Does Income Inequality Hurt Countries? w/ Richard Wilkinson

[NearAbbeyRoad]

The key is "fair" distribution, not equal. Geoist economics does that. Based on Land Valuation Tax it promotes an unrigged free-market, taxing all extraction of common land resources and abolition of speculation of the land and its resources. e,g., no copper derivatives.

It works, look at Hong Kong.

[bioman888]

STduying things is nto a bad thing. ignorance is tno agood thing. Hvaing credital to prove that you studied is not bad. Arrogance is abd in teh creditailed or the ignorant.

[benandreas369]

Wow using credentialism... Nice

[tatomuck18]

even if income equality is bad. How are poor people gonna get something without the government stealing money from the middle class?

[ohmyliver01]

@tatomuck18 by being paid better for their jobs. Possibly there should be a law saying that the best paid in a company cannot being paid more than 50x the lowest. Which would mean that if a company was profitable (no doubt due to hard work by all levels of the company) then if the CEO wanted to pay him or herself more then they'd have to increase all wages. This would also incentivise all in the company to work harder.

[xadam2dudex]

trying to get the rich not be greedy bastards is a dream.. they would rather send u off to war to fight for more profits than give up one dollar

[hollaboutit]

socialism anyone?

[benandreas369]

@hollaboutit Is Finland socialist? No.. Is Japan socialist? No. Are the states of Wiscosin or Iowa socialist? No... Typical ignorant boy who puts labels because of his lack of knowledge... What you just said is like saying a resource based economy is the same as a Utopia...

[hollaboutit]

@benandreas369 child, you have no idea of what you're talking about? i am a socialist, and i call for socialism. i also have a history minor to back up the fact that cooperation is seen as socialsm to the common idiot.

[Owner46]

You must also consider the homogeneity of the population, when considering the performance under an artificially influenced income equality regime.

Overall, an interesting interview, although I would like to hear it longer.

[nuumskee]

why the heck is this interview so short but silly TMZ subjects were given more time? Invite him back and give the guy at least 20-30 mintues.

[MarmaladeINFP]

Interesting that the US states with income equality do better. In poor states (where there is greater gap between rich and poor), the poor vote Democrat and the rich vote Republican. In wealthy states (ie.e where everyone has a higher income), both the rich and poor vote Democrat.

[planetXXX]

this was NOT a good interview through no fault of the interviewee - this discussion felt rushed.

[Thinking4You]

he said

Like that

ALOT

[nicklessz]

A shame you wasted time w/the basketball story and then didn't give him room to prove his point rather than just state what it is.

[aaronsande]

@nicklessz LOL

It was baseball, but I was thinking the same thing. In fact, he sounded angry, arrogant, and assured that the statistics WERE skewed in this case. A strange impression for Ben to have left, knowing him, but there it is.

[nicklessz]

He was having a conversation w/jr about some sports(I assumed it was basketball)/guns related thing before the interview while they were sorting out the connection but ended up having the guy wait for like a minute or so till they finished, if he knew there wouldn't be much time left he could've at least given him that minute or so and finished their discussion in the members only part.

[aaronsande]

Oh I see what you mean! I thought you were complaining--rightly so--about the lengthy baseball statistics example Ben rambled on with.

[jo05dk]

The interview was way to short considering the complexity and importance of this subject. If you have to start selling this idea (which is common knowledge in the part of Europe where i live), you'd have to more than that.

[CognosSquare]

No shit? When I look at the US from a Swedish perspective, its like the people at the lower end of the income spectrum are burnt so severely and so long term even if its a temporary stint there.

[dangerouslytalented]

The lower classes and middle classes BUY THINGS. When they BUY THINGS, these things must get made. They spend 90% of their money.

If the poor and middle classes do not have money, how are business supposed to get profit? I mean legitimate profit, not this fucking around with dirivitives and making a paper profit.

[DeusMortemEst]

It will take ages before most americans will ever accept such ideas as presented by Wilkinson, no matter how much evidence is presented in support of it. After all, it's full of people who can't even see the difference between communism and social democracy. It's sad, methinks.

[dangerouslytalented]

@DeusMortemEst That is because the rich own the methods of communication.

And they don't get it that without the poor and middle class people buying stuff, their business have NO CUSTOMERS. They are spending all their time cutting costs, and are neglecting the fact that long term profits rely on the prosperity of the lower and middle classes.

[tatomuck18]

actually business rely more on the rich than poor people. Since poor people can barely afford to eat, they are unreliable as customers.

[dangerouslytalented]

@tatomuck18 You can only sell so much toilet paper or toothpaste or orange juice or whatever to rich people. Once they have bought the necessities, the rest of the money gets thrown on the pile. But if the same amount of money (lets say a million dollars) is distributed between a thousand people, instead of one, then they WILL buy a flatscreen TV and they will not try to eke out a toothpaste tube to last three weeks instead of two, etc.

[tehKap0w]

@tatomuck18 lots of poor people have food stamps. it's a huge market that retailers fight over, just not in the open. ((barely eat+govt subsidies) * millions of mouths = mega dollahs. Just ask walmart where poor people spend their money.

[Udinbak]

he spent my entire life proving something I could have explained in 5 minutes..

[pkingo1]

I think his proof weighs a little more heavily than your 5 minute explaination.

[dangerouslytalented]

It takes a LOT of effort to get it through the thick skulls of the Neoconservatives and Libertarians.

[tatomuck18]

i dont want the government having to steal from rich people that earned their money to poor broke azz bums.

[NearAbbeyRoad]

@tatomuck18

The rich did steal. The tax system is geared towards. Progressive taxes do not work. Land Valuation Tax and no Income Tax is the way forward. That is:

1. Socialized wealth is socialized - Tax values of land (the values in land was not created by the landowner, but by the community).

2. Private wealth is kept private - no income tax.

[TheGiantRobot]

Aw, a little short for this good topic. Looking forward to hearing more on this.

[devourerofbabies]

Ben had more important things he wanted to talk about.  Like Heidi Montag's surgeries.

[dangerouslytalented]

Success. Now you will have to buy his book.

[ccm800]

Am I the only one who thinks that this dude hosting often comes off as rude and pushy? Not just here.

[devourerofbabies]

No. Nope. You're not the only one. I can't stand Ben.  I don't think he belongs in the air in any capacity.