67% of Americans Think "Wealth Gap" Unfair

• Footwedge

  Now does that mean that 67% of Americans are anti capitalism? Well, I'm sure the fatman on the AM dial believes that. After all, according to him, "the OWS are nothing more than human debris".
  
  What was kind of surprising though, a full 35% of Republicans agreed with this assessment.
  
  Only an idiot would conclude that days neocaptalism...i.e. butt buddies in Washington with Wall Street...is an arbitrated, fair system.
  
  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66877.html
• jhay78

  

  What's unfair is "crony capitalism", where government and leaders of industry team up to pad each other's pockets. Where the government picks winners and losers and keeps bad/ineffective entities from failing via bailouts.
  
  What's idiotic is the suggestions some make to correct this wealth gap. Punishing the wealthy via the tax code, and redistributing wealth via that same tax code is not the way to go.
• fish82

  

  So mad.
• queencitybuckeye

  I'd be curious what percentage of the American people have studied even the most basic Economics. The opinions of those who have not don't hold a lot of credibility.
• Writerbuckeye

  

  Why would that poll result surprise anyone? We've become a culture addicted to victimhood.
• gut

  jhay78;946789 wrote: What's idiotic is the suggestions some make to correct this wealth gap. Punishing the wealthy via the tax code, and redistributing wealth via that same tax code is not the way to go.

  The problem as I see it is the line worker has no competitive advantage globally and capitalism is indeed working as predicted to redistribute wealth, it's just not the manner of redistribution people want to see. But how do you offset or help that (at the expense of the top) without hurting your overall economy? I fail to see how protectionism and socialism will create the needed structural and fundamental changes for redress.
• gut

  Writerbuckeye;946805 wrote:Why would that poll result surprise anyone? We've become a culture addicted to victimhood.

  Partly attributable to defining a roof over your head, food on the table, a car, cable tv, cell phone, internet...as the poverty level.
• Con_Alma

  Is this really surprising?
• Con_Alma

  gut;946815 wrote:Partly attributable to defining a roof over your head, food on the table, a car, cable tv, cell phone, internet...as the poverty level.

  Exactly.
• DeyDurkie5

  

  what % of the people polled were black?
• I Wear Pants

  Neocapitalism, crony capitalism, whatever you want to call it is a massive problem. Which is why I think corporate lobbying should be looked at and all the ridiculous PACs, SuperPACs, 501(c)(4)s (had to search for the name of that one as I didn't remember it) shouldn't exist. There isn't a reason for people to be able to anonymously give unlimited amounts of money to a campaign.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  The wealth gap is a huge problem. People are just uneducated about it. They think we need government involvement and central planning to fix it when that is what caused it.
• gut

  How exactly is the govt responsible for the wealth gap? Where does the govt take from poor and give to the rich? The growing wealth gap is a direct result of globalization. That's why the last 10 years have seen a ridiculously low percentage of productivity gains go to the worker because of supply/demand of the global labor pool.
• I Wear Pants

  Cleveland Buck;946844 wrote:The wealth gap is a huge problem. People are just uneducated about it. They think we need government involvement and central planning to fix it when that is what caused it.

  Well it was partly government involvement in the wrong ways/places and partly lack of government involvement where we did need it that gave us the environment for what we have today to form.
• gut

  I Wear Pants;946855 wrote:Well it was partly government involvement in the wrong ways/places and partly lack of government involvement where we did need it that gave us the environment for what we have today to form.

  I'll agree with the destruction of wealth (or failure to allow the creation). I'm not sure that explains the wealth GAP, though. Govt policy doesn't dictate, nor should it, what price a company sets and how much they pay their workers. Actually, they do set a floor for wages. But unless you are arguing for a ceiling on wages/earnings I don't see how you blame the govt for the wealth gap, unless you're pro-protectionism.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  The wealth gap is a direct result of the central planning of the Federal Reserve and their debasement of the dollar. All of the problems branch out from there. Nothing more or less.
• Footwedge

  queencitybuckeye;946795 wrote:I'd be curious what percentage of the American people have studied even the most basic Economics. The opinions of those who have not don't hold a lot of credibility.

  Probably very few. But apparently they are smart enough to read the reports printed all over the internet.
• Footwedge

  DeyDurkie5;946830 wrote:what % of the people polled were black?

  Obviously racism lives
• HitsRus

  

  You can call it crony capitalism etc etc....but the term "wealth gap" seems to me to be a political term that exacerbates the entitlement mentality. It is just another excuse to blame someone else for one's economic plight.
  
  Of course, 67% are going to think it's unfair that someone makes a lot more than they do. It's a loaded question. Moreover, to use the term defines the arguement in such a way as to be predjudicial.....as if all wealth is unfair or unfairly created.
  
  Certainly, there should be concern about government and industry teaming up to pad each other's pockets...PAC's ...etc. Discussion should be on those terms not on buzzwords that imply a class struggle.
  
  

  Partly attributable to defining a roof over your head, food on the table, a car, cable tv, cell phone, internet...as the poverty level

  One cannot underestimate the constant drum beat of politicians and the media to create an entitlement mentality. For 20 years, many politicians have put forth healthcare as something every American has a right to. As a healthcare professional, I see on a daily basis, people who are unwilling to spend even the smallest amounts on their own health. Even people who have good insurance, will not pay for anything that insurance doesn't cover, even if it is detrimental to their health. Some people don't even think that should have to pay their co-payments. This has become a problem because we have let some [people frame the arguement of healthcare reform and health care as a "right".
  
  I think you have to be careful on how you frame the debate. I am not going to debate a "wealth gap"...that term is unfairly predjudicial.
• I Wear Pants

  Health care is a tricky one for me. Because I very much believe what Hits just said and at the same time think there needs to be at least some base level of care available to our citizens. Don't know exactly what that should mean though. What we had pre-Obamacare and Obamacare aren't the answers though.
• believer

  

  HitsRus;947878 wrote:I am not going to debate a "wealth gap"...that term is unfairly predjudicial.

  this
• queencitybuckeye

  Footwedge;947406 wrote:Probably very few. But apparently they are smart enough to read the reports printed all over the internet.

  They may be but I'd bet most don't. More likely they operate under a model of "I have less, they have more, therefore it's unfair".
• gut

  queencitybuckeye;947936 wrote:They may be but I'd bet most don't. More likely they operate under a model of "I have less, they have more, therefore it's unfair".

  The intertz is also filled with plenty of inaccurate and misinformation. Mainly it allows like-minded idiots to form a consensus for their misguided beliefs.
• jhay78

  

  HitsRus;947878 wrote:You can call it crony capitalism etc etc....but the term "wealth gap" seems to me to be a political term that exacerbates the entitlement mentality. It is just another excuse to blame someone else for one's economic plight.
  
  Of course, 67% are going to think it's unfair that someone makes a lot more than they do. It's a loaded question. Moreover, to use the term defines the arguement in such a way as to be predjudicial.....as if all wealth is unfair or unfairly created.
  
  Certainly, there should be concern about government and industry teaming up to pad each other's pockets...PAC's ...etc. Discussion should be on those terms not on buzzwords that imply a class struggle.
  
  
  
  
  One cannot underestimate the constant drum beat of politicians and the media to create an entitlement mentality. For 20 years, many politicians have put forth healthcare as something every American has a right to. As a healthcare professional, I see on a daily basis, people who are unwilling to spend even the smallest amounts on their own health. Even people who have good insurance, will not pay for anything that insurance doesn't cover, even if it is detrimental to their health. Some people don't even think that should have to pay their co-payments. This has become a problem because we have let some [people frame the arguement of healthcare reform and health care as a "right".
  
  I think you have to be careful on how you frame the debate. I am not going to debate a "wealth gap"...that term is unfairly predjudicial.

  Reps- very well said.
  
  I hear this all the time with politicians calling for the rich to "give back" a little more via taxes, as if their wealth originally came solely as the result of government benevolence in the first place.
• dwccrew

  

  DeyDurkie5;946830 wrote:what % of the people polled were black?

  67%