Real Clear Politics Article: Does Income Inequality Still Matter?

[hkHog]

Oh it goes back further than that. The decision to become a debt based economy spawned the credit card craze and the mortgage craze. It was never sustainable

Not true, a debt based economy is the only really good way that man has invented to allow wealth to be created steadily and consistently and spread around to as many people as possible. When taken to extremes it is bad but in moderation it is an extremely positive thing and the very foundation of modern economies. It is the job of the central banks around the world to responsibly control the money supply but when they do not do this well we get into trouble.

EDIT: The real problems start when people start using the monetary supply as a policy tool saying things like, "Oh, the stock market is going down, lets cut rates." That is what has gotten us into so much debt. Central banks ONLY job should be to make sure that the money supply is at the right level to sustain population growth and wealth creation while maintaining steady low inflation. Somewhere along the way though politicians and central bankers convinced themselves that they were smart enough to micromanage every aspect of the economy using the money supply and this is how we got to such unsustainable levels of debt.

[Hubbs]

Americans are some the highest paid workers in the world

...because we're the wealthiest country in the world. The disparity between the income of the top 1% and the income of the bottom 50% has gone way out of whack in the past couple of decades, though, creating the debt crisis (it's not a credit crisis, and never has been). Demand has absorbed supply via exponentially increasing debt.

[endzone_dave]

...because we're the wealthiest country in the world. The disparity between the income of the top 1% and the income of the bottom 50% has gone way out of whack in the past couple of decades, though, creating the debt crisis (it's not a credit crisis, and never has been). Demand has absorbed supply via exponentially increasing debt.

Much of our debt problem is caused by people needing to have all of the nice things in life, whether they can afford them or not. Everyone on the economic scale had to have cell phones, ipods, hdtv's, cars with gps's, and big houses.

We live in a "I want, I want, I want" society. Our debt problem isn't just from income inequality. If everyone in this country made $20K more per year than they do now, we'd still be in the same mess.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Americans are some the highest paid workers in the world

With a very high cost of living.

[81artmonk]

I am fine with people who build their wealth on their own or via hard work.

I am not fine with Xth generation wealthy people who have no idea what hard work is, riding high on the hog based on what their family elders have done.

That's the income inequality that needs to be rectified.

So in your eyes, the only reason someone becomes disqualitfied and should be punished for being rich are those who inherit it??

[StuckinIA]

I am fine with people who build their wealth on their own or via hard work.

I am not fine with Xth generation wealthy people who have no idea what hard work is, riding high on the hog based on what their family elders have done.

That's the income inequality that needs to be rectified.

I hate people that are born into poverty. They contribute nothing to society. I do not care if it is not their fault. They should be thrown directly into prison. ****ing leaches!

[techboy]

The disparity between the income of the top 1% and the income of the bottom 50% has gone way out of whack in the past couple of decades, though, creating the debt crisis (it's not a credit crisis, and never has been).

That's nuts. In this country, poor means having only basic cable instead of HBO. Look to Africa if you want to see poverty.

To suggest, therefore, that these "poor" people just had to borrow because they needed to watch the Sopranos and drive a BMW is ludicrous.

Much of the debt in this country is for wants, not needs, and exhibit A would be the mortgage debacle. Nobody needs to own a house, and a lot of people bought one anyway, even if they couldn't afford it, or bought a nicer one than they should have.

I'm not going to pin that on some boogeyman of the "wealth disparity". So what if Bill Gates has more money than I do? I'm not entitled to live like he does, and it is a sense of entitlement that got us into this mess in the first place.