Apparently the recession changed my political views

[mrstickball]

ManusJustus said:

TheRealMafoo said:

ManusJustus said:

you are arguing over a factor that fluctuates around 40, and claim that something big has happened because we actually dropped instead having a continued increase in inequality.

 

Sorry, but this line struck me.

 

You think the delta between the poor and the rich are due to inequality?

 

You think that somehow people are less "equal" today then they were in 1969?

 

You have a very strange view of equality. Also, I want to point out that each year, we get less capitalistic, and more socialists, and the delta between the poor and the rich keeps growing. Shouldn't that indicates something?

 

It is my theory, that the more you give to someone, the less willing they are to work, and a working man will always prosper past one who does not.

 

So ya, put a few million on government assistance, watch them learn to live within those means while the rest of the US prospers, and then watch the gap grow.

 

If then your solution is to take more from the rich and give to the poor, your crazy. That's the problem, not the solution.

America, as well as most of the world (except maybe Venezuela or something), has become more and more capitalist.  In America, since 1969 the minimum wage has decreased, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, and all the while scientific achievement has grinded to a halt as the free market focuses on business and entertainment technology.  As I said before, scientific advancement in the last 40 years is nothing compared to the scientific advancement 40 years prior to that.

Economically speaking, I dont understand how you can argue that people are more equal today than they were in 1969.  I thought that your argument was the the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting richer more slowly.  As I said before, stating that the poor in 2009 are better off than the poor in 1969 is no better an observation than stating that the poor in 2009 are better off than the poor in 1069.

1) Can you factually back up your claim that scientific achievement has grinded to a halt due to business and entertainment technology?

2) A lot of the argument concerning the poor getting poorer (from my view) has to do with how they are poor, and what they get for being poor.

Also, your absolutely, totally wrong about being poor being a worse problem:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/histpov/hstpov2.html

May want to look at that. 12.3% of Americans were below the poverty line in 2006. In 1959 it was 22%. Crazy, eh? The fact is, you've brought no unemployment, no poverty statistics into this discussion, only the GINI coefficient. The problem with the GINI, as great as it is, it only measures the gap, not the quotent of what's involved within that gap. If you read up on why some are richer, it's due to savings and investments, not due to making more money (1% of Americans control 90%+ of the wealth, but the 1% only make <60% of the income per year. The discrepancy is due to savings). If you want to attack capitalism, attack consumer credit. It's the reason there are so many poor people in America - it's placing an incredible burden on the retarded of society. Of course, I don't know if the government can ban stupidity.