Matt Miller (#4) (6/15/2012)
chrisn-585491 (6/15/2012)
"What I want is the people who buy into the claim that "wealth redistribution" will fix all the world's social problems to understand there is a difference between "needs" and "wants". And, that happiness can exist despite the fact that only ones wants are fulfilled."Income disparity isn't "wealth distribution". It's an acknowledgement of a 40 year period in US history. Review the stats and data, it's scary when you consider the economic and historical consequences. Just because our profession gives us a comfortable living, it doesn't make us immune to the possibility of massive social change.
What exactly is scary? Income disparity has been around since the dawn of time.
We really don't want to go back there though, do we?
The question isn't whether disparity exists, it's whether the ability to move along the income spectrum exists.
Everybody on the lower income spectrum would like to move along the income spectrum toward the high end. The increasing disparity in wealth pushes them toward the lower end. Increasing disparity means that there is a change that trends against improving ones standard of living if we're on the low end of the wealth disparity.
The only long-term solution is to try to make opportunities available to as many folks as possible.
Less wealth on the low end means we have to work harder for basic necessities, and less wealth to invest in upward mobility and improving our economic status. Disparity in wealth affects mobility among the income spectrum by its very definition. Moving up in personal income requires an investment of resources, and less of these resources decrease upward mobility by definition. One of the few ways mobility can increase independently of income disparity is by a net across the board increase in resources for everybody. Are there other ways?