Wealth Inequality in America

SideGeek said:
That's true. But think about it, most people have some sort of contribution that is considered vital to the society. Nurses, people serving the country (law enforcement, military, etc.), construction workers, engineers, farmers, etc. All of these people work their asses off every day of the week only to just scrape by their mortgages, college fees, medical bills, transport, food and others. I wouldn't consider the work these people do fall under the category of mere existence.
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Last time I checked we all have a choice with what we want to do in life. If you want to spend 6 years in school to become a nurse that's your fucking choice. You in no way DESERVE any more money than anybody else.

If these people don't want to struggle then can choose to buy an AFFORDABLE house, buy a USED car, shop smarter, and make sound financial decisions. You're acting as if they're aren't ways for these people to survive and that's just plain ignorant.
 


SideGeek said:
That's true. But think about it, most people have some sort of contribution that is considered vital to the society. Nurses, people serving the country (law enforcement, military, etc.), construction workers, engineers, farmers, etc. All of these people work their asses off every day of the week only to just scrape by their mortgages, college fees, medical bills, transport, food and others. I wouldn't consider the work these people do fall under the category of mere existence.
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Lol? Nurses have the ability to become nurse practitioners. It's a couple extra exams. The designation allows you to open up a practice similar to a doctor if you so choose. Nurses up here are extremely well paid doubly so if they notice the incorporation clause in their contract. They can basically incorporate get the same hours/shifts and get a 30-40% pay bump.

My sister's husband is a NP. He doesn't have his own practice yet but has incorporated his own "business" for the pay bump. He makes $240,000 a year.

I don't call that scraping by.
 
SideGeek said:
That's true. But think about it, most people have some sort of contribution that is considered vital to the society. Nurses, people serving the country (law enforcement, military, etc.), construction workers, engineers, farmers, etc. All of these people work their asses off every day of the week only to just scrape by their mortgages, college fees, medical bills, transport, food and others. I wouldn't consider the work these people do fall under the category of mere existence.
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So what? Their contribution to society has nothing to do with supply and demand. What you're describing is pure communism.
 
SideGeek said:
That's true. But think about it, most people have some sort of contribution that is considered vital to the society. Nurses, people serving the country (law enforcement, military, etc.), construction workers, engineers, farmers, etc. All of these people work their asses off every day of the week only to just scrape by their mortgages, college fees, medical bills, transport, food and others. I wouldn't consider the work these people do fall under the category of mere existence.
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Whats your fucking point? I didn't put a gun to anyone's head and tell them to be a nurse, a engineer or a farmer. You make your bed, lay in it.
 
Poor insecure unhappy people keep the world turning. Why would you settle on a 30" TV when you can get a 50" on your credit card?!
 
SideGeek said:
That's true. But think about it, most people have some sort of contribution that is considered vital to the society. Nurses, people serving the country (law enforcement, military, etc.), construction workers, engineers, farmers, etc. All of these people work their asses off every day of the week only to just scrape by their mortgages, college fees, medical bills, transport, food and others. I wouldn't consider the work these people do fall under the category of mere existence.
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Funny, but I know plenty of nurses, law enforcement types, construction workers, and engineers - who fucking kill it. If they had a punch-the-clock mentality, though, and expected society to wipe their asses for them I think they would have different results.

There was a time, yes here in the land of plenty, that when people didn't hustle - they suffered. A grand total of zero people will starve to death if we discontinued EBT today. ZERO. People might be forced to do something, like get engaged - and become less dependent on government. Imagine that.
 
Svengali said:
I have heard people say this before.

Why do you think this would happen ?
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That is just the way things work. Most will live beyond their means just like they do now and a select smart few will start successful businesses which make large amounts of money from everyone else just like they do now.

There will always be a select few people that turn themselves into the next Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Gates, Walton, Buffet, etc, and end up with much larger percentages of the money, even if everyone starts at the same level.

It is like the game of Monopoly, everyone starts with $1500, but one person ends up with most of the money by buying land, railroads, utilities, houses, hotels, and charging everyone else to use them.
 
Netphase said:
Even if you divided up all of the money equally today, that chart would eventually look the same again.
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Yep.

If you want real change, then what's really needed is not a change in economics, but a change in what it means to be a human. A change in mindset.

The current mainstream image of what it means to be a human is to consume outrageously, to breed with no responsibility, and to abuse your freedoms (I won't argue with the people who say we have no freedom. Freedom is a privilege that you have to earn.). Thus, mankind is settling with these results.

What is needed is a newer form of education that teaches, without fear, what it means to be a human, and what each individual's innate strengths and weaknesses are (there have already been breakthroughs in Russia about how each individual mind works, each psyche of 16 psychological types having its unique strengths and weaknesses, and I've discussed the topic of Socionics and Myers Briggs here before), and to utilize our resources to help each other and to further mankind.

And with this, we will have derived an ethical framework of what it means to be human. A framework that one can look at, and not disagree with.

We are all vessels of meat, and we can see outside of ourselves through the tool of mind. We're all little pieces of the universe. We are all one.

Of course, we don't live in this type of society today where logical choices preside over primitive choices. We live in a society of mediocrity. Right now everyone is trying to take as much as they can from this Earth. However, I believe we will live in this type of society someday (but not in our lifetimes). What's first needed is a scientific breakthrough in acquiring a nearly limitless source of energy so that we don't have to quibble over economic inefficiencies caused by lack of energy sources (Usable fusion energy must replace oil, but let's be honest, that change won't come in our lifetimes, just as the teaching in schools of how to use your psyche to its maximum potential and not to waste your primary function of intuition on flipping burgers also wont be taught in schools anytime near our lifetimes).

And that's enough of my optimism for the future. Back to making the most of what I have in our current reality.
 
SideGeek said:
That's true. But think about it, most people have some sort of contribution that is considered vital to the society. Nurses, people serving the country (law enforcement, military, etc.), construction workers, engineers, farmers, etc. All of these people work their asses off every day of the week only to just scrape by their mortgages, college fees, medical bills, transport, food and others. I wouldn't consider the work these people do fall under the category of mere existence.
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You forgot that nurses, cops could only serve so many people at any given time. CEOs on other hand have the brain to leverage other people's labors and resources to serve as many people as the market demand, hence why they're paid so much.
 
SideGeek said:
I was going through a few articles on Americas debts and came across this shocking video. I was under the impression that i was doing somewhere between OK to pretty good, but after seeing that video, er.. not so much.

Wealth Inequality in America - YouTube

src - 9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact
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Yup it aint pretty. More poverty = less buying power out there to buy the products we try and market.

inequality-p25_averagehouseholdincom.png


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redmonkey said:
You forgot that nurses, cops could only serve so many people at any given time. CEOs on other hand have the brain to leverage other people's labors and resources to serve as many people as the market demand, hence why they're paid so much.
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I don't think anyone here is clamoring for cops and teachers to make the same as CEO's. The problem is the growing disparity. More wealth coagulating at the top means less buying power and middle and bottom which means an economy that continuously depends on credit. CEO's and others making a larger and larger portion of the income can't spend enough to offset the lost buying power we're seeing in the middle and lower income tiers. And those in the lower and middle income tiers are making a wage that's only falling behind rising costs of living.

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Wealth inequality, and yet a large % of people below the poverty line could live very comfortably in other countries. Not to mention, they have endless knowledge and skills available for free via the internet.
 
Sigh. This is one of those situations where there is real problem, but so many people are fixated on the wrong aspects that we aren't moving in the right direction.

Here Are Four Charts That Explain What The Protesters Are Angry About... - Business Insider

Unskilled laborers used to be able to support a family with a reasonable, though minimal, standard of living in this country. That is no longer the case for many. It's an extremely complex problem though.
 
Moxie said:
A couple? They need a Masters or PhD.

LPN = 2 years college courses
RN = 4
NP = 6+
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Which proves my point exactly. People who are content with 40-60k a year peace out in two years. People who want 50-80k give up at 4 years and those who are smart stick around for the NP program. 6 years from the end of highschool is NOT a long time in the medical world. Especially when the bulk of it isn't spent in a classroom but spent working and making money (hence the couple of exams comment).

To put this in perspective my gf did her undergrad in biomedical science (4 years) her masters in neuroscience (2 years) and next up med school (3-4 years) thats ten years of schooling and the expected pay is roughly the same as my brother in law who did 6 years.

Don't even get me started on engineers or police officers they are paid well too. It boils down to people's attitudes towards debt and them wanting to keep up with the Joneses.
 
My brother-in law barely graduated high school, and never went to college. What he did do is learn a trade, and so now as an electrician he pulls down 6-figs.

Learn to provide a valuable service and your bills will always be paid. Wait around for something to be handed to you and you'll be waiting on handouts your whole life.
 
cassius said:
Sigh. This is one of those situations where there is real problem, but so many people are fixated on the wrong aspects that we aren't moving in the right direction.

Here Are Four Charts That Explain What The Protesters Are Angry About... - Business Insider

Unskilled laborers used to be able to support a family with a reasonable, though minimal, standard of living in this country. That is no longer the case for many. It's an extremely complex problem though.
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Yeah, it's complex. And I think both sides (working class and upper class) are just as much to blame. This isn't about the rich exploiting the poor. This is about a whole country where personal responsibility and self reliance don't mean shit any more.

- 30 years of using your country's reserves to pay the Chinese to make your products. People get lazy, reserves run out. While the 40 year old and 50 year old generation had money and resources saved to spend, this generation doesn't. If American actually manufactured most of what it consumed, people might have jobs.

- Corporate profits and rich getting richer? Not surprising when the top 1% is much better situated to take advantage of $85bn a week being injected into the "economy", not to mention 700bn bailing out banks. Right after wall street did a good job of extracting real estate wealth from the whole country.
 
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