Wages and Poverty

[Kooky]

If both the richest and the poorest lost half their money, the gap between the rich and the poor would be less; do you agree?

But that didn't happen, so what's the point of engaging in these hypothetical scenarios?

Furthermore, even after losses, the wealthiest seem to bounce back fairly quickly.

 

[Kooky]

Social Security is something I paid into for decades,

That's not how social security works and you know it. People are paying into a pool that you are withdrawing from while you are simultaneously collecting rent from your tenants and contributing nothing in return.

That you have the gall of accusing an employed person of sloth for working in employment instead of lounging around and collecting rent and then collecting social security checks on top of that is just the height of chuzpah.

 

[Kfox]

But that didn't happen, so what's the point of engaging in these hypothetical scenarios?

After the recession of 2007 that is what happened. Care to answer my question?

 

[Kooky]

Care to answer my question?

No, I find them largely pointless.

 

[Revoltingest]

That's not how social security works and you know it.

I'm more familiar with it that a clown living
off of government assistance in some
backwater foreign country.

 

[Kfox]

No, I find them largely pointless.

So rather than admit my questions exposes the absurdity of your views, you dismiss them as pointless in order to refrain from admitting the flaws of your position huh?

 

[Kooky]

So rather than admit my questions exposes the absurdity of your views, you dismiss them as pointless in order to refrain from admitting the flaws of your position huh?

No, but feel free to believe that if it makes you sleep better at night.

 

[Kfox]

No, but feel free to believe that if it makes you sleep better at night.

Just trying to get a straight answer from ya that's all. Looks like that isn't gonna happen; so good luck my friend.

 

[Kooky]

Just trying to get a straight answer from ya that's all. Looks like that isn't gonna happen; so good luck my friend.

You're fixating on one data point and extrapolating that into a lament about the unjust suffering of poor billionaires.

I'm sorry, but I find neither your argument nor the goal you're pursueing with it worth discussing.

 

[Kfox]

You're fixating on one data point and extrapolating that into a lament about the unjust suffering of poor billionaires.

I'm sorry, but I find neither your argument nor the goal you're pursueing with it worth discussing.

Wrong. You keep focusing on the income gap between the rich and the poor as if we could just make it less, the poor would just magically be better off! I’m saying the problem is not the income gap between the rich and the poor, the problem is we need to do what is necessary to increase the wealth of the poor, and history tells us just because the rich has less does not mean the poor will have more; but rather quite the opposite, the poor does better when everybody does better; and by design when everybody does better the lions share of the added fortune goes to the rich. So as long as the poor are doing better, that’s all I care about; even if it means the rich does a lot better.

 

[Kooky]

and history tells us just because the rich has less does not mean the poor will have more

It does, actually. You will find that the places most worth living have the least wealth disparity between the propertied and the working class.

 

[Kfox]

It does, actually. You will find that the places most worth living have the least wealth disparity between the propertied and the working class.

I'm talking about in the United States.

 

[Kooky]

I'm talking about in the United States.

The United States is one of the worse places to live in the West if you're poor.

 

[Kfox]

The United States is one of the worse places to live in the West if you're poor.

Where do you live?

 

[Kooky]

Where do you live?

Elsewhere.

 

[Kfox]

Elsewhere.

No wonder we were talking past each other; we were talking about 2 different countries. What you were saying may not make sense in the USA, but it does elsewhere, and what I was saying does make sense in the USA, but not elsewhere. It all make sense now. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Kooky]

No wonder we were talking past each other; we were talking about 2 different countries. What you were saying may not make sense in the USA, but it does elsewhere, and what I was saying does make sense in the USA, but not elsewhere. It all make sense now. Thanks for clearing that up.

I mentioned the US specifically when I said it was worse for poor people than most other Western countries, which is borne out by literally every statistic on the subject.

But if you don't care what I have to say, then I agree that it is probably best to end this discussion right here.

 

[Yerda]

We private housing providers are better
landlords than government.

That has not been the experience of myself, anyone I know, or have ever spoken to on the subject.

Let's assume it is true though. The government doesn't have to own the homes; public housing can be done in a number of ways. The important thing is to remove the profit motive from a very pressing need everyone has in order to prevent homelessness and the associated suffering as well as the exploitation that comes with people owning things others need to survive.

There can still be private housing, but if we strike the right balance we could easily avoid the worst of both worlds.

 

[Revoltingest]

That has not been the experience of myself, anyone I know, or have ever spoken to on the subject.

Let's assume it is true though. The government doesn't have to own the homes; public housing can be done in a number of ways. The important thing is to remove the profit motive from a very pressing need everyone has in order to prevent homelessness and the associated suffering as well as the exploitation that comes with people owning things others need to survive.

There can still be private housing, but if we strike the right balance we could easily avoid the worst of both worlds.

Without the profit motive, I'd have no desire to provide housing.
Property management & investing aren't a mere hobby to be
supported by having a 2nd full time job to support myself &
family.
We do it at a lower cost than government can because the
entrepreneur is more efficient than the usual bloated state
bureaucracy. The only way they can claim lower cost is
to exempt themselves from property taxation & building
codes. But that has a cost...lost tax revenue, & lower quality
of housing.

 

[Yerda]

Without the profit motive, I'd have no desire to provide housing.

With a public housing programme no-one would need you to nor would you be owning properties as investments while people sleep on the streets.