Commodore is a free market fundamentalist, just the same as folks are religious fundamentalists. At no point does reality intrude on his worldview.
Don't feed the trolls. Some are paid by political groups to spread disinformation on the Internet. Others are just naive, middle class citizens making < $1M/year and < $10M net worth. The latter group is fascinating to talk to what with their materialistic aspirations, distorted reality of America's political and economic system, and an admiration of sources like the Drudge Report, Breitbart, and Fox News. They mistakenly believe by supporting the policies and attitudes of the top .01%, they may too one day join the elites. Why should they criticize the massive wealth and income disparities? They'll be at the top someday too. Ironically, their social circles, education, and upbringing are not even in the same Solar System as a resident of 10065 lol.
It's not very reason-based either, given your propensity to stop at Econ 101 graphs. There are papers published that go beyond supply and demand curves, I hope you know that.
This is so completely, idiotically wrong and utterly detached from reality that it makes me joyous. I know perfectly well that most neo-confederates and reactionaries think that Obama won not because modern conservatives are a bunch of lunatics but because Obama is Santa Claus. For me this is great because it means that the lunatics will never, ever confront the reality that they cannot win a national election as currently constructed. They'll just keep blaming their woes on Santa Claus. The video you posted and your response to it are so completely off the mark that those of us whose existence occurs largely on planet earth can only conclude that you (plural) are either simply lying or you (plural) are so completely vacuous that you literally don't understand why extreme wealth polarization is a bad thing. At the end of the day I assume any given reactionary is both a liar and stupid so it really doesn't matter all that much to me. I just know I will continue to be pleased with the inevitable results of your collective foolishness.
In a free market economy, profit is the payment for entrepreneurship. When one realizes that different companies make differing amounts of money, the economy has income inequality. Is this a big deal? NO. The people who started the profitable businesses are justly rewarded for their successes. The people mopping the floor will make minimum wage. The government can attempt to redistribute wealth, but this redistribution requires more government control. More government control leads to crowding out of private investment, and the economy will suffer. There is nothing anyone can do to stop wealth inequality in the economic and political system that we have.
Sure there is since we've basically had the same system for a long time, and it wasn't always this bad.
No one is trying to prevent wealth inequality. Anyone who claims otherwise either has a four year old's grasp of economics or is a liar.
From the chart, It looks like the ideal wealth distribution from the people that took the survey shows that the high school drop out working part time flipping burgers should be making at least $50K annually, while someone like Lebron James should only make < $500K max for his salary + endorements.
That's right. I can wear shoes just as well as Derrick Rose. I demand a system that pays me the same as what he's getting.
Before we can discuss, we really need to agree on the premise here. A lot of people in this thread are alarmed by the fact that the richest Americans are much, much richer than they've been in modern history, that the trend shows no sign of stopping, and that the other places in the world that have a few super-rich and masses of struggling poor tend to be really, really bad places to live. Your contention is that you don't foresee any major political or social problems arising from the worsening wealth gap? And that even if it were a problem, there's just nothing that can be done?
Of course I wasn't trying to endorse capitalism. I was merely stating that it isn't true that the amount of wealth inequality we have now has to be this way in the system we have. History has proven otherwise.
