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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (4293)	1/2/2017 1:45:52 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 356667

Unequal, even highly unequal wealth distribution does not equal, imply, require, or even really suggest oligarchy. BTW what do you even mean by "GDP distribution". Its a term that doesn't seem to make any sense in the context you present it. GDP is gross domestic production, the domestic production of a country. You can talk about income distribution, or wealth distribution, or consumption distribution (some get to consume more than others), or consume distribution net of changes in debt (somewhat like income distribution, but it would include things often not included under income, for example if you "consume housing" by sleeping on your friends couch, or if someone else buys you dinner or a movie ticket). All of those make some sense as measures of inequality. "GDP distribution" not so much. Really "distribution" isn't a good term at all, since income and wealth is mostly earned, not distributed by some third party, but its too common of use for me to spend too much time opposing it. (And the prime exception to this point is distribution from the more wealthy to the less wealth through the combination of progressive taxation, EITC, personal deductions, and welfare programs.) Also if once you pick the specific measure your aiming at you have to define it precisely (and pick a good definition if its going to be very meaningful) for example there are all sorts of different definitions of income, many of which ignore non-cash government benefits.

To: bentway who wrote (4293)	1/2/2017 2:15:27 PM
From: Steve Lokness	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 356667

<<<< That we're an oligarchy is undeniable.>>>> But for any given election, an outlier could win. Look at Trump. He didn't win because of his money - he won because of his message. .............I think almost everyone has admitted by now that democrats were blind to what was bothering a big subset of middle America. They didn't vote for Trump because of what Comey said for goodness sake, they voted for Trump because they had given up on democrats listening to their concerns. Can Trump turn us into an oligarchy? For sure he might try.