The Myth of Inequality

[GhostofDempsey]

Politicians and reporters often rail about "the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer."

But as John Stossel explains, it's not true.

In fact, the incomes of poor and middle-income Americans are up 32 percent since the government began keeping track several decades ago.

Yes, that increase is adjusted for inflation.

Another misleading claim, says Stossel, is the idea that the U.S. "no longer has economic mobility."

But a paper in The Quarterly Journal of Economics found that most people born to the richest fifth of Americans fall out of that bracket within 20 years (Table 2). Likewise, most born to the poorest fifth climb to a higher quintile. Some climb all the way to the top.

Another claim is that inequality itself is a huge problem.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warns: "There's inequality in this country right now that is threatening to tear us apart."

Stossel says that it might tear us apart—but only if people come to believe that all inequality is evil.


But it isn't, he says. It's just part of life. Some people are better singers than others. The best athletes are just physically different.

Society doesn't try to equalize those things—or many others—for good reason.

Former investment banker Carol Roth tell Stossel, "I have two kidneys. There are people out there who need one, don't have one that functions. Should the government be able to take my kidney because somebody else needs it?"

"There's inequality in everything," she adds. "There's inequality in free time. There's inequality in parents. I don't have any parents or grandparents. Life is unfair…unfair is a feature. It's not a bug."

https://reason.com/video/stosselinequality/

[Lomadeaux]

But I'm held down doe...

[-Kev-]

There's inequality but you can't just sit in sorrow and complain about it like a victim. As an individual you have to do something about it yourself, can't just expect handouts and the majority to feel bad for you, some will, most won't. Don't have children while being broke, then you'll just raise broke children. Don't make the same mistakes other minorities around you do. I was raised in poverty by two people who don't speak English and have no high school education. I'm the only one in my immediate family with a college degree. I'm from a culture where you grow up (kinda), have kids young, and work two jobs and call it a day while raising your kids in poverty or slightly above the poverty line.

My brother and I clash so much because he is one of those victim-minded liberals who blames white people and the government. Last argument we had, I asked him, then what about those Nigerians that come over to the states and bust their ass working in nursing jobs and corrections? And what about all those central Asian students that come from 3rd world or developing countries to the US and take the opportunities that are also available to you as an American, and they can't believe how easy it is to make it here as long as you put in the work? He just had a bunch of liberal garbage to say in return. Well, that's why I hate both liberals and democrats and republicans and conservatives. Honestly both groups are lost. The rep/conserv's are also lost because they refuse to acknowledge real issues that were created by "them" a long time ago, and minorities are now starting to recover from them. It takes centuries to recover from that, not decades. Liberals and minorities are lost because they refuse to acknowledge that there are opportunities for them to make it out as long as they stop being dumb and simple minded like their parents.

[BostonGuy]

Whadda bout the 'gender wage' gap that I keep hearing about?

Also, I've heard many of the democrats say something to the affect of:

"for every dollar a white male makes...a black woman makes 40 cents and latino women make 32 cents."

That sounds like wealth inequality to me...

[BostonGuy]

Whadda bout the 'gender wage' gap that I keep hearing about?

Also, I've heard many of the democrats say something to the affect of:

"for every dollar a white male makes...a black woman makes 40 cents and latino women make 32 cents."

That sounds like wealth inequality to me...

EDIT:

Here are the numbers:

The gender pay gap in the United States means that women make just 82 cents for every dollar that men do, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The problem is even worse for women of color. Black women made just 68 cents for every dollar white men did in 2017, BLS data showed, and Latina women made 62 cents on the dollar.

http://time.com/5562209/equal-pay-day-2020-candidates/

[1bad65]

Whadda bout the 'gender wage' gap that I keep hearing about?

Also, I've heard many of the democrats say something to the affect of:

"for every dollar a white male makes...a black woman makes 40 cents and latino women make 32 cents."

That sounds like wealth inequality to me...

Dont believe everything liberals tell you.

As you see here, they lie alot. And they even lie with cherry-picked numbers.

[1bad65]

There's inequality but you can't just sit in sorrow and complain about it like a victim. As an individual you have to do something about it yourself, can't just expect handouts and the majority to feel bad for you, some will, most won't. Don't have children while being broke, then you'll just raise broke children. Don't make the same mistakes other minorities around you do. I was raised in poverty by two people who don't speak English and have no high school education. I'm the only one in my immediate family with a college degree. I'm from a culture where you grow up (kinda), have kids young, and work two jobs and call it a day while raising your kids in poverty or slightly above the poverty line.

My brother and I clash so much because he is one of those victim-minded liberals who blames white people and the government. Last argument we had, I asked him, then what about those Nigerians that come over to the states and bust their ass working in nursing jobs and corrections? And what about all those central Asian students that come from 3rd world or developing countries to the US and take the opportunities that are also available to you as an American, and they can't believe how easy it is to make it here as long as you put in the work? He just had a bunch of liberal garbage to say in return. Well, that's why I hate both liberals and democrats and republicans and conservatives. Honestly both groups are lost. The rep/conserv's are also lost because they refuse to acknowledge real issues that were created by "them" a long time ago, and minorities are now starting to recover from them. It takes centuries to recover from that, not decades. Liberals and minorities are lost because they refuse to acknowledge that there are opportunities for them to make it out as long as they stop being dumb and simple minded like their parents.

Everything you said made sense, minus the bolded part.

Interestingly enough, that's the ery liberal garbage you accused your brother of mindlessly parroting.

Interesting you see through most liberal talking points, yet you believe one of their biggest talking points (which also happens to be a lie).

[-Kev-]

Everything you said made sense, minus the bolded part.

Interestingly enough, that's the ery liberal garbage you accused your brother of mindlessly parroting.

Interesting you see through most liberal talking points, yet you believe one of their biggest talking points (which also happens to be a lie).

Let's skip the passive aggressive behavior and take the gloves off.

A lie?

So white people did not enslave minorities for centuries?

And Americans of color didn't just as recently as 1964 didn't have to fight for their rights?

Yeah, if you lived in any century, 1400s, 1600s, 1900s, whatever, you'd always be okay with the program they had minorities in. This is not a liberal thing, it's a you thing, and your people thing.

You'd probably feel right at home in a Klan meeting, and you probably smile every time you hear another one of your boys shot up some school, church, mall, or any other public places, don't you?

[GhostofDempsey]

EDIT:

Here are the numbers:






http://time.com/5562209/equal-pay-day-2020-candidates/

The problem with these biased studies is that they don't take into account all of the variables. For example:

"The gender pay gap in the United States means that women make just 82 cents for every dollar that men do, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The problem is even worse for women of color. Black women made just 68 cents for every dollar white men did in 2017, BLS data showed, and Latina women made 62 cents on the dollar."

What this statistic does not include is whether or not these women were doing the exact same job as men for the same amount of years. Black women make just 68 cents for every dollar that white men did...but did they compare black female civil servants who are paid the same wages as white men? Or did they compare black female fast food cashiers to white male lawyers where there would be an obvious pay gap? Did they compare a black female first year lawyer to a white male tenured lawyer with a partnership? We can cook these stats to say what we want them to say.

[-Kev-]

And of course, of course, everything I said made sense except the part where I attack your views. Me attacking liberal views makes sense, "but wait a minute, you don't agree with my views, that makes no sense!"