The BBs of Wealth

[chestnutkl]

"MLK Jr. speaking in 1969"? No, it should read 1967.... he then died exactly one year later - April 4, 1968.

[jepst41]

The post WW2 fantasy land of America having the only industry on earth and unlimited demand is over. Things are going back to the way they always have been and Americans need to adjust, rather than just complaining about wealth disparity. Better yourself, make good decisions, learn a skill that is in demand, open a business yourself. The rich aren't rich because they did nothing with their lives. But the majority of the poor are.

[mphello]

I don't ask the government to take from the rich and give to the poor (me).

I am not asking the rich to DO anything for me.

I ask that the government not in anyway interfere with me doing it myself

and taking over resources and land and clean water for me to use the way they SHOULD be used.

i.e I ask the rich and go'vt to do NOTHING.

The rich SHOULD be tortured and executed if they eat animals, because they are then no longer claim their "self-sufficient" BS (not that they ever could).

[mphello]

We can't victimize rich people for being rich, but we CAN make it a crime for being rich while doing no work and destroying the environment along the way by breeding (overpopulation), excessive consumption (oil depletion, global warming, fracking - ALL forms of destruction of OTHER people's and animals' lives).

So, we SHOULD make it a law forbidding ones consumption/(USEFUL work) ratio being larger than anyone else's.

[wkrausmann]

What is wealth inequality in a country when any person can attain wealth like everyone else? Poor people don't always have to be poor. They can attain the same wealth with the same effort and work as those who have it. In this country, if you're born poor, you don't have to die poor. No one is stuck in their class. It takes hard work, devotion, and motivation to pull yourself out wherever you are and you can be whatever you want. Taking from the rich to give to the poor solves nothing.

[theluscioussound]

1:44 You can't illustrate anything with audio. If you'representing an idea on a topic which seems to be fairly important to you try not to sound stupid.

[joanbourque]

perhaps we just think about the results, without judgement or conclusion, suppose we just consider where we are on the scale and where others are and how we can strive for a balance. Consider if you have wealth, how was it obtained, inherited, investment, speculation, hard work ... imagine where you'd be if it were balanced, would your life be "happy", would you "enjoy" life and friends and nature? just let it seep into your thought systems.

[morgainari]

The idea that poor people are only poor because they "don't take advantage of a hard work ethic and determination" is the lie that keeps the injustice of extreme wealth inequality hidden, and every day people complacent about the injustices done to them.

It's not "communist" to suggest that children of low-income families not being able to focus in a class room because they don't get enough to eat so that the richest 1% can have more money than they know what to do with, is morally wrong.

[ebuddify]

So, your solution is to divide the nations wealth among everyone? You penalize the rich for being rich, and penalize the poor for not taking advantage of a hard work ethic and determination to become independently wealthy? Wealth is a continuum. The wealthy can go broke, and the poor can go wealthy. The problem is when the poor hit a windfall (like a redistribution of wealth, or winning the lottery), they almost immediately go poor again. When the self-made wealthy go poor, they find a way back.

[Gabriel1o1]

@ebuddify

No we can't victimize rich people for being rich. Because having wealth is not a crime and the divide between rich and poor will always exist.the point of this kind of campaign is to remind people that no rich person becomes rich solely on their own. And that when that divide expand to a point where on one extreme we have people living in misery and on the other people living in opulence. YES then something must be done. because if you become rich i become poor BY DEFINITION.

[bgrant83]

watched this for Fitz's class. And about 50 kabillion other videos. But it makes a good point.

[mauihoneyyy]

i watched this for my sociology class. while it is sad that some people have so much money and others have so little, giving everyone an equal amount of money will never work. communism does not work. stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is arguably more wrong than the current extreme polarization of wealth. giving to the less fortunate is a personal decision.

[jinxie1300]

I think the term "redistributing the wealth" is just a scare tactic. What is wrong with making sure everyone has the ability to have access to wealth and basic survival?

[wkrausmann]

@jinxie1300 You DO have access to wealth and basic survival. You don't just sit around and wait for opportunities to fall into your lap. You have work for them. In this country, you are not born into a class and are expected to stay there. You can be born dirt poor and rise up to have everything you want from your own work and effort. The problem is that people have no incentive to work for it when the government provides for their every need.

[hans1nine]

Watched this for my Sociology class. Seems like people want you to long for an even distribution of wealth. Sounds like Communism to me.

[mphello]

@hans1nine So what? Communist laws are laws just like any other laws.  Communist law has nothing to do with the laws in North Korea or Vietnam or China today. Communist law as set forth by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels was about paying workers equally to what factory owners - who do no work - get paid. That's it.

Nothing to do with censoring talk or movies about sex or outlawing Western literature and music or marijuana or any of that bullshit.

[arena2101]

This feels a little overly dramatic to me. I'm a huge proponent of this cause, but this does nothing more than scare people... and for those who truly believe in free market and capitalism, this doesn't convince me of anything

[breakoutlove890]

Watched this in my Race and Ethnic Studies Class a few months ago.

Great illustration of the wealth gap

[roaringlamb]

We watched this in my Social Change in the Global Economy class at UCSC today. What a great illustration!

[HopeForPeaceNow]

Fantastic work. Thank you!

[taxfairness]

This is a fabulous illustration of wealth inequality!