This is a talk by Nobel Laureate in Economics on the current trends and future (grim) prospects of Inequality. Thought it would be a good place to start a debate and discussion on inequality. Do you think it is one of the most urgent problems facing the world today? If not, why not? If yes, what should be the solution.
First, I don't agree that "inequality" is the
most urgent problem we face.
Why, because the amount of money Manny has in his pocket generally doesn't the amount of money Joe has in his pocket.
The only real issue is if Joe has enough to provide room, board and provide for the needs of his family if he has one.
Second, a little more than half the Federal budget already goes to public benefit. And yet, according to this inequality is on the rise. Throwing money into a program which isn't working is no guarantee that the program will suddenly start working.
The other almost half of the Federal budget goes back into the hands of the rich through government contracts. There is a set of wealthy folks who make their money through these government contracts. So the more money the government has to spend, the richer these folks get.
For these folks, as was stated, since they make more money than they could possibly spend, more taxes ain't going to hurt them or affect their lifestyle especially since it also means more money for government contracts they can bid on.
Also as was mentioned, companies who don't benefit directly from government spending have plenty of tax havens available to them.
So the rich can directly benefit from a tax increase or avoid it all together.
None of this "additional" taxing is a guarantee to improve Joe's life, however a number of the already wealthy stand to gain quite a bit from additional government taxing.