The wealthiest 0.001% of people control 3X more wealth than the bottom 50%. But there’s a catch . . .

Photo above - Al Jazeera, the middle east's pre-eminent news organization, has take the USA to task over "wealth inequality." (This photo may be an AI fake, I can't tell . . . )

Any way you look at it, the optics are bad. The top 10% of earthlings own 75% of homes, bank accounts, Teslas, etc. The average wealth of “north americans” (including you, Canada) is 340% greater than the rest of the people. See link below.

Upon reflection, this doesn’t look like a problem which higher Federal income tax rates can solve. That extra tax money is simply going to remain in America. A little will be shaved off the top by Congress and various agencies, and the rest redistributed (or spent on) deserving North Americans. That money will NOT be leaving the USA to help “the rest of the world”, like Somalia, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, or Mongolia.

Wait . . . it gets weirder. North American INCOME (paychecks) is already 300% higher than the rest of the world. We’re at the top for both savings and paychecks. How do we feel about redistributing it among ourselves now?

The Al Jazeera article doesn’t do a deep dive on things like car ownership, smartphones, and Roomba vacuums but I take on faith that we’re outperforming Mongolia on those metrics too.

I don’t want to seem churlish, but NONE of the American politicians screaming wealth inequality have any intention of helping out peanut farmers, goat herders, and subsistence fishermen in Africa. They want to redistribute our tax dollars in ways that swell the entitlement class and create loyal voters on election day. When we redistribute 300-340% among ourselves, the size of the pie doesn’t change. The only thing that happens is that somebody’s slice gets a little bigger of what is already the worlds largest pie..

This is why we have uncontrolled migration to America and Europe. Nobody aspires to be a peanut farmer or subsistence fisherman. They want iPhones, Netflix, and BMWs. Even complete regime change in the most despotic nations isn’t going to immediately usher in a golden age of prosperity and equality. Planet earth hasn’t had equality of living standards since the time of the Neanderthals. The first guy who chiseled a rock into a wheel was probably the first millionaire.

I don’t have an answer to fix the problem of global poverty. But I don’t think it will be increasing the top personal income tax rate by another 5%, or to keep expanding the national debt.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Where in the world are wealth and income most unequal? | Business and Economy News | Al Jazeera

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ViciDraco · 41-45, M

It's interesting how you mention redistribution of wealth and the entitlement class when the entitlement class is the top 10%. What people advocate for is fair distribution of wealth because the top 10% feel entitled to keep it all to themselves. And yes, I do mean that both locally within North America and globally where North America is the top.

Ideologically- We should be fairly distributing wealth as globally as possible. There's no reason someone making a $100 shoe should only be getting paid pennies per pair - no matter where they live.

Pragmatically- We only have authority over our own nations. We can influence others, but we can't force them. What we can do is fix our own houses first and then use our resources to expand from there.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@ViciDraco according to the law, after you pay your taxes,you ARE entitled to keep anything you have left. and use it to buy a car, fund your 401K, real estate, or open a brokerage account.

Thinkerbell · 41-45, F

I'll be interested in hearing from Al Jazeera when they plan to do an analysis of the Saudi royal family's wealth and income relative to the rest of the Saudi population.

I won't hold my breath.

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Thinkerbell · 41-45, F

@22Michelle

"That other countries may not be trying to improve really shouldn't be something to points score over."

And yet, that is exactly what you are trying to do. 🤭

"Practice what you preach" is yet another variation of the pot calling the kettle black.

22Michelle · 70-79, T

@Thinkerbell Well you've lost me. We started off with you basically saying why should you fo anything about improving your country when Al Jazeera seem not to be. And that's when I said whataboutery is never a good look. Since then you keep trying to find some way to justify you not having to fo anything about the poor distribution of wealth in the USA. Either you think people, including yourself, should try and improve such things in your own country or you don't. I have no idea how you're getting this points scoring thing from me. My country has a poor wealth distribution, and it's been getting worse, so where I"m scoring points I have no idea. Anyway, you feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Thinkerbell · 41-45, F

@22Michelle

"We started off with you basically saying why should you fo anything about improving your country when Al Jazeera seem not to be."

I didn't say that. I said "I'll be interested in hearing from Al Jazeera when they plan to do an analysis of the Saudi royal family's wealth and income relative to the rest of the Saudi population.

I won't hold my breath."

NOT that I would not try to do anything about the US until they fixed the Gulf states.

"My country has a poor wealth distribution, and it's been getting worse, so where I"m scoring points I have no idea."

This quote was only the second time you mentioned your country. The rest of the time you tried to score points by doing nothing but criticize the US.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

Any redistribution of wealth has the potential to increase the size of the pie by expanding the consumer base and liquidating useless capital assets like ridiculously sized mansions that contribute nothing to economic growth.

You totally lost me in the second part of your piece. You are happy that the pie remains in North America but worry about foreign pie hunters? And your generalisation about what jobs immigrants will or will not do is completely unsubstantiated.

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Yes, when the ultra wealthy run out of shiny trinkets to buy, they begin to cannibalise the real economy.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@SunshineGirl no rational person wants to embark on billions of dollars of government construction projects just to "create jobs".

that was the approach of the soviet union and cuba

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@SusanInFlorida It was also the approach of the USA in 1933-38 as Roosevelt attempted to restore market stability and consumer demand in the aftermath of the Great Depression. And that worked pretty well.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

Translation oligarchs are fine as long as they are American and yet another justification for tax evasion by said oligarchs.

And you have invented an entire strawman argument to justify it. Literally no one is arguing for fairer taxes and less income inequality is doing this out of some concern for people on another continent. That doesn't even make sense as an argument. Nobody has ever claimed this is a solution to global poverty until you made it up just now.

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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@SusanInFlorida Regardless of the origins of the idea it is still a fake argument no one is actually claiming.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow this is a report which has been published since 2018. it wasn't dreamed up overnight. it's embraced by leftists the world over, who hope to garner a bigger slice of the pie for themselves. instead of making a larger pie

22Michelle · 70-79, T

@SusanInFlorida It's the standard "Whataboutery" argument to divert attention away from those actually causing the problems in the country you could try and do something about.

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