RE: Economic Inequality Affects Us All - A Short Animated Video Explains Economic Inequality
It's misleading to say economic inequality is a problem by itself. For example, what difference would it make if 1% of the population controlled 90% of the wealth if everyone was wealthy enough to live in comfort? Economic inequality is not really the problem and it is unrealistic to think there could be a prosperous society in which everyone was economically equal. However the is an issue with the wealthy having to much power through corporate welfare and corporatism in general.
I think free market capitalism is the best economic system possible. The problem is that most people seem to think that is what the U.S. has so it gets the blame for everything bad that happens in the economy. But we really don't have anything close to truly free markets.
We have the farthest thing from a free market imaginable. Laws are keeping that from truly happening. The only real examples I've seen of a free market are at local farmers markets.
That, to me, seems like an impossibility. Without a middle-class earning more that 10% combined there would not be able to buy things to live in comfort.
But isn't 10% as arbitrary as 1%? It really depends on how wealthy the nation is as a whole. But the point is that regardless of what percent is needed, equality is not necessary or desireable.
As far as free markets ,there are tons of small examples but as long as the federal Reserve controls interest rates and corporate welfare exists we won't have anything close to an overall free market.
How could a nation have any wealth at all, let alone as a whole, if 1% of the population controlled 90% of the wealth? There wouldn't be any "wealth" left to go around and whatever crumbs left to the rest of the nation would not make them live in comfort. Think about it.
Imagine if you and I and 98 other people were playing Monopoly and I started with 90% of the property and money in the game. You and the other 98 people playing split the rest of the money and property. How comfortable would you be playing that game?
Again, it depends on how much wealth a nation has. I don't know how the numbers work out for the U.S. today but in theory, 1% of all the wealth could be plenty for 90% of the population to live comfortably on. The difference between monopoly and reality is that in Monopoly there is a fixed amount of wealth that can never grow. In reality, overall wealth can grow indefinitely. The 90% can grow their share without taking any wealth from the 10%. Of course, that requires the right economic conditions.
I appreciate your comments but let's just say we disagree on that point.