This 6 minute video sums up the shocking facts of American wealth and inequality

[JoeNormal]

I just got back to the office. I took in a case yesterday where witnesses are at a crappy trailer park in the county north of here. I followed leads for 5 hours today up there.
Called work ethic, something employees have behind their #1 priority at the work place which is how many benefits they get.

Spending 5 hours in a crappy trailer park constitutes a strong work ethic?

The important part is the crappy trailer park. Having to spend time with the common folk is very difficult for the elite. Probably counts as a 12 hour day for him. If he broke a sweat it is probably a 14 hour day.

LMAO, it's funny 'cause it's true.

 

[JoeNormal]

I just got back to the office. I took in a case yesterday where witnesses are at a crappy trailer park in the county north of here. I followed leads for 5 hours today up there.
Called work ethic, something employees have behind their #1 priority at the work place which is how many benefits they get.

Spending 5 hours in a crappy trailer park constitutes a strong work ethic?

Are you really this dense?
I went door to door in a large trailer park interviewing witnesses, it rained twice.
Spoke with numerous people.
You always start off with them saying "I do not know anything, I did not see anything, I do not know any of the parties involved, I do not want to get involved".
And I have to go from there.
And you think that makes it easy for me to get people to tell me what happened?
Wow, what planet do you live on?
And it is Saturday.
This is hard work gaining the trust of people to come forward and tell the truth to help in a civil case.
Again, are you really so dense you do not understand the real world?
My work is extremely difficult as you have to follow leads, nights and weekends.
Today is Saturday, I spent 5 hours there and 4 more on the road on another case.
You are not very normal there Joe.

Yes, everybody's job is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that if you get paid for it, it's gonna suck in some way. I would guess that you're more highly compensated than most however.

 

[Gadawg73]

Spending 5 hours in a crappy trailer park constitutes a strong work ethic?

Are you really this dense?
I went door to door in a large trailer park interviewing witnesses, it rained twice.
Spoke with numerous people.
You always start off with them saying "I do not know anything, I did not see anything, I do not know any of the parties involved, I do not want to get involved".
And I have to go from there.
And you think that makes it easy for me to get people to tell me what happened?
Wow, what planet do you live on?
And it is Saturday.
This is hard work gaining the trust of people to come forward and tell the truth to help in a civil case.
Again, are you really so dense you do not understand the real world?
My work is extremely difficult as you have to follow leads, nights and weekends.
Today is Saturday, I spent 5 hours there and 4 more on the road on another case.
You are not very normal there Joe.

Yes, everybody's job is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that if you get paid for it, it's gonna suck in some way. I would guess that you're more highly compensated than most however.

Yes but that comes with experience.
Folks these days want a "living wage" at age 19 when their first yard ape is born.
Out of college I did landscaping work, surveying, sold insurance, put up siding and inside sales. Then I started doing repo and bail bounty work, then as an investigator in a law firm and then in 1982 I went out on my own. The first year I made a profit of $7500 and that came to about maybe $3 a hour if that. The second year I made a profit of $12,000 and the third year $15K. Last year in this business after 31 years I made about $110,000 profit and put in an average of 55 hours a week.
That is what everyone that is self employed has to work to make good money.
And most new businesses fail and folks lose money.
We need to confront and call out all of these "people need a living wage" nuts. If you are making the minimum wage DO NOT HAVE KIDS and educate yourself or throw your shingle out there and take a risk but DO NOT HAVE KIDS until YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.
My first child was born when I was age 30.
But we know folks still that act irresponsibly and then expect others to bail them out when they fall flat on their face.
Inequality is more times than not a direct result of people over and over and over and over and over again making bad decisions expecting different results.

 

[beagle9]

Spending 5 hours in a crappy trailer park constitutes a strong work ethic?

Are you really this dense?
I went door to door in a large trailer park interviewing witnesses, it rained twice.
Spoke with numerous people.
You always start off with them saying "I do not know anything, I did not see anything, I do not know any of the parties involved, I do not want to get involved".
And I have to go from there.
And you think that makes it easy for me to get people to tell me what happened?
Wow, what planet do you live on?
And it is Saturday.
This is hard work gaining the trust of people to come forward and tell the truth to help in a civil case.
Again, are you really so dense you do not understand the real world?
My work is extremely difficult as you have to follow leads, nights and weekends.
Today is Saturday, I spent 5 hours there and 4 more on the road on another case.
You are not very normal there Joe.

Yes, everybody's job is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that if you get paid for it, it's gonna suck in some way. I would guess that you're more highly compensated than most however.

If he is compensated more than most, is that a bad thing to some, and if so do they want him to fork over a good amount of it, and if so what justifies that in his case as according to the government whom may see it in this way now ?

 

[Brain357]

Are you really this dense?
I went door to door in a large trailer park interviewing witnesses, it rained twice.
Spoke with numerous people.
You always start off with them saying "I do not know anything, I did not see anything, I do not know any of the parties involved, I do not want to get involved".
And I have to go from there.
And you think that makes it easy for me to get people to tell me what happened?
Wow, what planet do you live on?
And it is Saturday.
This is hard work gaining the trust of people to come forward and tell the truth to help in a civil case.
Again, are you really so dense you do not understand the real world?
My work is extremely difficult as you have to follow leads, nights and weekends.
Today is Saturday, I spent 5 hours there and 4 more on the road on another case.
You are not very normal there Joe.

Yes, everybody's job is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that if you get paid for it, it's gonna suck in some way. I would guess that you're more highly compensated than most however.

Yes but that comes with experience.
Folks these days want a "living wage" at age 19 when their first yard ape is born.
Out of college I did landscaping work, surveying, sold insurance, put up siding and inside sales. Then I started doing repo and bail bounty work, then as an investigator in a law firm and then in 1982 I went out on my own. The first year I made a profit of $7500 and that came to about maybe $3 a hour if that. The second year I made a profit of $12,000 and the third year $15K. Last year in this business after 31 years I made about $110,000 profit and put in an average of 55 hours a week.
That is what everyone that is self employed has to work to make good money.
And most new businesses fail and folks lose money.
We need to confront and call out all of these "people need a living wage" nuts. If you are making the minimum wage DO NOT HAVE KIDS and educate yourself or throw your shingle out there and take a risk but DO NOT HAVE KIDS until YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.
My first child was born when I was age 30.
But we know folks still that act irresponsibly and then expect others to bail them out when they fall flat on their face.
Inequality is more times than not a direct result of people over and over and over and over and over again making bad decisions expecting different results.

And they are more likely to continue doing that as inequality grows.

 

[Gadawg73]

I just got back to the office. I took in a case yesterday where witnesses are at a crappy trailer park in the county north of here. I followed leads for 5 hours today up there.
Called work ethic, something employees have behind their #1 priority at the work place which is how many benefits they get.

Spending 5 hours in a crappy trailer park constitutes a strong work ethic?

The important part is the crappy trailer park. Having to spend time with the common folk is very difficult for the elite. Probably counts as a 12 hour day for him. If he broke a sweat it is probably a 14 hour day.

My client is from that crappy trailer park and his child was molested there not once but three times.

So you are the "common" folk and live in a crappy trailer park where child molestation is the norm.
Got it.
Must SUCK to be "common" in your world.

 

[MikeK]

I went door to door in a large trailer park interviewing witnesses, it rained twice.
Spoke with numerous people.
You always start off with them saying "I do not know anything, I did not see anything, I do not know any of the parties involved, I do not want to get involved".
And I have to go from there.
And you think that makes it easy for me to get people to tell me what happened?
Wow, what planet do you live on?
And it is Saturday.
This is hard work gaining the trust of people to come forward and tell the truth to help in a civil case.
Again, are you really so dense you do not understand the real world?
My work is extremely difficult as you have to follow leads, nights and weekends.
Today is Saturday, I spent 5 hours there and 4 more on the road on another case.
You are not very normal there Joe.

I always felt that canvassing for witnesses (and "helping" them remember) was the next best thing to selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.

 

[thereisnospoon]

I encourage you to watch the 6 minute video completely and keep an open mind.

I do understand this topic has been discussed thoroughly already, but I think it is interesting how it samples the perception of the issue by the American people.

Wealth Inequality in America - YouTube

This issue is crap. There is no such thing as the Zero Sum Game. There is no such thing as 'wealth inequality' because that notion presupposes the idea that wealth should be distributed equally. Marxism touts the idea of "from each according to his abilities. To each according to his needs."...We all know how that worked out.
The basis of this idea of the "wealth gap" is in its supporters belief that the best way to lift those at the bottom is accomplished by suppressing those at the top.
NAFTA is a great example of how this theory fails. Supporters of NAFTA believed that by pushing industry into smaller and poorer countries, those citizens would live better lives while the economies of those nations would grow. American business would benefit by having new sources of revenue and workers here in the States would benefit by having more to do. The opposite occurred. Those countries remain poor as the respective governments collect the bounty, the people get next to no benefit. Here in the US manufacturing and other related jobs were reduced as were labor rates. Again NAFTA was touted as lifting the bottom when it actually suppressed the top.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Who the fuck cares? Nobody is equal, we all have different skills and abilities.

The USA became the world's #1 economy BECAUSE we let people have the freedom to try things for themselves while your Progressive economies are the worlds poorest and need armed guards to keep running and walls to keep the sane and productive from fleeing

I am not suggesting we become equal. I am okay with the idea of a CEO making much more money than a low level employee. However, these stats are insane. This is NOT how it should be. The middle class is shrinking. That is a problem.

The problem is you people refuse to answer the one glaring question that is "what number makes you comfortable?"....None of you will touch this. It is as if you place a number or in the area of taxes, a percentage, you will be held to it and THAT you cannot accept. You want the freedom to change the number at any time.
You don't have that right.
Now, answer this. How SHOULD it be?

 

[thereisnospoon]

Liberal by words.

Wealth distribution
Inequality
1%
Wah
The Robin Hood mentality never works, it only makes you thieves

Never personal choices or freedom to make what you want of your life. If life gives you lemons, make some freaking lemonade

Nice graphs though

So you don't find these stats at all disturbing?

No, I don't want communism.

No, I don't want socialism.

No, I don't hate the rich. I understand their importance.

This, however, is just wrong.

WHAT is wrong? Explain and expound. Be specific.
Be prepared to be queried on your statements.

 

[thereisnospoon]

So you don't find these stats at all disturbing?

No, I don't want communism.

No, I don't want socialism.

No, I don't hate the rich. I understand their importance.

This, however, is just wrong.

it's wrong to be jealous of what others have...it will eat you up

Nothing I said there should indicate jealousy. Clearly you aren't even paying attention to what I am saying. Typical USMB conservative.

What are you saying?

 

[JoeNormal]

Are you really this dense?
I went door to door in a large trailer park interviewing witnesses, it rained twice.
Spoke with numerous people.
You always start off with them saying "I do not know anything, I did not see anything, I do not know any of the parties involved, I do not want to get involved".
And I have to go from there.
And you think that makes it easy for me to get people to tell me what happened?
Wow, what planet do you live on?
And it is Saturday.
This is hard work gaining the trust of people to come forward and tell the truth to help in a civil case.
Again, are you really so dense you do not understand the real world?
My work is extremely difficult as you have to follow leads, nights and weekends.
Today is Saturday, I spent 5 hours there and 4 more on the road on another case.
You are not very normal there Joe.

Yes, everybody's job is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that if you get paid for it, it's gonna suck in some way. I would guess that you're more highly compensated than most however.

Yes but that comes with experience.
Folks these days want a "living wage" at age 19 when their first yard ape is born.
Out of college I did landscaping work, surveying, sold insurance, put up siding and inside sales. Then I started doing repo and bail bounty work, then as an investigator in a law firm and then in 1982 I went out on my own. The first year I made a profit of $7500 and that came to about maybe $3 a hour if that. The second year I made a profit of $12,000 and the third year $15K. Last year in this business after 31 years I made about $110,000 profit and put in an average of 55 hours a week.
That is what everyone that is self employed has to work to make good money.
And most new businesses fail and folks lose money.
We need to confront and call out all of these "people need a living wage" nuts. If you are making the minimum wage DO NOT HAVE KIDS and educate yourself or throw your shingle out there and take a risk but DO NOT HAVE KIDS until YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.
My first child was born when I was age 30.
But we know folks still that act irresponsibly and then expect others to bail them out when they fall flat on their face.
Inequality is more times than not a direct result of people over and over and over and over and over again making bad decisions expecting different results.

I have an even more convoluted story to tell involving even more shit work, unpaid internships and weed-out, test your mettle positions than you. My first kids (twins) were born when I was in my forties. I hear you about getting established before embarking on a life changing adventure but I don't think anyone should have to go through what I did.

Maybe there's a happy medium.

 

[Billy000]

Liberal by words.

Wealth distribution
Inequality
1%
Wah
The Robin Hood mentality never works, it only makes you thieves

Never personal choices or freedom to make what you want of your life. If life gives you lemons, make some freaking lemonade

Nice graphs though

So you don't find these stats at all disturbing?

No, I don't want communism.

No, I don't want socialism.

No, I don't hate the rich. I understand their importance.

This, however, is just wrong.

WHAT is wrong? Explain and expound. Be specific.
Be prepared to be queried on your statements.

I don't know how many times I need to explain this. What is wrong with you people? Did you just choose not to read any of the posts of mine in this thread? I have probably explained this to at least 10 people in this thread.

Okay, I will explain myself ONE more time, but this is it. If the rest of you are too damn lazy to read my other posts, you are out of luck.

While I favor the CONCEPT of wealth inequality, I am very much alarmed of what it has become in this country. Did you even watch the video? I can't even tell. Maybe you just chose ignore the facts presented in the video, but if you haven't watched it, watch it because maybe then you will understand what the hell I am trying to beat into your skulls.

1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth. That. Is. Bad. Do i need to explain why that is bad? I hope not.

 

[Brain357]

Liberal by words.

Wealth distribution
Inequality
1%
Wah
The Robin Hood mentality never works, it only makes you thieves

Never personal choices or freedom to make what you want of your life. If life gives you lemons, make some freaking lemonade

Nice graphs though

So you don't find these stats at all disturbing?

No, I don't want communism.

No, I don't want socialism.

No, I don't hate the rich. I understand their importance.

This, however, is just wrong.

WHAT is wrong? Explain and expound. Be specific.
Be prepared to be queried on your statements.

This explains what is wrong. Lots of nice statistics and graphs for you.

Here's Why Income Inequality Really Is A Big Deal - Business Insider

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

So you don't find these stats at all disturbing?

No, I don't want communism.

No, I don't want socialism.

No, I don't hate the rich. I understand their importance.

This, however, is just wrong.

WHAT is wrong? Explain and expound. Be specific.
Be prepared to be queried on your statements.

I don't know how many times I need to explain this. What is wrong with you people? Did you just choose not to read any of the posts of mine in this thread? I have probably explained this to at least 10 people in this thread.

Okay, I will explain myself ONE more time, but this is it. If the rest of you are too damn lazy to read my other posts, you are out of luck.

While I favor the CONCEPT of wealth inequality, I am very much alarmed of what it has become in this country. Did you even watch the video? I can't even tell. Maybe you just chose ignore the facts presented in the video, but if you haven't watched it, watch it because maybe then you will understand what the hell I am trying to beat into your skulls.

1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth. That. Is. Bad. Do i need to explain why that is bad? I hope not.

Yes, explain why it's bad.

 

[Billy000]

WHAT is wrong? Explain and expound. Be specific.
Be prepared to be queried on your statements.

I don't know how many times I need to explain this. What is wrong with you people? Did you just choose not to read any of the posts of mine in this thread? I have probably explained this to at least 10 people in this thread.

Okay, I will explain myself ONE more time, but this is it. If the rest of you are too damn lazy to read my other posts, you are out of luck.

While I favor the CONCEPT of wealth inequality, I am very much alarmed of what it has become in this country. Did you even watch the video? I can't even tell. Maybe you just chose ignore the facts presented in the video, but if you haven't watched it, watch it because maybe then you will understand what the hell I am trying to beat into your skulls.

1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth. That. Is. Bad. Do i need to explain why that is bad? I hope not.

Yes, explain why it's bad.

I already have. Many times. Are you too lazy to read my posts or do you really not get it?

 

[thereisnospoon]

Yes, everybody's job is difficult. I've come to the conclusion that if you get paid for it, it's gonna suck in some way. I would guess that you're more highly compensated than most however.

Yes but that comes with experience.
Folks these days want a "living wage" at age 19 when their first yard ape is born.
Out of college I did landscaping work, surveying, sold insurance, put up siding and inside sales. Then I started doing repo and bail bounty work, then as an investigator in a law firm and then in 1982 I went out on my own. The first year I made a profit of $7500 and that came to about maybe $3 a hour if that. The second year I made a profit of $12,000 and the third year $15K. Last year in this business after 31 years I made about $110,000 profit and put in an average of 55 hours a week.
That is what everyone that is self employed has to work to make good money.
And most new businesses fail and folks lose money.
We need to confront and call out all of these "people need a living wage" nuts. If you are making the minimum wage DO NOT HAVE KIDS and educate yourself or throw your shingle out there and take a risk but DO NOT HAVE KIDS until YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.
My first child was born when I was age 30.
But we know folks still that act irresponsibly and then expect others to bail them out when they fall flat on their face.
Inequality is more times than not a direct result of people over and over and over and over and over again making bad decisions expecting different results.

I have an even more convoluted story to tell involving even more shit work, unpaid internships and weed-out, test your mettle positions than you. My first kids (twins) were born when I was in my forties. I hear you about getting established before embarking on a life changing adventure but I don't think anyone should have to go through what I did.

Maybe there's a happy medium.

And what does that have to do with the OP hinting around that somehow there should be a 'wealth regulator'...Because that is what this boils down to. The 'something should be done about this' mantra. It's really quite boring.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Who, on this forum, is disagreeing with the basic points you are making right now?

No one.

What is the point in posting the vid then?

Because this is inequality taken to absurd extremes. Unfair extremes. 1 in 6 people in this country are consistently hungry, while a very small group of people own 40% of our wealth. That is crazy.

The video presents an idea. You have a perception of wealth should be.
Fine. End of story.
The result is there is nothing legal or just that can be done to change anything.
Our system is proved to 'do the best for the most'.

 

[thereisnospoon]

What is the point in posting the vid then?

Because this is inequality taken to absurd extremes. 1 in 6 people in this country are consistently hungry, while a very small group of people own 40% of our wealth. That is crazy.

1in 6 are hungry? Bullshit. Show me one starving person in this country, that is not some victim of abuse by their guardians or choose to be on a hunger strike.

You make out like the friggin wealth pie is a limited value. That is just so damn stupit.

By your measure everyone in this country could be 10000000 times richer tomorrow and you would still bitch that the wealth pie is not being distributed in equal portions. OMG

Interestingly enough, many poor people are overweight.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Because this is inequality taken to absurd extremes. 1 in 6 people in this country are consistently hungry, while a very small group of people own 40% of our wealth. That is crazy.

No one is consistently hungry. Not unless they have other conditions that leads to constant hunger and obesity. Speaking of which, we have the fattest poor people in the world. If you imagine that people are constantly hungry, volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. If nothing else, you will be educated out of your erroneous notions. Our "poor" have so much food, coming from so many sources, that they send food back to their home countries by the barrel full.

You misunderstand obesity and poverty. The reason why we have poor obese people is because junk food is cheap. Healthy food is not. Could these people be smarter about what they buy? Sure, but eating healthy is still difficult when you are poor.

Ok..I will proceed to utterly destroy your statement.
What has more nutritional value, a whole chicken at about $2.50 per pound or a one pound bag of Wise potato chips at $4?
Which one of these will last longer? Which of these food items can make three meals?
What is more expensive...One dozen Grade A Large eggs or three Egg Mc Muffin meals at McDonalds? Which is capable of making several meals and is capable to be placed as an ingredient in other foods?
What costs more, one can of Campbells Soup a one lb bag of egg noodles and a small beef brisket or three fast food burger meals?
Because with about 30 mins in the kitchen I can make a casserole with the beef, soup a little corn starch to thicken the sauce and some grated cheese and maybe throw in a can of spinach and that will last me a week. The fast food stuff is one meal that costs just about 75% of the ingredients above can last several meals.
The point is most poor people that are obviously over fed on crap are also too fucking lazy to make nutritious meals on a budget.
Now you will protest, "the kids won't eat that stuff"....TOUGH! A hungry person will eat stone soup if he is hungry enough. The problem is the parents are not able to say "NO" to their kids whining they want Mc Donalds.