>> You think the situation cannot be improved, so we just let the country slide into 3rd world status?
You misunderstand the problem.
We probably ARE on the decline but it is not because of wealth inequality. It is because of a dysfunctional government. We now have 1 in 5 households on food stamps -- at a time when you and others are claiming the economy is better than it was five years ago, over that period we have seen a doubling, to an all time high, of people reliant on food stamps. And the only way that number will EVER go back down is if government cuts off the money. With this new Obamacare program, almost all of the newly insured are on the public dole for all, or a substantial portion, of their health care.
There are several reasons we are on the decline.
1. The incentive to work has been compromised, and in many cases eliminated, by government programs that make it easier subsist without working.
2. Automation makes it less expensive to use machines rather than people to do many jobs.
3. Government intervention has increased the cost of hiring to the point that (2) above is far more attractive.
4. The higher reliance on government has created an attitude that it is totally acceptable to live off the work of others.
5. Public sector unions have attracted too many people to useless government jobs that consume instead of produce.
6. Unrestricted government borrowing obscures the true cost of these programs.
7. Government intervention has driven up the cost of education to the point where most people simply cannot afford it.
There are many other factors but these look to me to be the most important. You think taxing the wealthy will resolve our problems but the reality is not one of the key items mentioned above will be addressed by more taxation, and I would argue that most of these would be made worse by it.
>> The fact of the matter is the situation can be improved through a change in taxation. FDR was very successful in changing the wage inequality.
What you don't comprehend is that wage inequality is a good, even an essential, thing. Because the labor of many people is not worth a higher wage. And when that is the case, those people will be forced onto the government dole.
I don't argue that markets are perfect, but I do argue that with relatively few exceptions markets are better than government tinkering. |
