Saturday, June 7, 2014

This Is What Those Who Are Concerned About Inequality Fail to Grasp

By Robert Wenzel

I find it fascinating that most of those who think inequality is a problem, also believe the world is "too focused on the material." Well, if the world is "too focused on the material," why the hell all the focus on the inequality in material goods?

Inequality doesn't mean starvation. It means nothing more than a difference in wealth and income. Lebron James is far from a poor person, he has earned over $60 million to-date, according to Forbes, but his wealth doesn't come close to that of Warren Buffett. Buffett's net worth is near $60 billion. That's great inequality, but Lebron is not starving.

In the United States, most people have access to a cell phone, a television and, almost all, to air conditioning. In the United States, inequality doesn't mean people are without basics, it just means that there are differences in the extras. Those extras can be fun, but you can live a pretty good life without them.

As Robert Ringer puts it:
 Abundance is not so much a matter of how much wealth you possess, but how you feel about what you have.
I like nice things, but give me a Ludwig von Mises or Murray Rothbard book and I am a pretty happy camper.

 ---
Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

12 comments:

  1. This little anecdote may be of interest. A LONG time ago, when in college, I asked a friend of mine (who was liberal, to say the least) if she would be in favor of making rich people poorer, even if poor people's wealth did not change. She said, "yes." Of course, we should all be allowed to say silly things in college, but I've never forgotten her answer, and I suspect a lot of people today who are well past college would answer similarly.

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  2. How does the top end fail? do they ever fail? are they special like warren?

    Warren got a free pass with tarp, qe, etc..

    derivatives are a huge problem still...mark to market accounting changes have protected faux wealth which has been collateralized and borrowed against or leveraged and supported through Fed policies.

    Prices never cleared yet the laborer, worker, etc have been trounced through intense competition of wages and higher costs.

    Do you need a road map to inequality???

    the basics for many have become luxury items,,,,

    Got Rent? Median Wage In USA Was $27,519 In 2012 Meaning 50% of Americans Are BELOW That Level

    According to the Social Security Administration’s Wage Statistics for 2012, the “raw” average wage was $42,498.21 while the median wage was $27,519.10 for 2012.

    But today, the median existing home price is $201,700. That equates to a price-to-income ratio of 7.33%.

    Social Security’s measure of median household income is substantially less than the real median household income from the Census Bureau, making matters even worse.

    So, please stop blaming tight credit for the decline in mortgage purchase applications. It’s the declining income.

    As Count de Money once said, “The people are revolting.”

    http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/got-rent-median-wage-in-usa-was-27519-in-2012-meaning-50-of-americans-are-below-that-level/

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    Replies
    1. Anon, can you provide any backup for your $27,519 median wage statistic other than aljazeera?

      Delete
    2. YES! 100x this. It isn't the 99% vs the 1% - it is the 0.01% trying to destroy the 99.99%!!!

      Delete
    3. @AnonymousJune 7, 2014 at 9:59 PM

      Look for median, not mean:

      http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2012

      you know the difference, right?

      Delete
    4. Anon, 2:49 PM, thank you very much for the link. It is what I was looking for.

      (And no, I am not ignorant of basic concepts of statistics.)

      Again, thanks much.

      Delete
  3. It all part of the "liberal dialema" (the term I use to describe the inner contradictions of the left).

    They accuse everyone of being materialistic, money hungry, etc, etc. Then they constantly complain about inequality of money. They're obsessed with money. What about the things that "really matter" in life? Nope, just money.

    Some people chase money. Some people chase women. Some people chase knowledge. It's a beautiful thing. Why, then, do liberals insist on having a uniform population (all while championing "diversity") that holds all the values they themselves hold as desirable? Because they're behavioral imperialists. Miniature tyrants. They think they know what's best, and that gives them the moral right to push us around. Rex tugwell would be so proud.

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    1. The Left's obsession with money is quite simple. Money = power and they want to dictate and control everything. They really don't give a damn about anything else even though they pretend to.

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  4. what an ignorant idiot

    you need to get out into the world a bit and away from your cushy life

    fool

    p

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    Replies
    1. Great argument. Typical no-brain leftist, who thinks in anecdotes.

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  5. @10 min ...this is a shell game any 12 year old could get rich by....

    How Tax Reform Can Save the Middle Class

    Full Show: How Tax Reform Can Save the Middle Class
    June 6, 2014

    A report out this week finds that over 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies use offshore tax havens to avoid paying US taxes.

    In the second part of his interview with Bill, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz says that such lucrative loopholes are contributing to America’s inequality problem and persistent unemployment rate. In fact, corporate greed, combined with a tax code too biased toward the very rich, is hurting our economy and reducing public investment at a time when we really need it.

    Stiglitz says it doesn’t have to be this way. He has a new plan for overhauling America’s current tax system, which he believes contributes to making America the most unequal society of the advanced countries.

    “We can have a tax system that can help create a fairer society,” Stiglitz tells Bill in the second part of their conversation. “Only ask the people at the top to pay their fair share. It’s not asking a lot. It’s just saying the top 1% shouldn’t be paying a lower tax rate than somebody much further down the scale – [they] shouldn’t have the opportunity to move money offshore and keep it in an unlimited IRA account.”

    http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-how-tax-reform-can-save-the-middle-class/

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  6. I'm a libertarian and I do feel rich in spirit, but I also live in a 110 Sq Ft office with no shower, cooking facilities, cell phone, television, or refrigeration. So, your argument is rather deluded and it doesn't help the case of libertarianism at all. I don't inherently feel that I am owed anything, however, that's given a free market situation, which we don't have. All I see is these top libertarians talking about how everyone is better off these days and inequality isn't a real issue. But, my options are to live in poverty or to become a government welfare slave. I choose poverty. But, don't sit there and tell me that inequality is a non-issue. Don't sit there with all your money, gamed in this corrupt system, talking about this and that and then paying your taxes to the government, because you're afraid of losing it all. All I see is a bunch of rich theorists who are too afraid to actually do anything, because they are afraid of losing all the gains they acquired under the corrupt system that they disdain...

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