Wealth Inequality in America

[blazerboy30]

You were the one who added the stipulation that person should have "earned his or her wealth honestly".

Didn't vote for Obama, FYI. Both parties are the party of Big.

You asked a hypothetical. It was completely vague and undefined. You shouldn't expect others to answer an undefined hypothetical.

If you'd like to try again with the constraints necessary to make it possible to have a discussion, feel free. Otherwise, you're going to get answers that add constraints necessary to properly answer the question.

 

[bluefrog]

You asked a hypothetical. It was completely vague and undefined. You shouldn't expect others to answer an undefined hypothetical.

If you'd like to try again with the constraints necessary to make it possible to have a discussion, feel free. Otherwise, you're going to get answers that add constraints necessary to properly answer the question.

I'm sorry for asking an undefined hypothetical.

 

[Denny Crane]

The points that matter have mostly been made.

Our poorest poor would be middle class in a lot of other countries. People living below the poverty line here have nintendo and air conditioners.

There are about 125M houses in the USA. Virtually all of those owned by people not in the top 1%.

There are 18M businesses in the USA. The workforce is about 150M people. One business for every ~8 workers. Seems like plenty of private ownership of businesses beyond the Bill Gates type owners (e.g. partial ownership of really big businesses yields great wealth).

The median household income in the USA is $52,762, or slightly more than $1,000 per week. Or $144/day. bluefrog's charts and graphs talk about poor people making $2/day or less. We're really poor, eh?

In spite of all this, I am actually in favor of income redistribution to a degree. It's good for rich people to not have the masses storm their homes with pitchforks and torches (let them eat cake!). On a grander scale, the constitution originally called for redistribution of wealth among the states. Tax California, build highways in Mississippi. I don't think we want some parts of the nation to be 3rd world in terms of infrastructure.

 

[bluefrog]

The points that matter have mostly been made.

Our poorest poor would be middle class in a lot of other countries. People living below the poverty line here have nintendo and air conditioners.

There are about 125M houses in the USA. Virtually all of those owned by people not in the top 1%.

The median household income in the USA is $52,762, or slightly more than $1,000 per week. Or $144/day. bluefrog's charts and graphs talk about poor people making $2/day or less. We're really poor, eh?

Does wealth relative to other nations matter?

 

[Denny Crane]

Does wealth relative to other nations matter?

Everyone's buying cheap Chinese goods, so yeah it does.

In a poor country, they can afford 8 pairs of socks a day. In the USA, half the people (median income) can by hundreds or thousands of pairs of socks a day.

 

[blazerboy30]

I'm sorry for asking an undefined hypothetical.

Apology accepted. Were your questions sufficiently answered?