Inequality like this is unsustainable (page 7)

Terry

I don't get it. I never have.

What exists in this world that is equal in any way?

We are born unequally. Some of us are ugly, unhealthy, short, fat and slow.

Our parents may be cruel or indifferent.

We may get enough to eat or not.

The country we are born into may be ruled by a tyrant. We may grow up believing we owe our life to the State, or a Jihad or without any sense of purpose at all.

Where is Equality in this world?

For thousands of years men demanded women serve them without complaint. Women were owned as chattel.

People of all races have been taken as slaves.

Where is this "Equality" you are speaking about??

Does it EXIST in nature anywhere?

I don't think so.

Even animals in a pack or herd do battle to determine who is leader. Who will eat first and who will eat last?

The old and infirm are put on the margins to die. Herds drive out the sick and elderly. Newborns too weak are tossed indifferently out of the nest to die. Kittens and fish may be devoured by their own father.

Where is this EQUALITY?

Look at what competition for food does to the animal kingdom, if you will, please. Who eats who? What is the determining factor?

Life must be earned by virtue of cunning, skill, sheer numbers or camouflage & subterfuge.

What is my point?

No football, baseball or hockey team would hesitate to fire any player that didn't carry their weight for the team. The tallest, fastest, biggest, meanest and most talented are paid millions of dollars while tens of thousands of Rookies who are short, slow, unsteady, meek and average are passed by.

Guess what? It is UNFAIR but it WINS! Life, despite Charlie Sheen's smugness, is about WINNING through excellence on the one side or through

deceit and criminality on the other extreme.

Nobody...absolutely NOBODY has any right to expect to be EQUAL just because it seems "fair" or a nice idea that EVERYBODY ELSE should go along with.

The World we live in is one gigantic competition. Competition selects the BEST and only the best for survival and reward.

Charity is the real topic of this discussion. Because anybody, anytime, anywhere who FEELS LIKE BEING FAIR AND EQUAL can reach down inside themselves and GIVE to help others out of a sense of charity.

But, to mandate that people do this is to misjudge the nature of life on planet earth.

Life is always WINNERS vs LOSERs. It is sad. It is ugly. It is often mean and cruel--especially when it happens to us or our loved ones.

But, nobody is born with a little tag on their toe that says "Treat this one the same as you treat all the rest."

Terry

The problem is that ANY political system (Marxist or Captialist or whatever) may look lovely on paper.

But--just like Religion--it will be PEOPLE who run it.

What do we know about PEOPLE WHO RUN THINGS from a survey of the history of mankind?

Knowing what we know about POWER and AUTHORITY in the hands of man--exactly what is the point of pretending

any such system (equality & Fairness) will be carried out? NONE WHATSOEVER!

After the Russian Revolution why do you suppose millions of people "had to die"?

When Mao decreed his Great Leap Forward why do you suppose so many millions of people had to starve to death?

Why do you imagine the Protest Reformation led to the Thirty Years War? Wasn't it all about Christianity and seeking pure worship??

Wake up to just one fact and you can spend your time more profitably: MEN with POWER will screw others to hold that power and dispense the benefits to whom THEY select for their OWN reasons.

james_woods

The problem is that ANY political system (Marxist or Captialist or whatever) may look lovely on paper.

But--just like Religion--it will be PEOPLE who run it.

What do we know about PEOPLE WHO RUN THINGS from a survey of the history of mankind?

And what Terry just posted above is the root cause of the failure of nationalized, socialized, or communistic systems. PEOPLE run them - but those people are in unquestioned, uncompetitive control. It is like all businesses in the country were monopolies - but worse. It always fails.

People are subject to greed, error, corruption, and so on. Only a competitive system can weed out the failures and reward the successes. A nationalized system has proven to always allow the corrupt and inefficient people to the top, and ends up harming the people under it compared to a system of free enterprise.

Government Utopia costs you your freedom, most of your posessions, and all of your self respect.

BizzyBee

I agree with the premise of the OP: Inequality like this is unsustainable.

[Economic or income] inequality like this is unsustainable.

That does not mean that the opposite of the current situation is complete economic parity - sameness or uniformity. The word "inequality" in this context is describing a matter of degree.

Seems you're tilting at windmills (or strawmen) to assume that anyone is proposing communism as the solution to the widening income gap.

james_woods

Seems you're tilting at windmills (or strawmen) to assume that anyone is proposing communism as the solution to the widening income gap.

I believe that Slimboyfat has said more than once that he is a supporter of Marxism and an opponent of capitalism. Marxism = communism, according to Marx himself.

Knowsnothing

No economic model is every truly sustainable. Economy and civilization is cyclical. Trying to prevent this from toppling is like trying to hold sand in your hands. It just won't work.

I would just dare to ask, is this better than China's model? What do you think? I'm happy I live here, even though costs seem to keep going up.

slimboyfat

I support communism, as I said before it's an idea whose time is yet to come.

I know many Americans think of the word communism somewhat similarly to how an Evangelical might view devil worship, but to me it simply stands for the alternative to capitalism that places fairness and community above the supreme right of individuals to profit from the labour of their fellow man.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2011/11/01/3352502.htm

dinah

Nobody wants to "take everybody's money and give it to someone else".

There will always be people who are content to get by on welfare, food stamps, having 14 babies to get more money...............those are not the people who are feeling the pain right now. Nothing has changed for them, and it never will. They are content.

In the last decade hard-working, loyal employees have just been thrown away and told to get by the best they can. The day will never come when every American will be an investment banker, stock broker, rocket scientist, whatever. During this depression, the employers that still have jobs available (which are few and far between) have cut wages. The only places hiring around here at all are fast food places (where you might work 25 hours a week at minimum wage) and Wal-Mart (where you might work 25 hours a week for minimum wage).

A level playing field is not a hand-out. Americans can't compete with third world country wages. Maybe we could if it didn't cost so much to live here.

BizzyBee

Yes, you're right, James. I was thinking of the larger national discussion of the income inequality, which is not necessarily about capitalism itself, but about the advantages of the wealthy that has created an unhealthy imbalance in our society. It is weakening our democracy to a dangerous degree.

james_woods

Nobody wants to "take everybody's money and give it to someone else".

Well, technically - the proponents of income redistribution want to take it from people over the median and give it to people under the median.

So, no - not everybodys money is taken and given to someone else. Just the successful peoples money.

Did you not see the state of the union speech last night?

Inequality like this is unsustainable

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