I don't disagree, but the wealth disparity is different than the income disparity. On the one hand, a wealth disparity can be directly passed down, and repealing the estate tax will only deepen this trend. On the other hand, reducing income inequality may help with the here-and-now, helping families to BUILD wealth while not also living paycheck to paycheck. So, IMO, we should tackle both income inequality via progressive taxation, and we should tackle wealth inequality by instating a much stronger estate tax that prevents a landed gentry, a permanently wealthy and insulated class of millionaires and trust fund babies.
There is also something to be said for personal choices of the non-wealthy. I see many in my lower-middle class city with new luxury BMW or Benz ($30-50k) vehicles, who are living in $120k condo units. I see many people with shiny massively spec'd out trucks that they never used to haul anything and just park at their office job. What would the country look like if average people saved more and invested some of their lifestyle splurging?
So, while the tax structure and skill gaps are big, we can also say consumers need to be much smarter and more modest if they want to build wealth and improve their station.
> we can also say consumers need to be much smarter and more modest if they want to build wealth and improve their station.
Ture. But this is an interesting point. It becomes a "fool's game" like a casino, where everyone knows that the odds are stacked against them. So when they loose, they can internalize their fault. Yet there's an abundance of "shiny" going around so that people's choice becomes emotional and hope-based, instead of rational.
Therefore there's no incentive to change the system because it's so easy to blame those who lose out: "see they made poor choices"—nevermind how we bombard those people with a ton of fine-tuned marketing. Taking the massively spec'd truck as an example, consider what the car manufacturer is selling: the feeling of power. Now watch a popular game on TV and get that message drilled into you about 30 times each week, while living a life that is otherwise very constrained in terms of finances and opportunities... many give in.
> I see many in my lower-middle class city with new luxury BMW or Benz ($30-50k) vehicles, who are living in $120k condo units.
How the hell do you know the financial situation of strangers? What economic data do you have to back up this assertion that lots of people would be better off if they weren't foolishly spending your money? Or are you the local "leading authority on what shouldn't be in poor people's grocery carts"? [0]
There is also something to be said for personal choices of the non-wealthy. I see many in my lower-middle class city with new luxury BMW or Benz ($30-50k) vehicles, who are living in $120k condo units. I see many people with shiny massively spec'd out trucks that they never used to haul anything and just park at their office job. What would the country look like if average people saved more and invested some of their lifestyle splurging?
So, while the tax structure and skill gaps are big, we can also say consumers need to be much smarter and more modest if they want to build wealth and improve their station.
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