Why do some people from humble beginnings accumulate wealth and others never accumulate wealth? Well the perpetual poor people think ahead to the weekend or their vacation from work next month. They make sure they have enough cigarettes and beer to last the weekend. Those who accumulate wealth plan into the future 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and on into their retirement. When they receive a paycheck they pay themselves first (savings and investing) before paying their bills. They live within their means and avoid debt like the plague. It's so simple.
Uh- the message of my post has obviously flown past your field of view, you missed it all. You DO save your money, you do INVEST your money, and the money you saved and invested makes more money. IF you don't save money to start, there will be none to invest, and no gains produced by the money you failed to save and invest. The fact you have to start at the starting line may be inconvenient, but every journey starts with a single step- not a free ride to the halfway point.
Huh? The wealth gap grew during Clinton years, it grew astronomically during Obama years, it of course grew during Bush years... The first time in decades the middle class and working poor got a raise was the first 3 years of Trump's administration.... Judging by Biden's team, his plans and the libs' priorities this will be the last raise the working people will get in decades to come.
A lot of it also comes from making the right choices at the right times and avoiding life damning mistakes early on. The single biggest one I've noticed in my experience would be having children at a young age prior to being financially stable. I've seen that be the single biggest thing to pretty much ruin your future when looking at everyone else from my graduating class so many years ago. Out of everyone I know who is doing well they each have one common denominator, they didn't have kids shortly after high school (or while in high school like many did). Out of everyone who still remains stuck in my poor jobless hometown all had children right after school and it pretty much screwed them for life. I am by no means anti-child or believe that bearing children is something only the affluent should be afforded, but if you have one before you are financially set to do so then your chances of success just became orders of magnitude more difficult unless you have a very strong supporting family or something willing to help you out while you get yourself on track. As someone who drug himself out of poverty into the comfortable middle class I'll tell you it takes a conscious effort to do that every single day. As you said the "vices" need to get put in the backseat and while many hold the sentiment of "live your life to the fullest" mine was simply "grind in misery now and I'll live later because I am NOT living like this forever". So while most of my friends went out every weekend and spent their little money on partying and booze I put away most of my little extra cash with the plan to get the hell out of my little town and never come back. And I made sure I never made the mistake of impregnating somebody as I worked 60 hour work weeks at a barely above minimum wage job because I knew if that ever happened then everything I was doing would be for nothing.
Yes ofcourse. But in the absence of a cure for this, the only way to rectify the problem is to collect the tax from where the money goes. I agree Trump did stop outsourcing and immigration and I see this as a good thing, albeit a short term solution which pushes automation forward, while making American products less competitive in the world market.
For the record, I employ about 107 people and among them I see a few who could go out and build a business, but I see most who have not got the confidence or recklessness needed to do this. That does not mean those employees are worth less and deserve to struggle through life. Ofcourse there should be a wealth gap, but there is no need for it to be obscene. I always struggle to understand why anyone who has more money than they could ever reasonably spend, them moves that money offshore to avoid tax.
The wealth gap has become much larger than ever before. Wealth gaps are justifiable when they are for the common good. They play an important role in a capitalist economy. But societies with higher living standards than us, while retaining capitalism, have much smaller wealth gaps.
As Neil Boortz once said, "Take all the money in the world and divided it evenly among the people and 5 years later the previous wealthy would own most of the money and the previous poor would be poor again". Wealth gap is the result of human nature and we need to stop worrying about it. There is nothing man can do to change it.
Okay 1st the attempt to compare the US 1950 tax rate to today is at best idiotic. 1st the top rate of 90% only hit a out five people in the entire country and they most famously the Gettys, all moved so it never collected a dime. Second the the budget in that time period was 2/3 defense spending 20% infrastructure, and thirteen percent everything else. There were no unfunded mandates upon the states by the federal government. And the actual amount of taxes collected as a percent of GDP was about the same. And yet that was vastly better than the decades before it during the middle ages Nope the cure for this is easy. Close the damn borders tell the tech giants no more replacing American workers with H1bs at 25 Cents on the dollar keep the Trump tax rates where there at. Raising taxes does not disperse wealth it concentrates it. Because tax avoidance becomes more profitable than production and the ultimate tax avoidance is to move else where.
One might make the same claim for rape and murder, that they are human nature. That no matter how we try we cannot stop them. But we never stop trying. That's civilisation. So is controlling the wealth gap.
We have our fair share of nationalists on this side of the Atlantic, who think you can just shut the rest of the world outside. History teaches us that it don't work. In the end all that happens is prices rise to pay your own citizens and therefore that pay equates to nothing. And what would you do about automation? Revive the luddites?
Actually narrowly defined closing your borders is a good thing. This does not mean no trade just no importation of cheap labor until you have to have it.
Apologies. I just re-read your post. Yes I think reducing immigration is something that appeals to most first world citizens. Though again if you pay American citizens you must expect prices to rise as well. So again, no net gain. Slightly different in the UK where we are overpopulated as well.
If it were about the underlined part of your post I would more support it. I disagree with the bolded part of your post though. Inflation destroys retirees getting fixed benefits and more inflation would move them further to the back of the bus. Besides, wealth cannot be circulated. Only money can. Apples and Oranges have profound differences in this particular circumstance.
But there is a net gain higher middle class wages and more productivity with fewer language problems. And let's face it inviting people into your country for whom you have no jobs is a net loss. Further I want every country to be the best it can be and that means economically free both as to labor and management and owners. That is the only way in which real economic progress can be made.
This is zero sum economics to a fault. Using your example, if the economy is valued at $1.00 today, its $1.02 tomorrow. Because somebody created wealth. A year from now, its worth @1.50. Our economy is NOT a game of monopoly with a fixed value. The overwhelming majority of people in poverty is a result of themselves. The decisions they have made in life. 80% of all millionaires in the US are self made. In our economy, it doesn't matter how much money another person has. It has zero bearing on how much a poor person has. Nobody is poor because another is wealthy.
We disagree Too many pennies are sequestered and not circulating whether the nation's currency totals $1.00, $1.02 or $1.50
Its odd to me that you credit government for preventing 1 in 3 children from contracting diseases or people having a life expectancy of more than 46. The private sector, individuals and corporations were the parties responsible for making those improvements.
So, if there isn't profits, are those same employees willing to let go of their house to cover the loss? The problem with this perspective is that of risk. The employees want a portion of the profit, without the liability of the losses. Are the employees willing to cough up some cash for the losses to keep the company moving forward?