[ExI] The INCREDIBLE acceleration of the wealth gap

John Clark johnkclark at gmail.com
Tue Jan 17 16:34:16 UTC 2017


On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 10:38 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:


> ​>
> I am not suggesting they are lying, rather that it isn’t at all clear how
> to define how much wealth a person owns.
>

​
Well for one thing, 8 people could use their personal finances to employ
3.6 billion people, if they could figure out something for them to do.
Which they can't.
​ ​
But the important thing is not the particular metric used but the fact that
the criteria hasn't changed
​ since 2010​
, and since 2010 to today the number has dropped from 388 to 8. That has
got to be cause for concern.


> ​> ​
> Consider this guy George Soros, plenty of money, ja?  But…the guy is 86
> yrs old.  How long can he have?  10 years if he is lucky?


​
And
​Trump
wants to get rid of the inheritance tax. So when Soros dies he could
​if he wished ​
give all his money to his kids without paying any taxes and create a
inherited upper class that could continue for generations.
​A ​
inherited upper class
​ that needs to do nothing but sit on their ass and build billion dollar
houses.​

​> ​
> consider Gates.  He has no known political aspirations (although it isn’t
> a bit clear to me why not) and it isn’t even clear which party he is in.
> Why the heck not put a guy like him running for the top office?  Hell he
> could have chosen either party
> and won this time, either party!  He has demonstrated he can run a big
> empire.  We would be damn happy to have him


​I would have voted for Bill Gates too and done so in a heartbeat
regardless of what political party he chose to run in, but I doubt he could
have won because he's not a great speaker and doesn't know how to push the
mob's buttons. I can't see Gates whipping up a crowd into a frenzy with
chants of ​

​​
​"lock her up" or "build the wall", and apparently you need ​that sort of
ability to get elected president these days. I wonder what silly nickname
Trump would have dreamed up for him, Nerdy-Gate?

>
>> ​> ​
>> …​That's ​what worries me, ​the mob won't find the scoundrel but they
>> will find me, and if his neck isn't available they'll just have to make do
>> with mine, and so my head and shoulders will part company
>
>
>
> ​> ​
> John you scare me, my brother.  Methinks you need to pack up and move to a
> safer neighborhood.
>
>
​My neighborhood is far safer than most, but when the shit hits the fan no
place will be safe.​



> ​> ​
> I don’t see anything around me ever that causes me to think society is
> anywhere near violent uprising, proletariat revolt or any of that.  The
> scenario you offered is almost self-contradictory: the proletariat voted
> for Trump?
>
>
​
A majority of the proletariat did NOT vote for Trump, a plurality of the
proletariat did NOT vote for Trump, but yes any proletarian, or any human
being for that matter, who voted for Trump is indeed
​engaging in ​
self-contradictory
​ behavior.​

​> ​
> So… the resentful masses are… with the government?  Doesn’t that seem
> backwards?
>

​Yep, but this is far from the first time backward ​
things have happened in politics. ​



> ​> ​
> I don’t see what you are worrying about and why.
>

​Spike, do you really think the wealth gap can not only keep widening but
keep accelerating, and keep doing so forever without blood in the streets?


> ​> ​
> We hear of proposed solutions, such as guaranteed minimum income, and that
> could help,
>
>
​Yes.​


> ​> ​
> but it isn’t a solution in itself.  People need work rather than just a
> handout.
>
>
​That isn't going ​to happen because there will be no jobs around, except
perhaps silly makework jobs that are just thinly
disguised
​ ​
​handouts. ​


> ​> ​
> After all this time, it still isn’t clear to me what the lower end of
> humanity will do with themselves
>

​
This isn't just a problem for the lower end of humanity, every single
member of the human race
​without exception ​
will
​have to ​
face this problem
​,​
it's just a question of when, and the time when we
​all ​
have to face it is coming much quicker than I expected. I don't pretend to
have a total solution to the problem but I do know that a good place to
start is to make sure people don't die in the streets from starvation or
lack of health care. After that we can worry about finding a way to insure
their feeling
​of ​
self fulfilment.


> ​> ​
> We are now with robotics where the automotive industry and the aircraft
> industry was in about 1900: plenty of people can see potential up the kazoo
> and know it is about to happen.  But this time, we won’t really employ all
> that many people.
>

​I Agree, and the number of jobs needed for that to happen will follow an
exponential curve, an exponential curve downward. And that's why pure
classical libertarian philosophy needs to be modified, at least in the
economic sphere.

John K Clark

​



>
>
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