Kasz216 said:
Ok.... I can tell you haven't really paid much attention to this stuff until very recently.
First off, a corporation's first job is to not wipe itself out... profits are second... and they achive profits by acting how their consumers want. If people wanted more starbucks and Ben and Jerry's.... we'd have more Stabucks and Ben and Jerrys.
Secondly reganomics and capital gains has shit all to do with the gini coefficent going up.
New Zealand has a more regressive tax code then we do and has ZERO capital gains taxes, yet their gini coeeficent remains stable. Hell, just about every single country in the world has a lower capital gains tax, and a HIGHER income tax rate then us... AND much larger regressive sales taxes. Yet they all have lower gini coefficents. Why do you think that is so?
What causes the difference between the rich and the poor in the us is transformative assets.
Well... that the fact that medium skilled labor is eaisly automated while service sector and "high level" sector economics are hard to automate. Whole accouning departments can be replaced by one guy with MS Excel or Turbo Tax.
Well those and illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are counted in terms of the census.
There are 48 Million people in this country living under the poverty line... and 12 million Illegal aliens... almost all of which by default live under the poverty line because they can't get a job legitamitly. Throw in 4 million children of illegal immigration, and you've literally got a huge underclass of 16 million people who can't move up by default. Essentially a hidden underclass that greatly throws a monkey wrench into our numbers.
Some studies put it as high as 17% of the country having one illegal immigrant parent. Which puts HUGE penalties on those who do as far as getting wealth because of a complete lack of transformative assets.
Considering 50% of people in the bottom quartile move up. That means about 8 million people in poverty today will likely still be in poverty 10 years from now as far as people with the chance to move up. Which isn't bad at all.
The gini coefficent is growing but at the same time, upword and downward mobility is the same as it's always been.
Also... no putting money in the stock market does not hurt the economy. I can't even begin to understand why you would thin that. EVERYONE wants capital gains taxes lower, including democrats because it HELPS the economy... that and unlike say, working an hourly wage, investment has actual risk which could involve losing instead of gaining money.
In short. If you actually care about income equality. It would be worth studying income inequality, rather then try and blindly throw scapegoats at a wall without even considering the positions of those who are poor and what keeps a person poor vs what moves a person up in society.
|
