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Old 09-11-2019, 11:58 AM   #6833 (permalink)
aerohead
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economic inequality

Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5 View Post
O'Neill sounds like he doesn't understand life at all. Inequality (of wealth) doesn't come about by a dominant class, it comes about mostly by hierarchies of competence and risk taking. Absolutely every single thing you see in nature is characterized by inequality. The large trees get larger, planets accumulate unequal amounts of mass, energy from the sun gets distributed more along the equator and less at the poles, etc...

Degrowth would be a feature of redistributing wealth gained by the most competent and giving it, without merit, to the less competent. Of course that would be political suicide. There is a very small minority of people that truly understand that full socialism and massive economic loss go hand in hand. Perhaps a few people that advocate for Bernie understand this, but most everyone else is like that O'Neill character; not understanding the most fundamental basics of the universe, of hierarchies, and of wealth.

I agree that economic growth is unsustainable, and I agree that throwing a wrench in the machine by distributing wealth regardless of merit would be very effective. My position is that we should slow growth via voluntarily stabilizing population, not by throwing out meritocracy altogether.
Evidence supports the observation that economic consensus and policymakers are responsible for economic inequality.
If you want to make America great again,you'll have to go back between 1945 and 1973.This was the 'Golden Age' of the United States.American prosperity in that period is unparalleled,either before or after.
After market liberalization killed off Bretton Woods,by 1975,the US had lost all economic gains created since 1945.
And I'd never associate wealth with competence.Historically,that would be oxymoronic.
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