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Originally Posted by Slims
Will: That is a misleading stat. Our tax system is not based on total accumulated wealth, but on spending and income. The total income of the top 1% is a much lower percentage than what you have quoted for total wealth.
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But didn't you just say above that:
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Originally Posted by Slims
The idea that rich people somehow are able to avoid spending their money or paying taxes is absurd...except for what is donated to charity.
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That would mean that comparing wealth and taxes on income and spending would (at least eventually) be perfectly in line.
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Originally Posted by Slims
I understand that you view society very holistically and are not an individualist. That I am an individualist does not make me immoral. I do understand that some people acquire wealth/status (like Beria) via tyranny and opression. However, I believe it is the rare exception in a capitalist society and that his circumstances in no way undermine my right to contribute no more of my wealth than the next guy.
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I'm not suggesting that you're amoral, simply that the belief that "if we each pursue our individual financial benefit that we'll see the benefit for society as a whole" is fundamentally flawed and is, whether intentionally or not, leading to unnecessary and damaging inequality. Assuming there is at any given time a finite amount of wealth available in the world, anyone attaining wealth at a greater factor than wealth is developing is taking from someone else. And this happens all the time. Look at the bailout.
Most of the corporations that have received bailouts are still laying off workers, or in some way reducing business while still paying the exorbitant salaries to their upper management. I believe that to be a perfect characterization of capitalism.
The total income for the US is about $9 trillion. Assuming that people under 20 and over 65 make up about 3/8 of the population, that means about 187.5 million adults that should be working. That means that the average income should be around $48,000. What about CEOs and hedge fund managers? John Paulson, a hedge fund manager, made $3.4 BILLION last year. That means he made $1 for of every $2,647 that the entire US earned. How many hard working people had to make well under the average in order to compensate for that income in the overall distribution of that $9 trillion?
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Originally Posted by Slims
I fear you are willing to extinguish individual greatness in order for everybody to be mediocre together.
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Individual greatness in a competitive system comes at an incredible cost. For every Bill Gates there are hundreds of thousands of people living in the lower class. It wouldn't make Bill Gates mediocre to have a bit less money, but it sure would improve the living conditions of those lower class people.