Video Showing the Huge Gap Between Super Rich and Everyone Else Goes Viral

[jadehunter]

For much of the past decade, policymakers and analysts have decried America's incredibly low savings rate, noting that U.S. households save a fraction of the money of the rest of the world. Citing a myriad of causes -- from cheap credit to exploitative bank practices -- they've noted that the average family puts away less than 4 percent of its

Comments

[alexvdl]

Yeah, gee. I hope someone told Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Kevin Smith, Jeff Bezos, and Wallace "Wally" Amos, Jr. that they'll never get rich if they work hard and get lucky. Hell, I hope that someone told Nick Woodman that there's no way to become rich and employ hundreds in the post 9/11 economy. Wealth doesn't appear out of nowhere. Even the people born with money still had to get that money from somewhere. At some point, someone worked their ass off to get that.

Considering that politicians can't see far enough past their pocketbooks to even do their federally mandated jobs, I have little hope that there's a Democrat or Republican around that's going to be capable of "Making things right." I also have no doubt in my mind that "making things right" is an ephemeral chimera, never to be seen or realized.

I will NEVER be a multimillionaire. But that isn't going to stop me from making myself damn comfortable in life off the sweat of my brow. You are spending time and effort to try and convince me that I CAN'T do something, that I WON'T succeed in my goals. And I don't accept that. I will never accept that. I would rather die broke, penniless, and alone than to accept that I will never reach my goals, than to quit doing everything I can to achieve them. I can't control Congress. I can't control the economy. I CAN control me. So I will wait, I will plan, I will work, and there will come a day I'll either succeed, or I'll die.

[alexvdl]

That video doesn't talk about how to prevent and alleviate the inequalities, though. It just points them out. No one knows how to fix them. Plenty of people on both sides of the spectrum have an idea, sure. I myself have no clue how to do it.

[fishphile]

That's because the video isn't trying to fix anything but perception. The video is about showing how big that disparity is and contrasting that with how big people think the disparity is. If 92% of the people don't even know what the real disparity is then we can't move on to having other conversations.

[alexvdl]

Knowing the causes and preventative measures are great, but the inequality is already inherent in the system. Preventative measures would only prevent it from getting worse. Fixing the problem? Or better yet, fixing the problem without enacting draconian wealth redistribution programs? Yeah. No one knows how to do that. And good luck with high level wealth redistribution. We can't even get the wealthy and corporations to pay taxes.

To fix inequality you have to have legislators that give a shit. Considering that most of them are guaranteed larger paychecks than any of us make, not even taking into account benefits, why the hell would they have any desire to fix the problem?

[alexvdl]

Taxes and wealth redistribution are different. One of them involves keeping our government running, and the other involves a moral imperative. These people have too much wealth, it is bad, therefore we have to give it to these people.

Higher taxes? Sure. Or, fuck higher taxes, just get the ones on the books enforceable. Streamline the tax code and remove so many of the loopholes and shit so that people who are supposed to be paying taxes (including peopleCorporations) are paying taxes.

And I am with you. I hope for a day in which we get politicians who can take care of their constituents. I would even settle for a Congress that passes a physical budget. Unfortunately, I don't believe we'll see such a thing unless some shit really changes.

[alexvdl]

I agree with your second sentence very much. Generally, if I have money so do my friends. Even if I know I don't have a chance in hell of getting the same from them if the situation is reversed. I will do lots for people given the oppurtunity and the ability to choose to do it. People frequently tell me "Oh, you didn't have to do that." My normal response is "If I had to do it, I wouldn't." There have been many times in my life in which I have had to rely on the kindness or largesse of friends and family. I strive to repay that by paying it forward.

Hell, that's why I pick up hitchhikers, though I know I shouldn't.

I love my country. Very much. But I'm not blind to the fact that it has some serious issues. The song 'Merican by the Descendents tends to sum up my feelings on the matter.

[happythree]

Sadly, much of that comes down to what news people watch and what they choose to pay attention to. And then you have powerful individuals using phrases like 'the haves and the soon-to-haves,' which just feeds the misconception of big, comfortable middle class/continual socioeconomic mobility.

[romp]

THIS

[romp]

Are you suggesting that we risk everyone losing ambition? Because, really.

This isn't a matter of either embracing the Anyone Can Make It in America If They Try Hard Enough myth (which has lead to an extremely damaging meritocracy IMO) or sink into a welfare state. It will take decades to uproot that mindset so don't worry yourself yet.

[alexvdl]

"Myth"? I list listed a bunch of names for which it was cold hard fact. You can find hundreds and thousands more if you go digging into it.

[omgangiepants]

Meritocracies cannot function properly if people aren't given the same even odds at success. In modern America, where you're born, when you're born and who you're born to all but determines where you will end up in life. Ambition and willpower alone can't beat a stacked deck. Your examples are the exception, not the rule.

[alexvdl]

If there are concrete examples of something, then it's not a myth.

Is it hard? Is it almost impossible for some people? Yes. Would I like to see it change so that white straight dude and LGBT POC woman are on the same difficulty level? HELL yes.