Gleaning Facebook: Wealth Winning Over Democracy

Thanks to Billy Grant for pointing me to this article. As I have said many times, unbridled socialism is contrary to human nature and does NOT work, but it is no more dangerous than unregulated capitalism. No one "earns" billions. They may be very industrious, brilliant, creative, etc, but they are also extremely lucky and their fortune is totally dependent on the hard work of thousands of folk of lesser means.

Comments:

Tersi Bendiburg I agree with your comment, Terrell. Both extremes, a most extremes, are hurtful to society, and to the human spirit.

Tersi Bendiburg I meant to write, "...as most extremes,.."

Duane Parsons I believe I remember the statistics reported yesterday correctly. 60% of the Freshman Senators and 40% of the Freshman House members are millionaires while only 1% of the American population is.

Tersi Bendiburg I just wanted to remind you that I've lived, and experienced both. Actually worse, for my family and I experienced the stifling insanity for the many, double standards of the few, living in communism. Yet, as a Christian, I believe that there has to be a happy medium, where we do not live sheltered, and ignorant, of the needs of others. Of the suffering in this world. Or without the awareness that compared to many countries in the world, most of us are rich. Having all the we need and some, or a lot, of what we want.

Terrell Shaw When I posted this my words were truncated again by Facebook's word limits.. grrrrrr! The rest went something like this: My question for those who support continued (or even increased) "tax relief" for the wealthy is --- At what point do you believe wealth becomes too concentrated? Billionaires have had their taxes cut by more than 60% since the 1970s and their control of the wealth of our nation has greatly increased. CEOs "earn" nearly 300 times the pay of their hourly employees instead of the 35:1 ratio of the seventies. So I repeat, assuming that we do not want all wealth concentrated in one person's hands, at what point do you believe wealth becomes too concentrated?

Duane Parsons CEO-to-worker wage gap has been a “hot button” for years & when I taught grad school, it was a favorite topic. Statistics & calculations are varied but the high was probably ~ 525 in 2005 & hovering ~ 400 today. Doesn’t matter-this wage gap is too high & needs to be brought under control starting with public education then public debate of the moral and ethical ramifications. I have no idea of equilibrium but I do know that widely divergent income levels throughout history have caused societal turmoil. It is only the tip of iceberg of corp. greed because CEO stock options, long-term incentive plans, & other perks are not normally (or cannot be) calculated as wages. There are other wage gaps to debate; Gender (women 82.8% of men); private equity managers & everyone else, including CEOs; professional athletes, and so on and so on. Yes, the President of the United States has numerous benefits and perks, but the compensation is $400,000/year.