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Kasz216 on 12 September 2009
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MontanaHatchet said:
ManusJustus said:

My views haven't changed that much. I do think I become slightly more socially conservative as I age though. The recession just reinforced my political views on leftist economics. Its obvious that the free market system in its current state isn't working, so its no suprise that it got us in this mess and more of it wont get us out any sooner.

Its really sad for humanity that the free market has become so prevalent. 50 years ago we had huge breakthroughs in science, like putting people on the Moon and developing nuclear technology, and America's poor were as wealthy as ever.  But now the poor only get poorer and scientific advancement is put on the back burner as we push for entertainment technology, which is fun and all but it doesnt propel mankind forward.  I had always hoped that we would put people on Mars, develop Cold Fusion, or do something else big, but until them I'll have to be content with my Wii, XBox 360, and IPod :)  I can play pretend lthat people are on Mars, so its kind of the same.

I still dont see how some people think that giving billions of dollars to wealthy CEOs is somehow considered socialism. Socialism is the government taking ownership of the banks, not politicians giving money to their elite buddies in need.

How is that sad for humanity? It's fine to hate the free market, but it seems to help the world. Just look at how many countries are becoming more wealthy and adopting better living conditions for its people because they trade in the worldwide economy (and thus the free market). We're having huge breakthroughs in science today all the time. I'm not sure what you mean when you say that America's poor were as wealthy as ever. It seems they were as poor as ever, there were just a lot more people living under poverty. The poor getting poorer is mainly due to inflation, which hurts everyone, and it's not like the poor were ever living it up anyways. I don't even know where this whole science complaint is coming from. Putting a man on Mars isn't as easy as just complaining about it enough to fix it.

It's not even that the "Poor are getting poorer."

I mean would you rather be poor today or go back in time 50 years and be poor.

The poor person today has a better life then they did back then.

 

The gini coeeficients of just about every country get bigger, this is true... but it doesn't mean the poor is getting poorer.  More wealth is being created... and the people who are creating the wealth are the rich and middle class... and therefore get a higher share of the wealth.

 

The biggest jump in the ginicoeeficinet was the dot com boost.

Meanwhile under bush during what was considered bad economic times.... the Gini coeeficient grew at it's slowest pace since WW2...

furthermore the gaps between the rich and poor, gender and race has SHRUNK during this gloabl recession... because their is wealth dropping off... banking wealth.

In 2007 The gini Cooefficent for the US was 45... in 2008 it dropped to 40.

In good economic times Gini Coeficients rise.  In poor economic times they shrink... because the poor NEED to make a certain amount.