I'm not complaining about people being rich. Good for them. But when that wealth is derived from depriving people of their livelihoods, leaving them nowhere to go, there should be a cost.
The wealthy do pay more taxes. How much more is the point of contention. Labeling earnings as "capturing wealth" is distorting the situation, making it sound like they're just stealing it. And you earning money doesn't reduce my income. Envy surely doesn't justify the taking of another's fruits of their labor. You've got people like schuylaar or Buck who just plain flat out refuse to work who spend their days demanding even more largess from the public while condemning them them at the same time. They both "claim" they made tons o' money years ago and therefore we owe them not only a living, but a pretty damn good one at that. Then insult and curse us for not doing enough, with "enough" being defined by them.
The point could be made that those people are the result of "unlicensed" parents with poor parenting skills. Not saying I support the idea of licensing parents.the result of your "solution would be a nation of these:
you would usher in the Idiocracy?
they are the result of the sorts of people who would be issued licenses.
You aren't following the discussion. My comment relates to the elimination of labor by automation, which leaves the labor with no livelihood (and the people who depended on the demand of that labor to earn their livelihoods as well). My point is that a large number of people are economically irrelevant and incapable of earning any living on their own. If you filled every available job in this country right now you would have millions of people left over with nothing to do.
The potential for corruption is severe, and the motive for it, extreme.
You are a Luddite. The wealthy haven't "vastly increased their wealth by rendering other people economically irrelevant", they just find more efficient ways to do things. They don't deserve to be punished for that. Do you want to pay $200,000 thousand for a piece of crap car? That's what it would cost without automation. Food production, consumer goods, everything you buy depend on automation to make them affordable. Without automation, hundreds of millions would be starving in the streets. You're letting some idealized fantasy world that just can't exist without the death of 90% of the human race become your goal. And those that remain would be living as we did 1000 years ago. Think things through.
Again, you misunderstand. I'm not complaining about the technology at all or advocating against it. But it is an undeniable fact that the wealthy have vastly increased their wealth by rendering other people economically irrelevant. That's part of the efficiency--an unavoidable and indisputable consequence. I'm merely pointing it out.
No, most the rich produce nothing. They get their money by buying low and selling high, whether it be stocks or groceries. Some by selling their expertise. Some by being entertaining, or playing a sport well. The minority who gain their wealth by producing stuff are the ones who employ the poor, giving them income and keeping them from continuing to be poor. The only ones we don't "need" are the entertainers and sportsmen. But we want them and are willing to pay for them. Take away the idea of wealth removes their incentive for supplying what we need. You should be demanding the NFL lose it's non-profit status and publicly bought billions of dollars of sports stadiums. Instead of those who employ the rest of us making us NOT "economically irrelevant".
Yeah, that's just not true.
No? I say you're wrong.
People living in ghettos are not afforded the same opportunities as other well off people
And?
wow, it's like a race to the center of the dumb with the righties around here.
It is a fact if a neighborhood starts having lots of black folks move into it property values go down.wow, it's like a race to the center of the dumb with the righties around here.
most people live in "ghettos" because they were de facto segregated into them and the cycle of poverty keeps them there, not some republican meme of laziness.
witness: detroit
san antonio
washington DC
the same thing happens in every city. it is our legacy as a nation, and i don't know how we'll overcome it. but we must if we are to give the promise of opportunity equality to all. and calling people stupid or lazy for being born into areas of lower opportunity helps nothing and is quite prejudiced and ugly.