Are Democracy and economic equality fundamentally incompatible?

[Michael-5]

Dr.Grass said:

Michael-5 said:

Dr.Grass said:
Since some people are

- smarter
- better with money
- grow up with different cultural outlooks towards money
- more talented
- more industrious
- more driven and ambitious
- of more value to the economy
- spend money more wisely
- etc.

than others, I think the society in which everyone has the same amount of capital is an artificial one that is just entirely unrealistic.

For instance, I deserve much more money than most of you because of some of the above reasons :P

I 100% agree with you, but more often then not, the weathier people in todays society did not work for their money, they inherited it.

For instance I have a friend who works at a private golf course. The bulk of players there are either retired, or youth who drive Audi R8's at 19.

The spread between CEO and common worked is growing, quickly. in 1910 the average CEO made 40x as much as an everage employer, not it's more like 800x. Sure companies are getting larger, but this just means fewer and fewer "families" are getting richer and richer. I think corporate taxes, and the taxes of high income individuals (people who generate over 1 million in income annually) needs to be increased. There is no use for this much income, you don't need a multiple Ferrarri's, only to see them depreciate because you don't drive them. However we do need more funding in Education, Roads, Homeless shellters, Mental Health Research Facilities, etc.

If I weren't dating a girl who's dad is one of those CEO guys then I might agree with you. *might*

But I've seen proper work ethic and a respect for money instilled by very wealthy men into their children, so I would disagree. Some men desire to create an empire for their children, so by hard work they deserve to be able to give that to them.

Those men who's sons drive R8's (damn sexy car) at 19 perhaps, are more often than not, very poor fathers. That does not mean that they didn't deserve the money they have.

How many millionaire's do you know? The one family I've gotten to know that are very, very wealthy certainly deserver it - all of them.

So you're saying that every children with rich parents deserves excessive wealth because the parents would have taught them good work ethics anyway? What about the people born into poor family's who work hard? What about immigrants who work hard, but loose a lot of money bringing their kids over to NA/EU so they can have a better life. Do those kids not deserve equal footing?

What about kids from rich Chinese households, who's parents send them to NA/EU for school, and they end up spending all the money partying? Do they deserve the money more then a kid from a broken family, who wants to make something out of themselves? Most 19 year olds with 100k+ cars I know are of this type.

I'm sorry, but my parents and their friends are for the most part well off, and I see no more reason why a rich kids deserves more then a poor kid. I find that rich kids typically live off their inheritence half the time, and don't do anything for themselves. More often then not I find really poor kids try to make a name for themselves.

The two wealthiest young adults (I'm 24) which I know worked hard for their money and came from broken households. Already they each make over 100k annually. They deserve the money more then anyone else.

Being born from rich parents doesn't mean that you'll inherit the traits which made them financially successful. Often times because the parents are too busy for the kids, or the kids are too spoiled, it just leads to them developing very bad work habits. Like you said smarter and more talented people deserve more money, but who said these people are always born from rich families?

Gandi labels wealth without work as one of the seven deadly sins, and I feel most people who are born wealthy will not work in retrospect to be worthy of such money. You're not risking anything if the money is guarenteed for you.