Morality of Wealth Redistribution

[Spoonman]

Not to mention more affordable college tuition, a better economy with more job opportunities. An economy where our jobs were here, not overseas and we actually had ladders that you could climb, not rungs missing due to jobs being sent overseas.

The ladders are still there. you are totally missing the point. Companies recruit out of colleges. Many big companies have a policy that part of managments bonus is based on how well they recruit and how well they move people they recruit through the organization. White collar jobs are not outsourced techical jobs are still there, they are different. we are in a faster paced environment. They can't find enough computer techs, nurses, healthworkers. engineers, electical technitions. Factory work is gone. Union wages out priced them to the point they weren't competitive in a global market. But there are plenty of manufacturing jobs. now they are just technical and require training. becasue people are running high tech equipment. Solar installers are going to be in huge demand over the next 10 years. who is making themselves capable to fill those positions?

No, you are missing the point. You went to college at a time when you could make enough on minimum wage with ONE job and still go to college. You were able to better yourself that way. That opportunity is no longer available to most minimum wage workers in this economy and hasn't been for many years. Minimum wage just doesn't have the spending power it did when you were working your way up the ladder. Plus the ladders are missing rungs. Our jobs have been sent overseas. Even my nephew, who went to MIT on a scholarship and had much help from his parents ended up going back to school to become a lawyer because HIS jobs was done away with in today's economy. A job that required a degree from MIT. A job working for INTEL. You must be nuts if you think today people have the same opportunity that you did and that they can work to better themselves, it's just not available to most workers.

We have lawyers telling corporations how to word job descriptions so they can bring in people from overseas and no American will qualify for that job. You don't give a damn about those who've had college educations and lost their jobs to immigrants brought in from overseas because the corporations can get away with paying them less. You don't give a damn about the minimum wage worker working two jobs just to feed himself. You just lord it over all those you think you are better than because you believe (erroneously) that you worked "harder" than them and deserve your riches while they deserve to be poor and hungry.

Times are not like they were then, even you admit that, yet you think you are better than them and deserve more than them because you were lucky and lived in a time when jobs were plentiful and when you could work your way through college and better yourself.

Yes, I could afford the $35,000 tuition on my $1.65 minimum wage. Where do you dig up these facts from? Want to go to college today on a minimum wage, go to any one of the excellent state schools for $2000 a sememster. Minimum wage didn't go any further then than it does today. And you seem mighty bitter that you never pulled yourself above where you are currently at. I could have stayed working at rickels, I could have continued to cut lawns, I could have stayed at any one of the numerous wage work positions I had. But I didn't. I got an education. I interviewed for jobs and started at the bottom like anyone else. I looked for opportunities and took them when I saw them. I lost 3 jobs due to companies either relocating or being bought out or simply went under. Do you really think this is a new phenomena? My father lost two jobs due to mergers or phase outs. and this was in the 50's and 60's. Stuff like this has always happened. And you know what mortgage rates were back in my easy days? 18% try managing a mortgage at 4 x the interest rate. You are totally off the wall with this.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Yes, I could afford the $35,000 tuition on my $1.65 minimum wage. Where do you dig up these facts from? Want to go to college today on a minimum wage, go to any one of the excellent state schools for $2000 a sememster. Minimum wage didn't go any further then than it does today.

I rarely disagree with you Spoon, but this time I have to.

Minimum wage today goes VASTLY further than the $1.65 did yesteryear. Compare the number of hours worked to buy a loaf of bread, a car, a TV, or a house. Across the board, it takes less hours today than it did in 1970.

The poor have gotten WAY richer.

 

[Againsheila]

The ladders are still there. you are totally missing the point. Companies recruit out of colleges. Many big companies have a policy that part of managments bonus is based on how well they recruit and how well they move people they recruit through the organization. White collar jobs are not outsourced techical jobs are still there, they are different. we are in a faster paced environment. They can't find enough computer techs, nurses, healthworkers. engineers, electical technitions. Factory work is gone. Union wages out priced them to the point they weren't competitive in a global market. But there are plenty of manufacturing jobs. now they are just technical and require training. becasue people are running high tech equipment. Solar installers are going to be in huge demand over the next 10 years. who is making themselves capable to fill those positions?

No, you are missing the point. You went to college at a time when you could make enough on minimum wage with ONE job and still go to college. You were able to better yourself that way. That opportunity is no longer available to most minimum wage workers in this economy and hasn't been for many years. Minimum wage just doesn't have the spending power it did when you were working your way up the ladder. Plus the ladders are missing rungs. Our jobs have been sent overseas. Even my nephew, who went to MIT on a scholarship and had much help from his parents ended up going back to school to become a lawyer because HIS jobs was done away with in today's economy. A job that required a degree from MIT. A job working for INTEL. You must be nuts if you think today people have the same opportunity that you did and that they can work to better themselves, it's just not available to most workers.

We have lawyers telling corporations how to word job descriptions so they can bring in people from overseas and no American will qualify for that job. You don't give a damn about those who've had college educations and lost their jobs to immigrants brought in from overseas because the corporations can get away with paying them less. You don't give a damn about the minimum wage worker working two jobs just to feed himself. You just lord it over all those you think you are better than because you believe (erroneously) that you worked "harder" than them and deserve your riches while they deserve to be poor and hungry.

Times are not like they were then, even you admit that, yet you think you are better than them and deserve more than them because you were lucky and lived in a time when jobs were plentiful and when you could work your way through college and better yourself.

I have seen whining on this subject, but this post really takes the cake.
Shut the fuck up....
Your nephew has a degree from MIT that was paid for by scholarship money and you have the gall to complain?!!!!! That kid has more opportunities than he will ever realize.

Yeah, he did. He was LUCKY!!!!!!!~!!!!!!

Recognize that. Most don't have those same opportunities. I just admitted that. I also pointed out that his job at Intel no longer exists. His education at MIT was WORTHLESS. He was smart enough to go back to school and get a degree in law so that he would have a job.

hard work isn't enough. Education isn't enough. Luck is a big part of it. My nephew, even with his scholarship could not have gone to MIT if his parents didn't poney up $40,000 a year. How many people can do that today?

I had a friend that got a scholarship to Harvard and still couldn't go. (makes me wonder how Obama did it) And that was when college was cheaper and the minimum wage had more spending power.

I'm not a lib, I'm a mod and I see you as the greedy sob you are. We need to go back to a time when our income gap was smaller and the average CEO only made about 57 times what his workers made instead of more than 500 times what they make.

 

[Againsheila]

Yes, I could afford the $35,000 tuition on my $1.65 minimum wage. Where do you dig up these facts from? Want to go to college today on a minimum wage, go to any one of the excellent state schools for $2000 a sememster. Minimum wage didn't go any further then than it does today.

I rarely disagree with you Spoon, but this time I have to.

Minimum wage today goes VASTLY further than the $1.65 did yesteryear. Compare the number of hours worked to buy a loaf of bread, a car, a TV, or a house. Across the board, it takes less hours today than it did in 1970.

The poor have gotten WAY richer.

You must be joking. MW is what? Less than $8 an hour federal? Bread is at least $2.00. A car, minimum $15,000, an apartment around here, $700 minimum. More than one bedroom much more. Rent a house, we are talking 1500 cheapest, most are $2500 a month.

Heck our gas/electric bill for last month was almost $600. Yeah, sure minimum wage has more spending power today.....NOT!!!!

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Yes, I could afford the $35,000 tuition on my $1.65 minimum wage. Where do you dig up these facts from? Want to go to college today on a minimum wage, go to any one of the excellent state schools for $2000 a sememster. Minimum wage didn't go any further then than it does today.

I rarely disagree with you Spoon, but this time I have to.

Minimum wage today goes VASTLY further than the $1.65 did yesteryear. Compare the number of hours worked to buy a loaf of bread, a car, a TV, or a house. Across the board, it takes less hours today than it did in 1970.

The poor have gotten WAY richer.

You must be joking. MW is what? Less than $8 an hour federal? Bread is at least $2.00. A car, minimum $15,000, an apartment around here, $700 minimum. More than one bedroom much more. Rent a house, we are talking 1500 cheapest, most are $2500 a month.

Heck our gas/electric bill for last month was almost $600. Yeah, sure minimum wage has more spending power today.....NOT!!!!

What's your point? That MW should be what, $30/hr? Yeah, that'll really induce the already terminally lazy to be real go-getters.

 

[Againsheila]

I rarely disagree with you Spoon, but this time I have to.

Minimum wage today goes VASTLY further than the $1.65 did yesteryear. Compare the number of hours worked to buy a loaf of bread, a car, a TV, or a house. Across the board, it takes less hours today than it did in 1970.

The poor have gotten WAY richer.

You must be joking. MW is what? Less than $8 an hour federal? Bread is at least $2.00. A car, minimum $15,000, an apartment around here, $700 minimum. More than one bedroom much more. Rent a house, we are talking 1500 cheapest, most are $2500 a month.

Heck our gas/electric bill for last month was almost $600. Yeah, sure minimum wage has more spending power today.....NOT!!!!

What's your point? That MW should be what, $30/hr? Yeah, that'll really induce the already terminally lazy to be real go-getters.

MW workers are not lazy. They are the hardest workers in our society. You try flipping burgers on your feet all day. You try taking care of the elderly in a nursing home all day. You try doing dishes in a restaurant all day and come back and tell me how easy it is and how lazy those people are. Good grief, does your brain even work????

I can only surmise that you are a wealthy brat who never worked a real job in his/her life.

 

[Uncensored2008]

You must be joking.

Why would I joke?

The minimum wage was $1.60 in 1970. How much was a loaf of bread? Cheap white was $.25.

The represents 9.4 minutes of work

Food Groceries and Toiletries in the 1970's prices 60 examples from The People History Site

Minimum wage now is $7.25. A loaf of cheap white bread is $.89

This represents 7.4 minutes of work.

Walmart.com: Nickles: Enriched White Bread, 20 Oz: Bakery & Bread

A car, minimum $15,000

Cars are the most fun.

Let's take the 1970 Ford Pinto, a cheap car to be sure.

list price, $2,162

1351.25 hours of work, she's all yours.

Today, a Hyundai Accent has a list of $9,794

1338.62 hours and you own it.

Okay, this isn't really fair - the Accent has air conditioning, power breaks and steering, AM/FM/CD/MP3

The Pinto had --- tires...

How about a color TV set? Stereo? - Electronics not fair?

an apartment around here, $700 minimum.

What about a house? Couldn't readily find 1970, this is from 1974 - $34,900

What Happened in 1974 including Pop Culture, Prices, Events and Technology

That represents a staggering 24625 hours of labor at the 1974 minimum wage of $1.65 per hour.

Today a house will run you $177,900

Still staggering, but 24537 is still less labor.

Average Cost of Homes in U.S. - Average House Prices, 2009 to 2010

 

[thereisnospoon]

No, you are missing the point. You went to college at a time when you could make enough on minimum wage with ONE job and still go to college. You were able to better yourself that way. That opportunity is no longer available to most minimum wage workers in this economy and hasn't been for many years. Minimum wage just doesn't have the spending power it did when you were working your way up the ladder. Plus the ladders are missing rungs. Our jobs have been sent overseas. Even my nephew, who went to MIT on a scholarship and had much help from his parents ended up going back to school to become a lawyer because HIS jobs was done away with in today's economy. A job that required a degree from MIT. A job working for INTEL. You must be nuts if you think today people have the same opportunity that you did and that they can work to better themselves, it's just not available to most workers.

We have lawyers telling corporations how to word job descriptions so they can bring in people from overseas and no American will qualify for that job. You don't give a damn about those who've had college educations and lost their jobs to immigrants brought in from overseas because the corporations can get away with paying them less. You don't give a damn about the minimum wage worker working two jobs just to feed himself. You just lord it over all those you think you are better than because you believe (erroneously) that you worked "harder" than them and deserve your riches while they deserve to be poor and hungry.

Times are not like they were then, even you admit that, yet you think you are better than them and deserve more than them because you were lucky and lived in a time when jobs were plentiful and when you could work your way through college and better yourself.

I have seen whining on this subject, but this post really takes the cake.
Shut the fuck up....
Your nephew has a degree from MIT that was paid for by scholarship money and you have the gall to complain?!!!!! That kid has more opportunities than he will ever realize.

Yeah, he did. He was LUCKY!!!!!!!~!!!!!!

Recognize that. Most don't have those same opportunities. I just admitted that. I also pointed out that his job at Intel no longer exists. His education at MIT was WORTHLESS. He was smart enough to go back to school and get a degree in law so that he would have a job.

hard work isn't enough. Education isn't enough. Luck is a big part of it. My nephew, even with his scholarship could not have gone to MIT if his parents didn't poney up $40,000 a year. How many people can do that today?

I had a friend that got a scholarship to Harvard and still couldn't go. (makes me wonder how Obama did it) And that was when college was cheaper and the minimum wage had more spending power.

I'm not a lib, I'm a mod and I see you as the greedy sob you are. We need to go back to a time when our income gap was smaller and the average CEO only made about 57 times what his workers made instead of more than 500 times what they make.

Only a lazy person looks upon the accomplishments of others and calls it "lucky".
An MIT degree worthless?...You must be one angry entitled grumpy fuck.
Opportunity is what one does. Opportunities are earned, not given.
As parents, it was their obligation to assist their child with his educational opportunity. Because of his above average intelligence, he earned that opportunity.
So who in your opinion should regulate your so called income gap? The federal government? Oh goody. Another out of control, unaccountable bureaucracy....
Go back to the drawing board, Mr greedy....You're a lib
Moderates...The weakest link in the chain. Moderates. Those who wait to see what the popular opinion on an issue is then agree with that. Moderates. The people with no compass of their own. No core beliefs. Moderates. The people most likely to compromise even if it goes against everything they believed in the day before.
Each of us is an individual. That means we are not equal. Some of us are able to reach higher levels. Most are not. In your world those who reach the height of their potential should be punished for being "lucky"....Shit.
Go cram your socialist bullshit where the sun don't shine....The only thing we are entitled to is the freedom to make choices. After that, it is up to each one if us to achieve to the best of our ability.
Try thinking outside the little box...For once.
Quit whining and do something about your situation.
One last thing. No one owes anyone anything. If you want to achieve something, work for it.

 

[Chris]

I have seen whining on this subject, but this post really takes the cake.
Shut the fuck up....
Your nephew has a degree from MIT that was paid for by scholarship money and you have the gall to complain?!!!!! That kid has more opportunities than he will ever realize.

Yeah, he did. He was LUCKY!!!!!!!~!!!!!!

Recognize that. Most don't have those same opportunities. I just admitted that. I also pointed out that his job at Intel no longer exists. His education at MIT was WORTHLESS. He was smart enough to go back to school and get a degree in law so that he would have a job.

hard work isn't enough. Education isn't enough. Luck is a big part of it. My nephew, even with his scholarship could not have gone to MIT if his parents didn't poney up $40,000 a year. How many people can do that today?

I had a friend that got a scholarship to Harvard and still couldn't go. (makes me wonder how Obama did it) And that was when college was cheaper and the minimum wage had more spending power.

I'm not a lib, I'm a mod and I see you as the greedy sob you are. We need to go back to a time when our income gap was smaller and the average CEO only made about 57 times what his workers made instead of more than 500 times what they make.

Only a lazy person looks upon the accomplishments of others and calls it "lucky".
An MIT degree worthless?...You must be one angry entitled grumpy fuck.
Opportunity is what one does. Opportunities are earned, not given.
As parents, it was their obligation to assist their child with his educational opportunity. Because of his above average intelligence, he earned that opportunity.
So who in your opinion should regulate your so called income gap? The federal government? Oh goody. Another out of control, unaccountable bureaucracy....
Go back to the drawing board, Mr greedy....You're a lib
Moderates...The weakest link in the chain. Moderates. Those who wait to see what the popular opinion on an issue is then agree with that. Moderates. The people with no compass of their own. No core beliefs. Moderates. The people most likely to compromise even if it goes against everything they believed in the day before.
Each of us is an individual. That means we are not equal. Some of us are able to reach higher levels. Most are not. In your world those who reach the height of their potential should be punished for being "lucky"....Shit.
Go cram your socialist bullshit where the sun don't shine....The only thing we are entitled to is the freedom to make choices. After that, it is up to each one if us to achieve to the best of our ability.
Try thinking outside the little box...For once.
Quit whining and do something about your situation.
One last thing. No one owes anyone anything. If you want to achieve something, work for it.

Or steal it like the hedge fund managers?

 

[Chris]

4% of the people in this country control 95% of the wealth.

We have the greatest disparity of wealth in the industrialized world.

It is an enormous waste of resources and it is morally wrong.

 

[thereisnospoon]

4% of the people in this country control 95% of the wealth.

We have the greatest disparity of wealth in the industrialized world.

It is an enormous waste of resources and it is morally wrong.

You and others continue to whine about this so called wealth gap....Not one of you has come up with an idea to reverse this alleged phenomenon.
What say you?....As to a solution only.
Note...The answer must be in your own words. No C&P opinion pieces. No blogs. YOU OWN WORDS.
Have at it.

 

[Chris]

4% of the people in this country control 95% of the wealth.

We have the greatest disparity of wealth in the industrialized world.

It is an enormous waste of resources and it is morally wrong.

You and others continue to whine about this so called wealth gap....Not one of you has come up with an idea to reverse this alleged phenomenon.
What say you?....As to a solution only.
Note...The answer must be in your own words. No C&P opinion pieces. No blogs. YOU OWN WORDS.
Have at it.

Oh for God's sake...

Return the tax rates to what they were during the Clinton years.

Eight years of peace and prosperity...

Re-establish the firewalls which existed on Wall Street before deregulation.

Outlaw derivatives trading.

 

[Againsheila]

You must be joking.

Why would I joke?

The minimum wage was $1.60 in 1970. How much was a loaf of bread? Cheap white was $.25.

The represents 9.4 minutes of work

Food Groceries and Toiletries in the 1970's prices 60 examples from The People History Site

Minimum wage now is $7.25. A loaf of cheap white bread is $.89

This represents 7.4 minutes of work.

Walmart.com: Nickles: Enriched White Bread, 20 Oz: Bakery & Bread

A car, minimum $15,000

Cars are the most fun.

Let's take the 1970 Ford Pinto, a cheap car to be sure.

list price, $2,162

1351.25 hours of work, she's all yours.

Today, a Hyundai Accent has a list of $9,794

1338.62 hours and you own it.

Okay, this isn't really fair - the Accent has air conditioning, power breaks and steering, AM/FM/CD/MP3

The Pinto had --- tires...

How about a color TV set? Stereo? - Electronics not fair?

an apartment around here, $700 minimum.

What about a house? Couldn't readily find 1970, this is from 1974 - $34,900

What Happened in 1974 including Pop Culture, Prices, Events and Technology

That represents a staggering 24625 hours of labor at the 1974 minimum wage of $1.65 per hour.

Today a house will run you $177,900

Still staggering, but 24537 is still less labor.

Average Cost of Homes in U.S. - Average House Prices, 2009 to 2010

from your own link:

Average Price Data, 2006 - 2009

Here are some historical figures from the Census Bureau, showing the average sale price of homes sold in the U.S.

* 2006 - $305,900
* 2007 - $313,600
* 2008 - $292,600
* 2009 - Not yet available

Quite a bit more than the 177,000 you are claiming, isn't it? FYI? "median" is not "average".

Plus, you haven't taken into account the fact that jobs are scarce and those that are available are being taken by immigrants, both legal and illegal, leaving the average American highschool graduate without a job or opportunity.


As for your Hyundai "Accent"....most "American's" can't fit into them. I sure as heck can't and I'm only 5'10.

What did you do? Read that book, "How to lie with statistics?"

As my dad used to say, "There are liars, damn liars, and statisticians.

 

[snjmom]

you know what I started out with? zip. I could't afford to go to a good school. I had no one footing my bill. My parents worked hard and pushed my ass always. but they made ends meet and managed to save a little. I busted my as in school an got a scholarship, paid the rest on my own. When I graduated college I had $3500 in the bank, saved from working jobs like flipping burgers, cutting lawns and stocking warehouses while in school. And then i worked, then I took some risks. And I worked harder and started to move up. I had nothing handed to me. I'm not super rich. I'm very well off, but I'm not a player. But I worked for it. took chances but was smart about them. you've got to follow the leads. A perfect example. AIG. they were floating a little above $7 a share and risking bankruptcy. But obama was willing ot toss a ton of money at them. The government wasn't going to let them fail. You've got a sure bet there. that's taking a smart chance. Phillip morris, rumored dead in the water by massive lawsuits in the clinton years. Waxman all over their ass. stock dropped from the upper $80's to like $17. no one would touch it. I bought a ton. Why? becasue the government had just signed a master stettlement agreement with them and was poised to make more on a pack of smokes than there were. I bought a ton of stock, i bought a ton of options. huge risk, but I made a ton of money.

I had nothing any other burger flipper didn't have, except drive and the willingness to go for it.

And fucking luck. Two parents. With savings. Good health and mental capacity. Housing. And lucked out on the investments.

Not everyone has that kind of luck.

Ahh yes..You libs view those who have accomplished anything as having won the lottery of life.
You lefties will do anything to avoid discussing the concepts of hard work, education and personal responsibility.

So, you've never known anyone that worked hard, tried to educate themselves and believed in personal responsibility that still couldn't get ahead? I believe in hard work, education and personal responsibility, it's just that sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes I look around me and come to the conclusion that taking credit for others hard work, connections and a complete lack of ethics and the willingness to stab anyone in the back are the real road to success.

I've worked since I was 8 yrs old. I'll probably work till I die. I'm not complaining about my position in this world. But I also think it is awfully mean-spirited and uncivilized to kick the poor to the curb and demand that everyone else in this world have it as hard as (proverbial) you did.

And any realistic assessment of anyone's success should include lucky breaks. Being prepared to take advantage of them is on you. Getting them isn't.

 

[thereisnospoon]

4% of the people in this country control 95% of the wealth.

We have the greatest disparity of wealth in the industrialized world.

It is an enormous waste of resources and it is morally wrong.

You and others continue to whine about this so called wealth gap....Not one of you has come up with an idea to reverse this alleged phenomenon.
What say you?....As to a solution only.
Note...The answer must be in your own words. No C&P opinion pieces. No blogs. YOU OWN WORDS.
Have at it.

Oh for God's sake...

Return the tax rates to what they were during the Clinton years.

Eight years of peace and prosperity...

Re-establish the firewalls which existed on Wall Street before deregulation.

Outlaw derivatives trading.

Raising taxes will do what?
Umm. Prosperity? Yes. Because the federal government ( Clinton) stayed the hell out of the way and let the economy grow on it's own.
You may now look to the federal government for all that ails the economy. They make the rules. They set the regulations. Obama has a rare opportunity to allow the economy to fix itself. He cannot allow that. Obama believes the private sector to be unfair, profit evil.
He's wrong, but Obama' agenda is to destroy the private sector.
I find it amusing that the first response you libs give when asked it "increase taxes"..
Next time I ask a question, try answering it.
You complained about a wealth gap. I asked you to produce a solution to that. I see nothing in your response remotely addressing the wealth gap issue.

 

[Againsheila]

You and others continue to whine about this so called wealth gap....Not one of you has come up with an idea to reverse this alleged phenomenon.
What say you?....As to a solution only.
Note...The answer must be in your own words. No C&P opinion pieces. No blogs. YOU OWN WORDS.
Have at it.

Oh for God's sake...

Return the tax rates to what they were during the Clinton years.

Eight years of peace and prosperity...

Re-establish the firewalls which existed on Wall Street before deregulation.

Outlaw derivatives trading.

Raising taxes will do what?
Umm. Prosperity? Yes. Because the federal government ( Clinton) stayed the hell out of the way and let the economy grow on it's own.
You may now look to the federal government for all that ails the economy. They make the rules. They set the regulations. Obama has a rare opportunity to allow the economy to fix itself. He cannot allow that. Obama believes the private sector to be unfair, profit evil.
He's wrong, but Obama' agenda is to destroy the private sector.
I find it amusing that the first response you libs give when asked it "increase taxes"..
Next time I ask a question, try answering it.
You complained about a wealth gap. I asked you to produce a solution to that. I see nothing in your response remotely addressing the wealth gap issue.

Raise the minimum wage to a living wage, return taxes to pre 1970 levels. Of course, you'll just ignore those suggestions as if they never happened and complain that "liberals" don't come up with any solutions. FYI, I'm a moderate. There are times "liberals" call me a conservative just as now you're calling me a liberal. I'm so sick of people trying to peg anyone that doesn't have their viewpoint as someone the complete opposite of them. FYI, you conservatives are just as bad for this country as the liberals. Democrats and Republicans are the two most corrupt parties in the history of this nation.

 

[Againsheila]

4% of the people in this country control 95% of the wealth.

We have the greatest disparity of wealth in the industrialized world.

It is an enormous waste of resources and it is morally wrong.

You and others continue to whine about this so called wealth gap....Not one of you has come up with an idea to reverse this alleged phenomenon.
What say you?....As to a solution only.
Note...The answer must be in your own words. No C&P opinion pieces. No blogs. YOU OWN WORDS.
Have at it.

My own words: RAISE minimum wage to a living wage. Return taxes to pre 1970's levels. Return corporate laws to what they were pre-1970's also.

 

[Polk]

Like how the government subsidizes the oil companies? They receive money they didn't earn. Let's give that money back to the people who earned it: the taxpayers.

Stop having donor states give the taxpayer's money to states that receive it. In my state we give some of our hard earned tax dollars to other states, who haven't earned it.

Anybody who doesn't support these two things, isn't really serious about being against the redistribution of wealth.

We sure do here in Louisiana... the Feds rape us for billions and then give it to fuckwad blue states so they can make their transfer payments.

False. Louisiana gets back almost two dollars in spending for every dollar it contributes.

 

[thereisnospoon]

And fucking luck. Two parents. With savings. Good health and mental capacity. Housing. And lucked out on the investments.

Not everyone has that kind of luck.

Ahh yes..You libs view those who have accomplished anything as having won the lottery of life.
You lefties will do anything to avoid discussing the concepts of hard work, education and personal responsibility.

So, you've never known anyone that worked hard, tried to educate themselves and believed in personal responsibility that still couldn't get ahead? I believe in hard work, education and personal responsibility, it's just that sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes I look around me and come to the conclusion that taking credit for others hard work, connections and a complete lack of ethics and the willingness to stab anyone in the back are the real road to success.

I've worked since I was 8 yrs old. I'll probably work till I die. I'm not complaining about my position in this world. But I also think it is awfully mean-spirited and uncivilized to kick the poor to the curb and demand that everyone else in this world have it as hard as (proverbial) you did.

And any realistic assessment of anyone's success should include lucky breaks. Being prepared to take advantage of them is on you. Getting them isn't.

There is no try..There is only "do"....
Get ahead? No...This is an illusion created by the class envy crowd.
MY parent's generation never thought about "getting ahead" They thought about doing what they could to make a living, make a home, raise a family, have a few nice things, educate their kids and retire. Notice how all those things involve personal responsibility.
"I look around me".....another problem you libs have. You're always so worried about what someone else is doing. It has no affect on you. Mind your business and worry about what you need to do. I could not care less about what others do. It is of no consequence to me. Suppose I get all worked up about someone in my neighborhood who used some unethical advantage to get what he wanted. I get all pissed off and that has a negative effect on me. The neighbor doesn't give a shit. So I get all stressed out and I'm still not any better for it.
Let the authorities take care of it. There's nothing I can do but sleep well at night knowing I did things the correct way. Legitimate.
Not once did I "kick the poor to the curb"....I don't even recall thinking that.
In fact I'll dismiss that as an invective on your part.
I'll go back to the statement I made earlier. That was , I get pretty sick of people giving me the cross eye because I did what I had to do to become educated and certified in my profession so that I could increase my value to my employer and so they would pay me based on that value and contribution. If certain people think I'm greedy or evil, fuck 'em.
In the immortal words of Judge Elihu Smails......"I OWE YOU NOTHING!"

 

[Polk]

Yes, I could afford the $35,000 tuition on my $1.65 minimum wage. Where do you dig up these facts from? Want to go to college today on a minimum wage, go to any one of the excellent state schools for $2000 a sememster. Minimum wage didn't go any further then than it does today.

I rarely disagree with you Spoon, but this time I have to.

Minimum wage today goes VASTLY further than the $1.65 did yesteryear. Compare the number of hours worked to buy a loaf of bread, a car, a TV, or a house. Across the board, it takes less hours today than it did in 1970.

The poor have gotten WAY richer.

That's just absolutely false. The minimum wage today is about 25 percent less in real terms than it was in the 1960s.