If Land Were Divided Like Wealth

Here is an interesting visual analogy for the inequities of wealth in the United States today....

Background on this is in a post HERE, but the facts are that wealth inequity is a reality and a problem any way you try and represent it. 

And it did not spring up overnight. Rather it is a predictable and inevitable outcome of the prevailing political-economic practice of our country over the past 30 years of lowering taxes on the wealthy and corporations, deregulation in key sectors of the economy, "free trade" agreements, incentives for outsourcing and off-shoring jobs and a lack of investment in education. These moves over a sustained period of time have lined the pockets of the already wealthy and corporations while simultaneously eliminating jobs and opportunity for most Americans. 

Sure, these things were most aggressively championed by the Republicans (Reagan, Bush, W and Republican controlled Congresses), but the Democrats are not blameless either. Clinton and Congressional Ds did roll over on these issues many times. If the Rs made it happen, the Ds let it happen.

In any case, it's real. My feeling is that if your someone in the middle or lower class and you're defending tax cuts for the rich and corporations, free trade agreements and feel that "the 1%" should get all they can...well, I humbly suggest your head is in the sand and you are advocating things that are directly hurting you. 

Food for thought.

Elizabeth Warren Quote to Ponder

Below is something I saw online and think really think it is a perspective not being heard or discussed as we all debate the economy and what to do next.

As background Elizabeth Warren is a lawyer, a Senate candidate, a law professor and former chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.



I agree with her comments.

My take is, you show me a rich person and I'll show you someone who - about 80% -90% of the time - started out rich, well off or with significant advantages in life.

Warren is saying that even if you literally did start from "nothing" in your life and have built up wealth and success, you STILL did not do it all on your own. There are elements of our society and economy that we all pay into and benefit from.

And to the degree that one might debate how big (or small) a "hunk" should be given back in her example, I would say this...our nation has over the last 30 years specifically and methodically reduced what that "hunk" can or needs to be through major tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. So much so that reversing course even a little now elicits shrill cries of "socialism!" if "revenue increases" are discussed as an option for solving our debt and budget crisis.

All good food for thought in my book.

Say 100 Americans Order a 100-Slice Pizza And The First Guy Takes 80 Slices

Wealth disparity in the United States is a huge a growing problem.

For example...

It turns out that the wealthiest 400 people in our nation have as much money as the next 155 million people combined.

And,  80% of the wealth created in the United States between 1980 and 2005 has gone to the top 1% of income earners in the country. (See the seventh paragraph in the linked story.)

Whoh.

The other night, Bill Maher explained wealth disparity this way...

"Say 100 Americans get together and order a 100 slice pizza. The pizza arrives and the first guy takes 80 slices." 


And then Maher furthers the analogy with how the rich are unwilling to budge by saying...


"And if someone suggests 'why don't you just take 79 slices,' that's SOCIALISM!" 

Maher has some other interesting points on wealth distribution and the "plight" of the super rich HERE.

At any rate, wealth disparity is so bad that we're now approaching the same levels as just before the Great Depression. The article HERE sums it up pretty well when the author says...

"Folks, there is no way we can have economic prosperity in this country when the top 1% has all of the money. The middle class is basically being destroyed right in front of our very eyes. Consumption economies die when consumers have now money to consume." 

There simply should be billions more dollars circulating in our economy. That money could be and should be used to invent, start companies, hire workers, support health and education programs, be used for people to...I don't know...sustain the economy by buying things, and on and on. But it's not. No. It's locked up in private equity by the super rich and/or simply spent by the super rich on inane luxuries that benefit virtually nobody. Meanwhile, the rest of us are scrappin' for what we can get and feeling good if we can get by.

So, it's more than resentment or "it's just not fair" sentiment that is at the root of pointing out wealth inequity. No. Such inequity is a direct and lethal economic threat to the vast majority of Americans. It has real implications for everyday people.

Something has to give at some point. I mean, if the 30 year trend continues...what happens when, say, the top 1% of Americans own, say, 95% of the wealth. What about the top 5% owning 99% of the wealth. Where does that leave the rest of us? What kind of life is that? What future will children have? What will we be willing to do to reverse things? Or will the economy simply just collapse into depression?