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QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
I read this more like "what are the justifications for tolerating vast income inequality."
Some people like to use the "rising tide lifts all boats" principle - and that would be compelling, except that a sizeable part of the economic activity is competitive, where relative gains and losses matter more than absolute ones.
An example of this would be property, and housing.
Some people like to use the "rising tide lifts all boats" principle - and that would be compelling, except that a sizeable part of the economic activity is competitive, where relative gains and losses matter more than absolute ones.
An example of this would be property, and housing.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@QuixoticSoul It doesn't raise all boats because many boats have been so severely anchored by government regulations that when the tide raises, some boats will then be underwater.
Basically, government regulations have a way of destroying and inhibiting micro economic development, making the distance between poverty and middle-class almost insurmountable. To survive, the poor have to settle into a black-market economy that completely breaks free of the mainstream economy.
To see what I'm saying, you can go to any big city ghettoes in the US.
Basically, government regulations have a way of destroying and inhibiting micro economic development, making the distance between poverty and middle-class almost insurmountable. To survive, the poor have to settle into a black-market economy that completely breaks free of the mainstream economy.
To see what I'm saying, you can go to any big city ghettoes in the US.
Tastyfrzz · 61-69, M
@QuixoticSoul There have been instances of land and property values decreasing like in 2008 and it's been reported like the sky is falling. At some point the land/ property value bubble will burst again.
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
@Tastyfrzz And when it does, those who have been on the upside of vast economic inequality will buy it up. This was pretty easy to see in the wake of the last housing crisis.
@Heartlander No, this has nothing to do with government regulations. If anything, getting laissez faire with things consistently exacerbates the situation. The libertarian paradise will be a ridiculous shithole for most.
@Heartlander No, this has nothing to do with government regulations. If anything, getting laissez faire with things consistently exacerbates the situation. The libertarian paradise will be a ridiculous shithole for most.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@QuixoticSoul
My parents and grandparents inched their way out of the great depression by bartering chickens and eggs. A neighbor set up a barber shop in his tool shed. Another turned their house into a bakery and sent their kids to peddle hot apple turnovers on the street. Practically everyone had goods and/or services to sell and/or exchange. The banks had failed and even the rich didn't have money.
All of the above is now illegal ...
... and depressed inner cities can't recover on their own. Old buildings can't be reused without upgrading to meet current building code. Converting garages to barber shops would violate zoning laws. The only options are to bull-doze and try to tempt big redevelopers with lifelong tax exemptions. So then, who gets taxed?
No, this has nothing to do with government regulations
My parents and grandparents inched their way out of the great depression by bartering chickens and eggs. A neighbor set up a barber shop in his tool shed. Another turned their house into a bakery and sent their kids to peddle hot apple turnovers on the street. Practically everyone had goods and/or services to sell and/or exchange. The banks had failed and even the rich didn't have money.
All of the above is now illegal ...
... and depressed inner cities can't recover on their own. Old buildings can't be reused without upgrading to meet current building code. Converting garages to barber shops would violate zoning laws. The only options are to bull-doze and try to tempt big redevelopers with lifelong tax exemptions. So then, who gets taxed?
QuixoticSoul · 41-45, M
@Heartlander The country needed massive federal investment and a war economy to actually get out of the Great Depression. And the explosion of the middle class was likewise facilitated by massive state spending, backed by strong unions. And the massive tax rates on the high earners helped keep incomes a touch more equitable.
The biggest barrier to these sorts of home-brew businesses are the economies of scale anyhow. Part of the reason why so many were viable was because so many normal commercial enterprises had collapsed.
And when employment, food safety, etc laws etc aren’t followed or enforced - it’s the poor that end up getting the most fucked in the end.
The biggest barrier to these sorts of home-brew businesses are the economies of scale anyhow. Part of the reason why so many were viable was because so many normal commercial enterprises had collapsed.
And when employment, food safety, etc laws etc aren’t followed or enforced - it’s the poor that end up getting the most fucked in the end.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@QuixoticSoul
The explosion of the middle class then was basically the return of the GIs to the labor force with a "can-do" mindset that they could win a war "in-spite of" Washington's fuck-ups.
It got a secondary boot when they got pissed at Democrats for holding back the economy and put their patron Eisenhower in the whitehouse.
The strong union influence did little more than cede the US auto industry to Japan and scatter US manufacturing in general to the far points of the globe.
Government's fix for our crumbling cities has mostly resulted in sending the middle class running to the suburbs, across a county line, or otherwise out of the cities' reach.
The explosion of the middle class then was basically the return of the GIs to the labor force with a "can-do" mindset that they could win a war "in-spite of" Washington's fuck-ups.
It got a secondary boot when they got pissed at Democrats for holding back the economy and put their patron Eisenhower in the whitehouse.
The strong union influence did little more than cede the US auto industry to Japan and scatter US manufacturing in general to the far points of the globe.
Government's fix for our crumbling cities has mostly resulted in sending the middle class running to the suburbs, across a county line, or otherwise out of the cities' reach.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@QuixoticSoul ... and it's questionable whether it made our food and our lives safer :)