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Things are better than ever, just not for you
    • Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population.
    • The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.
    • The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world.
    • Seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years.
    • The richest one percent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.
    • In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.

    Via http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp-working-for-few-political-capture-economic-inequality-200114-summ-en.pdf

  • 21 Replies sorted by
  • Cause? Cure?

  • Cause? Cure?

    Just go back in blog posts, you can read... like last 2.5 years :-)

  • @matt_gh2

    Look how good match it is for last blog post:

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/9423/us-education-improvements-in-alaska#Item_1

    And note how main media direct people attention from true cause.

  • yes, there is a large disparity in wealth. but what are you proposing? that everyone be given 10 million dollars in a bank account of their choosing? many people start from nothing and make good lives for themselves through hard work, ingenuity, creativity, and developing their talents and abilities.

  • many people start from nothing and make good lives for themselves through hard work, ingenuity, creativity, and developing their talents and abilities.

    I hear same thing somewhere. :-) Wait.... I think this lie is in every TV and radio and is called "The American dream". As Carlin said - "You have to be asleep to believe it".

    This guys are rich not because they did something useful for you (and it is the only reason for getting money - doing something useful for other people). No. They stole from other people work and income. For now bankers, insurance guys, big managers with huge salaries are considered acceptable parasites. Time changes, you'll soon see how many will be considered criminals with penalties much worse than for mass murderers.

  • You're only talking about a small percentage of the population. The average person is not Bernie Madoff.

    Many people earn a very comfortable living through honest means. But you know what the problem is? Everyone is looking at Bill Gates. People are not content with what they have because they see other people who have more.

    And of course there's a large portion of humanity that is not capable of having a comfortable life. And we should do something to redistribute the wealth. I don't believe any one human being should have billions while other people have no food. This is something we need to change in society.

    But I would say a lot people have enough. They have comfortable lives, but they're not content because they want to be Bill Gates.

    How much is enough? How much do you need? There's another thread on this forum where someone admits to buying useless gear that he never uses. What do people do when they have too much money? They waste it on useless things they don't need, of course.

  • I don't believe any one human being should have billions while other people have no food. This is something we need to change in society.

    You can't just "change it", it is mass media telling you that it can be "changed". Only way to change it is huge conflict of interests with blood.

    But I would say a lot people have enough. They have comfortable lives, but they're not content because they want to be Bill Gates

    And quite lot of people need money for food. At least this is that I know personally.

  • And you're quoting George Carlin. Not that I don't like George Carlin, but he was a multi-millionaire and he's criticizing the American Dream? He seems like a perfect example of how money doesn't make people happy.

  • Not that I don't like George Carlin, but he was a multi-millionaire and he's criticizing the American Dream? He seems like a perfect example of how money doesn't make people happy.

    I think here you just completely lost. I do not care if he was rich or not. He did useful things and got rewards. I just quoted you one of useful things.

  • "Only way to change it is huge conflict of interests with blood."

    No, violent revolutions don't accomplish anything. Who's going to be in power after the blood is shed? How can we trust that they're going to implement a more fair society?

    People can do small things to help others around them.

  • No, violent revolutions don't accomplish anything. Who's going to be in power after the blood is shed? How can we trust that they're going to implement a more fair society?

    You are wrong, history shows that it is how things are done. Who will be in charge? Someone who better understands society interests.

    People can do small things to help others around them.

    Good words, also from mass media. Just won't work.

  • It's true that if more enlightened people were in power, a lot of things would be better for a lot of people. How to accomplish that is another matter. Good luck if you can pull it off.

  • I couldn't agree more with Vitaliy. Things are getting really out of control and people won't let things happen for ever. And yes, of course there will be blood, it has to. At some point in history you'll see this is inevitable.

  • The word "revolution" has two meanings: 1) violent overthrow and 2) cycle. Is it a coincidence that we use the same word for both meanings? Cycle implies something that keeps repeating itself over and over.

  • @vitaliy

    You are wrong, history shows that it is how things are done. Who will be in charge? Someone who better understands society interests.

    Do you have a specific example in mind? Wherever I look, bloody revolutions result in leaders, who continue the violent path. They just don't know any better, if their path so far was violent.

    There is a saying: Only a moral path can lead to a moral goal. Meaning: Unmoral path leads to unmoral goal, no matter how moral your goal initially was. The difficulty is, that the moral path may take a very long time, or you might not even reach the goal at all.

  • Do you have a specific example in mind?

    I'll ask contra question, Show me were elites (real elites) just gave up and said - guys we exploited you and owned all you created, we were wrong, sorry. Just read good book and realized how wrong we were.

    Such things happen only in fairy tales. In nature you fight for things.

    There is a saying: Only a moral path can lead to a moral goal. Meaning: Unmoral path leads to unmoral goal, no matter how moral your goal initially was. The difficulty is, that the moral path may take a very long time, or you might not even reach the goal at all.

    I am cynical man. Such thing as moral is individual and context dependent. Thing that is immoral if you are rich and live in big warm house become quite moral if you just need to find something to survive till next day.

    Moral propagandists are worse kind of people (including bunch of popes and religion guys). In healthy society moral things are things that are good for society and also not bad for individuals. And they can change adapting to situation.

  • It's not just the elites that are corrupt. You've never had a corrupt employer? I've been fighting with corrupt employers for many years. And to me, "fighting" does not mean going around killing people. Fighting means trying to make people realize that their behavior is unacceptable. Sometimes, this means disrupting their lives. I've managed to get a few bosses I've had over the years that cheated me fired from their positions (and getting myself fired at the same time).

    Just targeting the elites is a bad idea. A good portion of the population is corrupt. That means that there is a high probability that the new leaders will repeat the same corrupt patterns (as has been shown throughout history) OR no matter who is in leadership position, the corruption will continue to exist at different levels of society.

  • Another good news

    image

    Real disposable personal income drops by 0.2% from a month earlier, and plummets by 2.7% from a year ago, the biggest collapse since the semi-depression in 1974, something is wrong with the US consumer.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-31/wtf-going-real-disposable-income-plummets-most-40-years

    oly_s18.jpg
    626 x 375 - 67K
  • "This guys are rich not because they did something useful for you (and it is the only reason for getting money - doing something useful for other people). No."

    This cuts through a lot of white noise. Never even thought of it this way. Sounds exactly right.