Wealth Inequality in America

[GOOGLE JIM BOB COOTER 6,612]

Go fug yourself.

That isn't what I was hinting. I didn't have to do a god damn thing and I never went out of my way for anything. I've been very lucky through very little of my own doing...which was my point. Sometimes you don't have to do anything. Instead you luck your way up the ladder. Some are lucky enough to be born on top of the ladder.

I'm hardly what I would call "successful" anyway. I make a solid, but not spectacular salary (less than six figures). The takeaway from my post should have been that sometimes you don't have to work hard to do alright for yourself. It doesn't always require hard work, exceptional intelligence, or any of the other poo you hear people attribute to their success. Everyone thinks they work hard, but few actually do.

i like how superman pied this post when it actually runs counter to his own dumb beliefs

anyway when you post things like "you just have to be liked by the right people" and "i do less work than everyone at my position and get paid more" it sure sounds like capitalism is just "blow your way to the top (or i guess in your case, the middle)"

[GOOGLE JIM BOB COOTER 6,612]

I hate that this needs to be preferenced, but hard and/or smart work are always going to be better options than your assertion that our entire economic and political system(s) needs to be blown-up because hundreds of years ago people were slaves. Granted I don't aspire to to be as dramatic as you, but that seems slightly unnecessary considering we have still people coming to this country today who with (gasp!) hard work and an emphasis on education that are improving their lot in life in one generation.

uhhh it needs to be blown up because it doesn't actually work like you guys would like people to believe. the whole slavery, jim crow, and institutional racism just exacerbates the problem for certain people, but to suggest that my argument has ever been "capitalism has failed because slavery happened" is laughable

I'll thank you to reference my previous post about not giving a poo about your pipe/wet dreams of a socialist society. I already went through this exercise when I got my liberal arts degree from a state univerisity.

yeah and i went through my dumb libertarian phase in high school. though i can't say i'm surprised that your only real defense of capitalism isn't actually a defense at all. "but but but socialism can't happen ever because i thought about it during undergrad"

That's great. I think that's a commendable service those people are providing, and I think it's commendable that those former inmates see the value of actually being members of a society where they earn what they have, not just hoping that the government hands them money siphoned off of the rich. Because if that's what you're hoping for, what's the point of trying to rehabilitate these people at all?

the "service" has effectively went under. half of the org was laid off because of known, rock solid plank of the republican party: "big gubmint spend too much abloohoohoo." the glorious free market does not consider social costs and benefits because "lol externalities aren't real" or whatever, and orgs like that one go underfunded or unfunded in austerity. then, "smart, hard working people" are out of work. we agree that they provided a valuable service, but the market didn't support it (because the market is in fact fallible, contrary to what the ron paul rloveution may have said during last year's primary race)

I'm not entirely against the idea that the wealth gap is widening too far for our own good in this country. I am, however, against the idea that it's so wide and unattainable that the only way it can be fxed is with government intervention.

i would love to hear your proposal for fixing the problem without government intervention. and if your proposal is effectively "deregulate, cut taxes, and the wealth will magically trickle down," i'm going to need a step-by-step description of how a further unregulated market, with increasingly inegalitarian distribution of capital, will result in a better distribution of wealth in america ("better" meaning, say, something between "what americans think it should be" and "what americans think it actually is" from the video in the OP)

I also wildly reject the idea that we just had more revenue to give to the government to fund these programs that everything would be ok.

regardless of where you stand wrt to individual programs in a vacuum, it's pretty well accepted that austerity during a recession is A Bad Idea

[GOOGLE JIM BOB COOTER 6,612]

Used to if you actually did some of that reading you were speaking of you would know that... I neither care for the rich nor have a desire to whine and bitch about how unfair life is like you do. So they have more than you do? Get off your ass and get creative to earn it back you and your government entitlement programs are bankrupting our once great nation .

does your income place you in the top 1% of earners in america? top 5%? if not, is it because you're not very smart or is it because you don't work very hard? it's gotta be one or the other, or so i've been led to believe by both you and noted scholar madhatter

[Darth Biscuit 12,771]

your post began with "i got a master's" and i stopped reading because come on now, seriously

You're not the brightest bulb in the box are you?

[SuperMan 141]

does your income place you in the top 1% of earners in america? top 5%? if not, is it because you're not very smart or is it because you don't work very hard? it's gotta be one or the other, or so i've been led to believe by both you and noted scholar madhatter

My income places me in the top 5% of earners my age.

I've decided speaking to you in logical way is clearly impossible due to your preconceived notions and clear jealousy of wealth that someone of your limited motivation and talent can possibly achieve.

[SuperMan 141]

You're not the brightest bulb in the box are you?

A box of rocks has more attentive learning ability than he does.

[Harris Aballah 465]

My income places me in the top 5% of earners my age.

I've decided speaking to you in logical way is clearly impossible due to your preconceived notions and clear jealousy of wealth that someone of your limited motivation and talent can possibly achieve.

I was born poor and will probably die poor. and you'll never hear me complain. And i congratulate anyone on hard-earned wealth. Poor people used to look out for one another. they were eager to assist and give cause they never worried about what someone else had. they were just gracious for the blessings they did have. if rich people wanted to be greedy, fine, we had each other. But now, just sound like a bunch of haters to me. What goes around comes around. and i believe these people have no idea what they are asking for.

[SuperMan 141]

I was born poor and will probably die poor. and you'll never hear me complain. And i congratulate anyone on hard-earned wealth. Poor people used to look out for one another. they were eager to assist and give cause they never worried about what someone else had. they were just gracious for the blessings they did have. if rich people wanted to be greedy, fine, we had each other. But now, just sound like a bunch of haters to me. What goes around comes around. and i believe these people have no idea what they are asking for.

I was also born dirt poor, they used to give a poo about each other these days they just want more more more, Everything I have achieved I did in spite of growing up in a trailer park.

People like cantrell are the problem.

[Carolina Husker 396]

uhhh it needs to be blown up because it doesn't actually work like you guys would like people to believe. the whole slavery, jim crow, and institutional racism just exacerbates the problem for certain people, but to suggest that my argument has ever been "capitalism has failed because slavery happened" is laughable

I'll get to the rest of it later, but I'm interested to hear more about this part.

Is part of the reason people still struggle along the poverty line is because of institutional racism in our system? I assume you're referring specifically to blacks in this case when you say "certain people," right?

[Carolina Husker 396]

Cantrell's clearly not dumb. But he is really misguided.

[Kurb 4,987]

**BYARHAHRHAEHRAEHEH The Harder I Pound my Keys the BEtter It WilL Sound UNFAIR Racists F White people P bad Economy!!! BALAHAHHAHAHHGEEUURURURRRR***

[Harris Aballah 465]

I was also born dirt poor, they used to give a poo about each other these days they just want more more more, Everything I have achieved I did in spite of growing up in a trailer park.

People like cantrell are the problem.

I ain't asking for nothing if I can't get it on my own. and theres nothing wrong with that.