, capitalism, just like every other economic system, is susceptible to perversion and corruption. And that is exactly what has happened today.
The arguement for welfare pigs sucking on the tit of big government angers me too, but you have to realize there are an estimated 50 million on welfare, roughly 16% of the total population; they are the
minority. So what about the rest of the population, the hard-working white collar workers, skilled tradesman, etc.
Streck-Fu also used the commonly tossed around examples of success stories like Bill Gates and Oprah. I believe these inaccurately reflect reality. Stories like such are the
exception. We have about 60% of the populaiton holding about 60% of the wealth. That 189 million people. Compare that to the top 1%, 3,600 people. Pretty big difference eh? Then again compare it to the bottom 40% of folks who have only 30% of the wealth. Thats roughly 126 million people, and you give me 2 names to give evidence of the success of our current economic system? You have to be kidding me.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorli...nd-leadership/
This is an interesting article that I have yet to to decide if the primary source is sound or not. It could be a possible explanation as to why we see the hoarding of wealth at the top, especially in the bank bailouts that the wonderful POTUS did.
Either way the system is broken.
P.S. This is my second attempt at the reply. My first attempt took too long and when I hit submit, I had to sign back in restart from scratch...
