Posted on 04/30/2007 3:43:40 PM PDT by aft_lizard
Today a teacher said that the rich are getting richer. I replied that it really doesn't matter how rich the rich get what really matters is everybody underneath. If the rich get richer yet the poor and middle classes wealth increases also, even though its at a slower pace than the only important stat is that the middle classes and poor got richer. I also told her that the rich doesnt effect me because it is me and the rest of the middle class that really drives prices overall because we are the ones that are doing the majority of the shopping at grocery stores and durable goods. I personally feel it is disingenuous for anybody to say that the rich getting richer is necessarilly a bad thing.
Misery loves company. People don’t mind if they are poor, as long as everyone else is poor as well. That explains the attraction of Communism.
You should have asked how much she makes and how much the Dean of the college makes. And how much they both made 5 years ago.
The whole “rich get richer” argument is spurious. It’s not as if we split the population into 3 parts—rich, middle class, and poor, and then keep track of the original people in the groups. People move easily from one group to the next. I was very poor when I was young, was moderately middle class in my twenties, and probably made it into what the statisticians call “rich” by my late thirties. Now I am old and retired, my daughter wants a big wedding, and pretty soon I will be back to being poor. :)
Actually that was a discussion we had last week, the idiotic student paper listed average wages per degree(ie associates, bachelors...), anyways the paper said the average Ph.D. makes something like $700k a year while an associates will make $100k a year. We both found the list possibly incorrect.
I normally make that point but forgot too today.
Tell your teacher, "A high tide raises all ships."
As "the rich (whoever on earth those are) get richer" so do the rest of us. Among a free people, as a previous poster pointed out, the (economic) pie is not finite.
You’re right on target.
You did GOOD! You could also ask her.....who pays the MOST in taxes...ta dum....THE RICH....who does she think is funding programs.
Also...consider the following which was posted on FR a while back....
Who Pays America’s Tax Burden, and Who Gets the Most Government Spending?
Tax Foundation ^ | March 23, 2007 | Andrew Chamberlain, Gerald Prante and Scott A. Hodge
Posted on 03/25/2007 1:35:33 PM PDT by RKV
While many studies answer the ques¬tion of who pays taxes in America, the question of who gets the most government spending is often overlooked. Just as some Americans bear a larger portion of the nation’s tax burden than others, some Americans also receive a larger share of the nation’s government spending.
This report summarizes the key findings of a comprehensive 2007 Tax Foundation study of federal, state and local taxes and government spending. The results show that when we consider the distribution of government spending as well as taxes, it provides a dramatically altered view of how U.S. fiscal policy affects Americans at different income levels than is apparent from the distribution of tax burdens alone.
Overall, we find that America’s lowest-earning one-fifth of households received roughly $8.21 in government spending for each dollar of taxes paid in 2004. Households with middle-incomes received $1.30 per tax dollar, and America’s highest-earning households received $0.41. Government spending targeted at the lowest-earning 60 percent of U.S. households is larger than what they paid in federal, state and local taxes. In 2004, between $1.03 trillion and $1.53 trillion was redistributed downward from the two highest income quintiles to the three lowest income quintiles through government taxes and spending policy.
The rich get richer under socialism. It is why the Kennedys, Rockefellers and Soros's and Buffets all support big government. They get to keep their wealth while government steals from the income earners to subsidize golf course haciendas in Sun City.
Ask your teacher how many homeless or poor people are providing jobs and hiring people?
Agreed. It how someone parses the data.
It turns out that aside from pension plans, few Americans own stocks or mutual funds. Hence, those who hold stocks or MFs will be wealthier if the stock market has risen. On the flipside, those that don’t are relatively worse off.
Then there is wage versus non-wage income, etc. So, it isn’t that the poor are getting poorer, its just that capitalists are getting relatively wealthier.
The Dems in Congress (most of whom are wealthy) would to “level the playing field.” Which is DemSpeak for crushing the economy.
I was just in a meeting with a family and got to deliver the news that they are facing a $600,000+ estate tax hit on their inheritance. In the case of this “rich” family, their wealth shrank by over 20% thanks to our confiscatory tax system.
Well I don’t know if she had any particular point to the statement, as she tends to be a soft left lean, I think her hubby straightens her political views a little as she makes him out to be a bit conservative. I really basically wanted to not let that blank statement hang out there without context because as we know most college kids are full of mush and liberalism.
The rich repeat the behavior that made them rich. The poor repeat the behavior that made them poor.
Buy Low, Sell High.
"Tax the rich, feed the poor, 'til there are no rich no more..."
Thomas Sowell, “Basic Economics” and “Applied Economics.” Live it, learn it, love it!
(p.s., Your comments reflect an accurate understanding of our economy.)
I would have thrown up right then and there after taken a stomache punch in the wallet like that.
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