[ExI] The INCREDIBLE acceleration of the wealth gap

[spike]

>… On Behalf Of John Clark



>…AND NOW IT IS 8. I suppose nobody should have been surprised that people are getting so angry they do irrational things, like voting for Donald Trump, even though Trump's policies, to the extent that he has policies, will only accelerate the acceleration of the acceleration of the gap. Anybody who is not terrified by this doesn't understand the situation…John K Clark​

 

 

John, if things happen that seem inexplicable to you, or the masses are acting in a way that seems irrational, or you are getting constant cognitive dissonance, it could be there is something wrong with your model.  You are the only one here who promotes the notion if fewer than 8 people have more wealth than the bottom half of humanity combined, it all suddenly explodes.  Do take some time to carefully examine that assumption please.

 

After severe introspection, consider the following questions: 

 

1.      How do we know it is true?  

2.      In what sense is it true?  

3.      How are we defining ownership?  

4.      How is wealth being counted?  

5.      What is the value of Mexico?  And who owns it?  

6.      And what is the value of Russia?  And who owns that?  

7.      If it all explodes to chaos, what does that mean, very specifically please?  

8.      If masses of hungry people are in the streets, does that count as chaos?  

9.      What streets?  

10.  What must they do once in the streets to qualify as chaos?

11.  Who are they attacking and who is defending?

12.  What are they hoping to take, so that they will improve their wellbeing?

13.  Are there historical examples?

14.  Who are all these angry people?  I know of only one really.  Perhaps more important: where are they?

15.  What is similar now and what is different now from your historical examples?

16.  How does intellectual property fit into the picture?

17.  What is the value of the copyright or patent on Microsloth Excel, compared to all the gold in Fort Knox?

18.  A large percentage of the poorest people on the continent live on the continent of Africa, so how do we count the value of continents like Africa?

19.  What if religion comes into the picture, such as a really rich guy of one major branch of a major religion is being attacked by followers of the other major branch, so that the rich feller’s branch come to his aid, then what?

20.  What if national boundaries come into play, such as Qatar using its considerable military might to defend attackers mostly from another nation?

21.  If the top eight wealthiest people on earth had any use for it, could they buy Africa?

22.  If these really poor people decide it is time to rise up and slay the rich, it stands to reason they are far too poor to purchase plane tickets to get to at least seven of those richest people, so they will have to settle for the nearest one, such as your example of the castle-builder in Mumbai, so they slay him.  Now what?

23.  What if they storm the castle but can’t find the scoundrel because he already thought of that and had a contingency, a secret tunnel to a non-descript house with an escape vehicle, now what?

24.  What if the world watches this attempted proletariat revolt and decides perhaps the rich guys really aren’t harming the poor at all, but rather it is the poor who are harming the poor?

 

You don’t need to answer all or even most of the above, but do feel free to pick one or two and comment, or go free-form and explain why you think this is so dangerous please.

 

More fundamental than the above, I question the assumptions of whoever is claiming that the combined wealth of 8 people is greater than the poorest 3.5 billion people.  I would say it depends entirely on how you count it.  All the ways I can think of to count wealth are completely arbitrary, but I will listen if you wish to propose something.

 

spike

 

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