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7/22/2019 Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It) - Dan Ariely - The Atlantic
1/15
The Pope's
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By Robert P. Jones
How America Lost
Vladimir Putin
By David Rohde and
Arshad Mohammed
Where the Card
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DAN ARIELY AUG 2 2012, 12:41 PM ET
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We asked thousands of people to describe their ideal distribution of wealth,
from top to bottom. The vast majority -- rich, poor, GOP and Democrat - -
imagined a far more equal nation. Here's why it matters.
Reuters
The inequality of wealth and income in the U.S. has become an increasingly
prevalent issue in recent years. One reason for this is that the visibility of this
inequality has been increasing gradually for a long time-- as society has become
less segregated, people can now see more clearly how much other people make
and consume. Owing to urban life and the media, our proximity to one anotherhas decreased, making the disparity all too obvious. In addition to this general
trend, the financial crisis, with all of its fall out, shined a spotlight on the salaries
of bankers and financial workers relative to that of most Americans. And on top
of these, and most recently, the upcoming presidential election has raised
questions of social justice and income disparities, bringing the issues into focus
even more.
It is relatively easy to think about inequality as being too great or too little in
abstract terms, but ask yourself how much you really know about wealth
distribution in the U.S. For example, imagine that we took all Americans and
sorted them by wealth along a line with the poorest on the left and continuing as
wealth increases until on the right we have the richest. Now, imagine that we
divide them into five buckets with an equal number of citizens in each. The first
bucket contains the poorest 20% of the population, the next contains the second
wealthiest tier, and so on down to the wealthiest 20% (see Figure 1).
mericans Want to Live in a MuchMore Equal Country (They Just Don'tRealize It)
WRITERS
Robinson Meyer
The Song-as-Flowchart: It's Not Only Great,
It's Part of the TraditionAPR 18, 2014
Derek Thompson
College: Much Cheaper Than You Think
APR 18, 2014
James Fallows
Michael Janeway, and The Atlantic
APR 18, 2014
Alexis C. Madrigal
I Hate the Song-as-Flowchart Meme, and
Here's Why You Should, TooAPR 18, 2014
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Segregation ForeverAPR 18, 2014
Conor Friedersdorf
Umbrage as War by Other Means
APR 18, 2014
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Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It) - Dan Ariely - The Atlantic
2/15
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current state of wealth? After all, wouldn't the rich want a higher degree of
inequality and the poor want a more ev en distribution of wealth?
HOW MUCH INEQUALITY DO YOU WANT?
We took a step back and examined social inequality based on the definition that
the philosopher John Rawls gave in his book A Theory of Justice. In Rawls'
terms, a society is just if a person understands all the conditions within that
society and is willing to enter it in a random place (in terms of socio-economic
status, gender, race, and so on). In terms of wealth, that means that people know
everything about the wealth distribution and are willing to enter that societyanywhere along the spectrum. They could be among the poorest or the richest,
or anywhere in between. Rawls called this idea the "veil of ignorance" because
the decision of whether to enter a particular society is disconnected from the
particular knowledge that the individual has about the level of wealth that he or
she will have after making the decision.
With this definition in mind, we did two things. First, we asked 5,522 people to
create a distribution of wealth among the five buckets such that they themselves
would be willing to enter that society at a random place. Their answers could
range from a perfectly even distribution with 20% of wealth in each quintile to a
fully biased distribution with 100% of wealth in one and 0% in the rest.
We found that the ideal distribution described by this representative sample of
Americans was dramatically more equal than exists anywhere in the world, with
32% of wealth belonging to the wealthiest quintile down to 11 % by the poorest
(see Figure 3).
What was particularly surprising about the results was that when we examined
the ideal distributions for Republicans and Democrats, we found them to be quite
similar (see Figure 4). When we examined the results by other variables,
including income and gender, we again found no appreciable differences. It seems
that Americans -- regardless of political affiliation, income, and gender -- want
the kind of wealth distribution shown in Figure 3, which is very different from
what we have and from what we think we have (see Figure 2).
1 The Confidence Gap
2 How America Lost Vladimir Putin
3 Resegregation in the American South
4 Where the Card Sharks Feed
5 The Pope in the Attic: Benedict in the Time
of Francis
6 The Private Lives of Public Bathrooms
7 The Culture of Shut Up
8 Pope Francis's Challenge to the Evangelical-
Catholic Coalition
9 Slimming Down Alone, Together
10 Does Traditional College Debate Reinforce
White Privilege?
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/does-traditional-college-debate-reinforce-white-privilege/360746/http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/slimming-down-alone-together/360710/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/pope-franciss-challenge-to-the-evangelical-catholic-coalition/360755/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/the-culture-of-shut-up/360239/http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/the-private-lives-of-public-bathrooms/360497/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-pope-in-the-attic/359816/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/where-the-card-sharks-feed/359807/http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/04/segregation-now/359813/http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/04/how-america-turned-putin-against-the-west/360921/http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/04/the-confidence-gap/359815/http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/Figure3.png7/22/2019 Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It) - Dan Ariely - The Atlantic
4/15
We understood that setting up an ideal wealth distribution is a rather difficult
proposition, so in another task, we made things simpler (see Figure 5) and asked
people to choose between two unidentified distributions (again under the veil of
ignorance). The first option, unbeknownst to participants, reflected the
distribution of wealth in America. For the second option we modified the
distribution found in Sweden, making it substantially more equal (we referred to
this fictional nation as "Equalden").
We discovered that 92% of Americans preferred the distribution of "Equalden"
to America's. And if one were to assume that the 8% who preferred America's
distribution was made up of wealthy Republican men, he or she would bemistaken. The preference for "Equalden" was slightly different for Republicans
and Democrats, and in the expected direction, but the magnitude was very small:
93.5% of Democrats and 90.2% of Republicans preferred the more equal
distribution. While this 3.3% difference is substantial when we think about the
economy of an entire country, if we look at it from the perspective of the gap
between Equalden and the U.S., it's clear that the similarity across the political
spectrum is far more substantial than the differences. And once again,
participant's gender and income lev el did not produce any appreciable difference
in this preference.
LEARNING FROM (THE VEIL OF) IGNORANCE
There are a few lessons that we can learn from this. The first is that we vastlyunderestimate the level of inequality that we have in America. Our society is far
more uneven in terms of wealth than we believe it is. Second, we want much
more equality than both what we have and what we think we have. Apparently,
when asked in a way that avoids hot-button terms, misconceptions, and the level
of wealth people currently possess, Americans are actually in agreement about
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/Figure5.pnghttp://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/Figure4.png7/22/2019 Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It) - Dan Ariely - The Atlantic
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wanting a more equal distribution of wealth. In fact, the vast majority of
Americans prefer a distribution of wealth more equal than what exists in
Sweden, which is often placed rhetorically at the extreme far left in terms of
political ideology- -embraced by liberals as an ideal society and disparaged by
conservatives as an overreaching socialist nanny state.
A third lesson concerns the political gap between Democrats and Republicans:
Given the extraordinarily polarized and derisive rhetoric flying back and forth
between Democrats and Republicans, one would think there was an
insurmountable gap between their positions. So how is it possible that we found
so little difference between them in our study? One reason for this could be our
inability to separate our ideology from our current state of wealth. Our interests
tend to color our view both of how things are and how they should be. Another
reason could be politicians, who, in order to rally people to their side, try to
generate feelings of greater difference and opposition--and therefore conflict--
than actually exist. From this perspective one could claim that politicians
obfuscate similarities by using galvanizing but elusive terms like "small
government," "tax relief," and "freedom."
Rawls' veil of ignorance deals with such superficial and irrelevant influences on
what we think by prompting people to consider all possible socio-economic
situations rather than just their own and the interests and ideologies that come
along with that. The veil of ignorance accomplishes something similar to blindtaste testing. Take wine, for instance. If a person knows the appellation and
price, and realizes that French wine is usually preferable to Finnish, his or her
perception and opinion of how good each wine tastes will be influenced by these
preconceived notions. Similarly, when we express opinions about politics and life
in general, we can't help but be influenced by our own varying degrees wealth
and ignorance of others' lives. T he veil of ignorance works to separate our core
beliefs from the biases and prejudices we develop over time and through the
subjective experience of being part of a certain class and demographic.
As for what this means about changing the level of inequality , which from our
study seems almost unanimously objectionable, there are essentially two paths:
education and taxation. Improving education works in a sense to change the
input into the economy--better-educated workers are more resourceful and
employable, and can move up the economic ladder. Changing taxation deals with
the output--those who prosper pay more into the system than those without the
same benefits. Our study doesn't tell us anything about which of these two
approaches to reducing inequality would be preferable, but in practical terms,
bridging the huge gap between what we currently have and what we want to
have would require a mixture of both. Our study also doesn't deal with how to
bring what people say they want under the veil of ignorance into line with what
they're willing to do when it's their money and resources that are about to be
distributed. It is one thing to get people to tell us what kind of society the would
want to join, and another to get them part with their money in order to create
that society.
With all these objections in mind, it still seems that the political discourse could
benefit from a Rawlsian approach. Taking this path could help us understand
what it is that we really want and then allow us to consider ways to get there. If
our politicians also accepted this starting point, they might argue less about
ideology and differences and more about paths to get closer to our common goal-
-a much less extreme level of inequality.
Social justice and optimal wealth distribution are highly complex topics, and it's
hard to imagine that any study could dramatically change opinions about
education, welfare, or tax reform. But consider this. When we ran the same basic
experiment in Australia, we found Australians did not differ much from
Americans in their views of the ideal distribution. When we ran another v ersion
of it with NPR listeners, and then readers ofForbesMagazine, the results were
still basically the same. And most likely, if y ou participated in one of our tests,
your response too would have fallen in line with these findings.
So whatever you think the current state of wealth distribution is, and whatever
7/22/2019 Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It) - Dan Ariely - The Atlantic
6/15
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7/15
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celeidth
Perhaps our view of the realities of the income/wealth distribution is warped because the
majority of us have so little experience with people who are vastly different from
ourselves. When we go to work, socialize with friends, go to religious services, shop,
vacation, or go home in the evenings we mostly encounter people like ourselves. We see
ourselves as the norm. And if we are in the middle of that income distribution we may be
especially insulated. People at the bottom often work in service jobs for the wealthiest--as
gardeners, house cleaners, etc.; they see the life at the top. A lot of us in the middle work
in jobs and live in neighborhoods where we only see people relatively like ourselves.
rsbsail
There is one huge problem with this article, and that is ignoring movement up or
down between the quintiles over time. Except for trust fund babies, most people
start out in life with no wealthto speak of, and some are net debtors (e.g., college
loans). As people grow older, their income grows, they are able to build a nest
egg, and they will move from one quintile to another. And then at the end of their
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APR 18, 2014
Africa's Real-Life Game of
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Th e Ultimate Consequence of
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How Solitary Confinement
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e, ey are raw ng own e r savngs n re remen .
Of course, there are people like Buffett and Gates who have outsized fortunes
compared to "normal" people.
And there will be people who never move up from the lowest quintile because of
poor life choices, such as drug addiction, crime, or dropping out of school, or
single motherhood.
A more nuanced analysis would take this effect into account.
RobertSF
Others have done that analysis and concluded that there is less movement
between the quintiles than in any other developed country except Britain.
Every so often, we hear in the news that a homeless man died on the
streets from exposure to the elements. They make the news after they get
too drunk to come in from the cold and they're found frozen the next
morning. When was the last time one of those men turned out to be a
former Wall Streeter? We find plenty of forgotten war heroes, but among
the homeless you never find a formerly wealthy man.
JonF311
But that only applies to the bottomost quintiles mainly the loewstone. The middle and upper quintiles in the US have about as much
turnover as those quintiles do in other nations. In other words,
social mobility is mainly a problem of poverty in this country, not
something for the middle class to cry in its beer about. And our
woefully inadequate safety net is largely to blame: it keeps body and
soul together but does not help anyone escape poverty. In fact to
benefit from it you pretty much have to remain poor.
rdl114
Well, while I agree with your last statements, your initial ones are
off base. Wage stagnation and decline among the middle class has
been going on for decades now. It is documented and well a part of"common knowledge." The second and third quintiles (as put in this
article) have lost ground since the early to mid 1970s. Anyone on
the bottom edges of those cadres has indeed been slipping for
almost a lifetime now. So there is a lot of downward mobility. There
is some upward mobility. I think presenting the example of a "trust
fund baby" (as did rsbsail) distorts what relative wealth means.
Offspring who inherit an upper middle class or even solidly middle
class parent's wealth in and around major metropolitan areas have
an enormous boost in life somewhere around middle age, late
middle age. A paid off house or coop/condo in a big city or big city
suburb can be worth $1 million and up. On another front, debt, a
grandparent who can help a grandchild pay for college is doing an
immense service to that grandchild. These are not "trust funders,"
but people who have saved, been in the professions, and keep
financial ties in their family very strong. The poor struggle with
family ties, and certainly large transfers of wealth (by my slightly
upper middle class sensibilities) are not part of the equation of the
lower two quintiles.
JonF311
There have been studies blogged about right here on the Atlantic,
and by Derek Thompson who is anything but a rightwing stooge,
showing that American income mobility for the middle class and
above is about the same as it is in other countries. The "stagnation"
of the American middle class is not unique: it is a worldwide trend.
One need only consider the woes of present-day Europe and Japan
to see this reality.
And yes, "income mobility" encompasses both upward and
downward mobility".
But for the third time now: this is not about the middle class. The
middle class ma be in rou h waters but the are still afloat. It's the
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9/15
poor who are drowning, and in that we do resemble a third world
country more than we do our peers.
sansculottes
The fact that he's not a rightwing stooge is irrelevant. The question
is whether one contrarian blog post by one staff writer outweighs
thoroughly-researched and vetted books by people like Timothy
Noah and Joseph Stiglitz.
JonF311
Please, please, please reread what I have written above. No one is
doubting the American class mobility AS A WHOLE is inferior to
that of our peer nations. However when you drill into the details it
turns out that this is mainly a problem of the poor and the working
poor being stuck. That's all that is being said here. Likewise no one
is doubting that the "Great Stagnation" is also real. However that
same trend is affecting our peer nations too-- their middle class is
stagant or worse just like ours. The sun does not rise in the Atlantic
and set in the Pacific and the adverse trends that beset the US are
in fact global trends affecting everyone.
Also, be careful what you mean by "stganation" here. There are two
very different claims being mixed up in this discussion. One is thatpeople, on the whole, are doing no better than their parents did at
an equivalent point in their lives, rather than exceeding their parents
standard of living, which was the trend for much of our history
(outside a few nasty depressions). This is absolutely true. The
other trend is that people are not doing better as they age: that they
stay at the same income from the day they start work. That is
simply not true for all but the lowest income workers.
sansculottes
I have re-read it, and you are wrong. As I said, you are citing a blog
post by an Atlantic author to contradict what has been written by
economists and journalists who have spent the last several years
researching this topic.
Shelby M. Mallett
That could be on reason you don't find them homeless. Another
reason is that when they fall, they don't fall all the way down, they
can be a few steps up from
homeless. http://SponsoredbyApple.blogsp...
David Shedlock
Wage stagnation is measured collectively and does not take into
consideration people who change jobs and move up. You missed
the whole point of mobility, it is not that suddenly janitors are paid
the same as CEOs, it is that janitors and low-level employees
sometimes do end up in management or executive positions. This
cannot be shown statistically. It is not as if most CEOs came right
out of college and became one. They worked their way up.
RobertSF
They measure social mobility by comparing across generations
and seeing how the fortunes of each family rise and fall.
charliebernstein
Please. We cry in our cosmos.
Babby
they move because people are nibbling at the edges
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10/15
htaylor
A lot of the formerly wealthy have committed suicide. That could be
on reason you don't find them homeless. Another reason is that
when they fall, they don't fall all the way down, they can be a few
steps up from homeless.
pchi67
Reference, please?
htaylor
Gonna have to trust me on that. Unfortunatetely, I am talking about
friends, neighbors, and former clients. The "wealthy" don't have it
easy either in this economy, they just suffer in different ways.
ministerial
I wouldn't call your argument a "straw man" precisely, and I'm sure
you're telling the truth, but anecdotes are a dull sword vs. the
demography beast.
I have a very diverse selection of friends, I travel allll over the U.S.
frequently, and lemme tell ya, my anecdotes are right in line withthe data here. It's a LOT tougher on the bottom, and the bottom is
falling out of the bottom a LOT faster.
Remember Einsteins quote "compound interest is the most
powerful force in the universe"? The poor brave a constant chop
of compound penalty that churns into a vicious whirlpool at
he slightest breeze from a missed paycheck or middling
illness.
This compound penalty manifests a million ways. I can detail them
further if you like.
If a rich man ets sucked down he was either ver ill-e ui ed to
htaylor
I don't disagree with what you say, but I do find it to be surprisingly
cold and callous. When the rich fall off their perches, it could have
been for a number of reasons. What makes a person who has
always been poor so much easier to feel compassion for than a
person who has fallen into the recently poor?
stev
You are cold and callous regarding poor income distribution in US
and want sympathy for millionaires. That's a good one.
RobertSF
But it's really rare for the rich to fall of their perches. When you hear
about it, it's almost always the nouveau riche, like football players
and one-hit TV stars. Sadly, it's criminal how people with so little
understanding of finances are showered with money and then left
to be eaten alive by their "advisors." You hear of people who were
worth hundreds of millions now depending on a disability or pension
check. But that's a whole nother topic.
But aside from from people like that, which wealthy wind up on the
streets? They don't because, like someone else said, their wealthis backstopped. They always keep enough wealth in ultra-safe
vehicles (they may even pay fees instead of collecting interest!) so
that, barring total global nuclear war or something like that, they
cannot sink.
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11/15
JSebastian
If only that were true. Look at the spectrum of victims wiped out by
the Madoff scandal, or people that have been forced into liquidation
by creditors or the government (for example, many family farm
operators who had millions of dollars in assets that wind up getting
sold for pennies on the dollar at auction to Big Ag because the
government decided they needed to pony up 55% estate taxes).
Roger Corbin
Most of the wealth in this country is the "nouveau rich", I did somecalculations on the Forbes 100 and over 60 percent of the wealth
has been earned in the last 30 years in high tech, the internet, and
high tech finance/hedge funds. High tech and finance salaries in
corporate america had to adjust to salaries and opportunities in
startups, high tech and hedge funds. Much of our
wealth disparity in the US is the result of out sized opportunities in
high tech the US and lack of competitiveness in manufacturing in
the US. Our education system can be blamed for much of this. It
won't take long before the entrepreneurs leave for places with a
more competitive business climate. The choice is whether you
want more wealth disparity here or you want the wealth disparity to
move elsewhere.
ministerial
I really want to answer this clearly as possible.
First off, "cold and callous" applies only to my footnote, status
seekers. I'm reasonably sympathetic to other rich folks who've
fallen low, but overt status-seeking at the expense of humanism &
pragmatism is FOUL. It's one of the worst bits of human nature. I
can explain my thesis in detail if you like.
Suffice it to say: I own my coldness and callousness towards idiot
status-seekers. I am proud of it.
On to your main question:
Please go back and reskim my post, because the answer you're
looking for is implied up there. It will inform what follows. Also,
please note that I ain't the 1%, but I'm probably the 5%. 7%? Not
sure. I am way too hedonistic to be 1%. Money is a tool, not how I
keep score. Further note: I know a shitload of poor people & middle
class people too.
Juvens
Excellent post. Righteous, even. I agree completely.
htaylor
I came up from the streets like you did, and if I had to I could live
there again. Not that I'd want to, but I have no doubt that I could.
Many of my friends, neighbors, and clients who are suddenly poor
or eking out a lower middle class existance for the first time in their
lives are like fish out of water. Life as they knew it for 45 years is
gone. Whether they were suddenly unfortunate or long-term stupid
is irrelevant, except for those so distraught at what they have
stupidly pissed away that they kill themselves in response.
Ive been involved with many businesses that have had to shut
down. The lower level employees will be hit the hardest because
they tend not to have savings or a lot of other employmentprospects, but for them it was just a job, and they hope to find
another. For the upper level employees, it was their career, their
identity, their way of life, the thing they spent more waking hours
with than their family. You can see their personalities crumbling as
they walk out the door for the last time. Economically, they should
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12/15
. ,
them are hosed, because they know that a 40 - 60 year old guy
who looses his job in this economy is most likely not going to ever
have that income stream or status level again.
ministerial
I didn't come up from the streets actually. Upper middle & lucky.
Rather I fell down to them for a good while.
The best thing I learned is this: I could be poor and live lazy and
ine... assuming I had about 60k & normal possessions tocushion the drop. Gist:
========
1. 10k for an acre or two.*
2. 7k for a small prefab cabin.**
3. 10k for well, utilities & septic.**
=========
1-3 are the lever that I NEVER see used. And it's SUCH a
powerful lever. Housing is what, about $800 minimum a month for
1/2 people? More? 8x12= $9600. 27 / 9.6 = roughly 3. This
means anyone who does not live in/near a big city or tony outdoor
mecca can be DONE with housing costs in < THREE YEARS
(repairs notwithstanding.) It ain't Versailles, but a little house is
LeBoondocks
If you had $60K laying around, you were not poor.
JSebastian
Making 250K doesn't make one rich. That's just an income level.
In Manhattan, or in the SF Bay Area, that affords a modest middle
class lifestyle for a family of four. Those people will never be rich.
You have to look at accrued wealth. If you don't have financial
independence, then your fate is not very much in your hands no
matter what. And even then, shit happens. Macro shit that can wipe
that wealth out.
Mainz05
Correct, much more attention needs to be paid to wealth vs.
income, especially when education and investments of all kinds
are so highly leveraged for the non-wealthy. This has big
implications for the tax system, including but not limited to arguing
in favor of consumption, rather than income, tax as the primary
basis of revenue.
OhioSteve
If you have a blog, please tell us. I would absolutely read it. Very
few people are able to be smart enough to exit the conveyer belt
mentality of life (what you are describing as expectations) and
independently decide what they want/think, but also grounded and
normal enough not to be a tinfoil hat, black helicopter nutter. I like
your take and would read more of it.
Petrova
It's the government's policies that are
to blame for that.
Petrova
It's the government's policies that are
to blame for that.
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13/15
JSebastian
That's just a fallacy. The rich might be less susceptible to extreme
poverty just owing to the fact that petty cash supplies them with
more reserves than most lower class people have in life savings,
but it doesn't mean they can't be bankrupted and left with a small
fraction of their wealth, it happens all the time. Not only do many
rich suffer from the same combinations of personal defects and
flaws that subject their lives to financial turmoil, like substance
problems, mental illness, but they are also far more likely to be
victimized by unscrupulous business associates,
swindled/embezzled/sued, etc.
stev
Why should anyone trust you when you can't supply the data while
ranting for benefit of oligarchy. In fact no one should trust you.
htaylor
Dont trust anyone. Don't let go of your dogma. Ignorance is bliss,
you must be one happy person.
stev The best people to trust would be those that lobby for oligarchy's
benefit and unable to produce any evidence!!
htaylor
I am not lobbying for anyone. I am simply marveling at your
selective compassion. A homeless person who meets some
criteria deserves your sympathy, but a person who fell on hard
times through different routes continues to earn your scorn. You
are as hypocritical as the Christians who hate others in the name of
Christ.
stev
What are you ranting about! Does Mr. Trump who has been
bankrupted multiple times and yet using various methods to
defraud people to steal their investment need my sympathy?
htaylor
We can all pick examples to fit any arguement we want to make. I
don't think I can pry your mind open even a little, and have lost
interest. Bye.
stev
Skipping town after losing the argument I see.
danariely
http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnor...
stev
If they do that would be because without their wealth they would
be as good as homeless.
htaylor
Without our wealth we are all as good as homeless. The difference
between librals and conservatives isn't how much they care, it is
how they go about solving the problems. Keeping people
dependent and addicted to government prolongs their pain as much
as it helps them.
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14/15
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stev
You are ranting because wealth does not disappear with better
distribution. Watch this video and you will understand how it works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Ken Reese
Sorry but "I know a guy who knows a guy who's rich brother in law
killed himself" arguments are kinda well, useless.
RandolphOfRoanoke
The other developed countries are much smaller and more
homogenous than America. A fair comparison would be with
mobility among quintiles in the European Union, not with mobility in
Switzerland. I suspect that in that comparison America isn't doing
so badly.
stev
Homogenous is a race-baiting code word, isn't it.
kmihindu
This makes a lot of sense - especially considering the difficulty the
EU has in dealing with member countries facing economic crises
(Spain, Greece, Portugal). This also highlights the difficulty in
dealing politically with inequality in a more heterogenous group. The
US might have an edge here as our American identity seems to be
stronger than member nations "EU" identity.
RobertSF
Well, if the US is too big, why don't we compare mobility among
quintiles from the individual states against quintiles from the
individual countries in the European Union? Sweden and Georgiahave about the same populations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
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Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It) - Dan Ariely - The Atlantic
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