Billionaire investor warns: U.S. "wealth disparity" will end in "revolution, taxes, or war"

AN OLIGOPOLY MARKET-ECONOMY

Nope, not the economic-system. They "keep the money" by rigged lower upper-income taxation that allows Wealth accumulation.

Yes, much of the American market-economy is manipulated by oligopoly-practices. That too has to be addressed because the US has not sufficiently fought against market-consolidation. Which results presently in higher-than-necessary pricing that a truly competitive market otherwise would enjoy. It's you-the-consumer that pays the higher prices.

The work that has to be done in terms of oligopolistic practices that must be ended is enormous ...

 

MIGHT IS NOT RIGHT

We are wasting bandwidth in responding to an ignoramus as regards both Income and Wealth Disparity.

Most of the Rabid Right is of that nature, so inured are they to the silliness of "market-economy might-is-right".

And, frankly, given the fact that American voters have given the Rabid Right full control of the three elements of our governance (Executive, Legislative and Judicial), Uncle Sam is in a very, very sorry way.

It will take decades to correct the situation - if ever. For as long as Jack-'n-Jill America are infatuated by Wealth and those who have it, then nothing will ever change ...

NB: The Weinstein public-hysteria at the moment is just one example of the adage Might-is-not-right, not always, not ever.

 

Income becomes wealth via smart financial decisions. Oddly enough, the lack of wealth is caused by a lack of smart decision making.

 

Can you quote where I said that?


Or will just just admit to being a liar?

 

What is there to rebut? You think you can legislate and regulate good decision making. Nothing I say is going to change that opinion of yours.

 

THE SOLUTION FOR CORRECTING INCOME DISPARITY

The only way to correct Income Disparity is by renovating our "system" of Income Taxation.

Quite simply, it goes like this:
*Oligopolies must be tamed, and the key way of doing that is twofold:
--End the basic reason for oligopolies, which are to consolidate market-revenues in only a select number of "competing companies" (within any given market-sector).
--Then, make sure that upper-income taxation above a certain amount (say, $750K a year) reaches confiscatory levels, say 98%.
*A truly progressive Income Tax, along with a "no means for income earners to protect income from avoiding taxation", as is presently the case.
*How is that done? Read here: 7 strategies rich people use to pay less in taxes. Or here:
33 Smart Ways to Cut Your Taxes Right Now. The mechanisms for Tax Avoidance are not secrets. They are very, very well-known.

If the above can happen, then:
*America will still create millionaires. Billionaires who simply leave their accumulated Wealth to offspring (who lose it), will be far fewer.
*Enhanced tax revenues will pay for societal improvements, like a National Healthcare System that does not cost, literally, an arm-and-a-leg (pun intended!) And free Tertiary Education to all who seek it at all levels.
*We will avoid the infantility of such tragic economic phenomena as the "Sub-prime Mess" that was created by a wild rush to cash-in on far-too-free mortgaging practices and a realty bull-market.
*The cost-of-living will be substantially reduced because market-consolidated oligopolies (the purpose of which is to assure higher profits) exist only to manipulate composite market-pricing.

It's all very, very simple - but so very far from the mentality that reigns in America today ...

 

A well-written piece on oligopolistic America from the New Yorker (Aug., 2013): The Oligopoly Problem

Excerpt:

 

I can see you cannot understand the basis for your belief in a meritocracy, you actually believe in the American Dream so deeply that you consider it an intrinsic part of our nation as if it stands apart from the individual, it is like that brass ring that you must grab while riding round and round. I am sorry but that dream means nothing when the people stop getting on the merry go round because they conclude all it is doing is going around in circles.

 

That is the necessary meaning of your statement that "the more free a society is, the larger that disparity will always be". Show me logically how it can mean anything else.

 

Some of this alleged disparity reminds me of teams of mountain climbers. All start with equal chances since they are a team. Some simply have problems on the way up so fall out of the team and remain below. But those not making it have no disparity problem, they simply were not able to summit the mountain. Same in life. Some get to the top, many more do not.

 

I agree with that. Also, how can anyone not see that when tax brackets are reduced in number from 5 or 6 to 3, it necessarily means lower taxes for the rich and/or higher taxes for the upper middle class? And both are objectionable.

 

There are probably many analogies that prove nothing about the economics of disparities.

 

EVERYBODY MUST BE A WINNER

And certainly not "mountain climbers"!

Healthcare and Tertiary education are not "sports". They are fundamental necessities to a basically secure lifestyle. What one does with that lifestyle - like climb mountains - is of consequence only to the "winner".

Everybody must "win" when a market-economy is tweaked such that taxation allows fair and equitable attainment Basic Services by all citizens of a nation. Not just a select few "winners of a game that has been tweaked in their favor". And we praise and fawn them for their "business agility"? And we stare in awe when we know their personal Wealth.

Bollocks I say to all that! The many are being "had" by the few - just like in pre-WW1 Europe with all its monarchs and fawning siblings.

Like or not, boyz 'n girlz, what Karl Marx saw and wrote was spot-on - the few were amassing fortunes on the backs of the many. What he suggested as a solution was all wrong. But he saw the problem correctly - too much going too few, too little going to too many ...

 

NO WAY AT ALL

Crapola. Nobody in their right mind WANTS to be on welfare. Most aspire to higher standard of living. If they are on welfare, it is because they do not have the credentials for a better paying job. If they did, they'd be working.

Yes, I will not deny that some people are just born lazy and live all their lives that way. But, I insist on the fact that most are not. They are a victims of societal circumstance.

Why don't they have necessary qualities for a good paying job? There are myriad reasons, the principal one being they were born into a family that was on Welfare. Damn few escape because they were "born brilliant".

So, what is needed is for most is - yes - assistance. They need a proper education to get the credentials any worthy job necessitates nowadays. And yet, 45% of all children in high-school today will never get a post-secondary degree.

Not because they don't want one, but because it is too damn expensive and they cannot afford it. So, they join the Army - and just hope they don't come home in a body-bag or with brain-damage.

Is that any way to live? I say, No Way At All.

So, why not give them a boost - Welfare to families below the poverty threshold and free post-secondary education (and healthcare). Then they are on their own.

MY POINT

The result will be, at the very least, a lot fewer people in prison. The US has the highest rate of incarceration of any developed nation on earth - and two/three times as much as most European countries where Welfare and Healthcare and Post-secondary Education are offered free, gratis and for nothing.

Beyond that, except for Healthcare, one is on their own. But, more or less, they have what is necessary to find a decent job - so they don't turn to crime just because they could not afford proper post-secondary schooling (either vocational, 2- or 4-year).

If as a nation we had only the good sense to give them just that, more than likely most will not end up in either in prison or spending their lives below the Poverty Threshold ...

 

They aren't victims. They are willing participants. For every person living in poverty that's doing all the right things but can't get ahead there are 100 that are there because of their choices.

 

I can see you are still trying to put words in my mouth. Just read what I type, thats what I mean.

The American dream is still real, just much harder to attain now than it was when the US was the only intact industrialized nation in the world.

 

I may be waiting in my lair to pounce on fools, but I am not that lair. But on the subject under discussion, you seem to have no defense, no argument, no hope. So I was correct.

 

A man born on first, needs no worries about hitting a pitch. A man born on second doesn't have to run 180 feet or hit. A man born on third saves himself a run of 270 feet and does not need to hit. A man born at home plate has already scored, he doesn't have to do anything at all. The poor are always the hitters in this silly analogy, they get throw curve balls, sliders, fastballs, get hit by pitchers, get thrown out on strikes, hit into outs, hit foul balls and yet you still insist that every one of them must get a hit just to get to first base.

 

Going along with your incredibly stupid analogy, the only way to not get to first would be to swing at pitches that you know ahead of time will be balls.

4 things can almost guarantee a middle class life style.
1. Graduate High School
2. Dont have kids until married and at least 25 years old
3. Get a full time job and dont quit or get fired until you find a better one.
4. Dont have a criminal record.

 

Its actually only stupid because there I forgot to talk about the poor kid born into a triple A farm team that will never, ever get to the majors let alone get a chance at bat. Your heartless advice is symbolic of the white parties insistence that all of us participate in this grand meritocracy you think exists. You cannot even grasp the simple fact that your POTUS was born into wealth and is so stupid he has lost his money several times over not due to his superior skills or graduate school diploma but because he simply took the criminal path, he just lied, cheated and stole his way to wealth. He is not unlike Pablo in that way, cunningly devious and willing to do anything to get a buck. The rest of us don't have that design flaw, we try to follow the rules but for most of us, it never goes anywhere.

 

Income becomes wealth when you trade income for things of real value. Period, full stop.

 

The problem that Wolley points out, very simply, if I grant your 4 assertions, is that accomplishing those 4 things are extremely easy for some and extremely difficult for others.

Now I can't speak for Woolley on this, but I think that removing some of the difficulty for those that have it the hardest is what we should be focused on.

 

Even monkeys grasp what Republican voters can't.

 

Well, one problem is that inflation over the last few decades has increased much faster than income levels have. A guy who works as a janitor isn't making the same hourly wage as a guy working the same exact job forty or thirty years ago would have.

 

You think it's hard to not have kids until married?

What about staying out of prison? You think that's hard?

Yes, getting and keeping a full time job can be difficult in some places. If you can't get a full time job, take any job you can until you get a better one.