What the 1% don't want you to know

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by whell

Sounds nice, but at some point if a society is going to do this an actual process will need to be established to carry out the objective. We've had and currently have some examples of how this approach has NOT worked. We also have an example of an approach that, warts and all, seems to work pretty well.

Also, all of the hand-wringing in this forum recently about the so called "death of the middle - class, there's plenty of to the contrary about income mobility in this country.

http://www.npr.org/2014/01/23/265356...wo-decades-ago

Also, the constant bleating about income inequality ignores the reality that the top rungs of income earners in this country are not a static and unchanging group of individuals. Its really more like a revolving door:

".... Thomas A. Hirschl of Cornell and I looked at 44 years of longitudinal data regarding individuals from ages 25 to 60 to see what percentage of the American population would experience these different levels of affluence during their lives. The results were striking.

It turns out that 12 percent of the population will find themselves in the top 1 percent of the income distribution for at least one year. What’s more, 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution, 56 percent will find themselves in the top 10 percent, and a whopping 73 percent will spend a year in the top 20 percent of the income distribution."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/op...rags.html?_r=1

Frankly, if given a choice, I'd vastly prefer a system that allows greater individual economic freedom and mobility, and the opportunity to succeed - or fail - based on what I contribute.

There will always be ass holes, as history shows, that will try to rig the game in their own favor, and some of them will succeed while others end up behind bars. No matter what economic system you deploy, you'll always have ass holes. I'd offer that our efforts at "leveling the playing field" by changing how our current system operates does more damage than the few ass holes who try to rig the game.

What should we do when the "assholes" start to outnumber the good guys? Just keep shuffling off to work with our heads down because; "It's their money, we have no right to ask more of them."?

F**k that BS.

Dave