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The article never defines what fairness is. Another word for fairness is "justice". The article betrays its bias when it analyzes how income is "distributed". O

The article never defines what fairness is. Another word for fairness is "justice". The article betrays its bias when it analyzes how income is "distributed". Of course, income isn't distributed - it's earned. If person A earns 100x person B then of course it's just. However, if income were indeed distributed, all things being equal, unequal distribution would not be just. So, do you believe wealth is earned by hard work and diligence or that it is distributed by some kind of greater power?

rayiner 11y ago
"Distribution" is a neutral term that refers to how quantities are spread out in a population. E.g. you can talk about age, weight, or height distribution in a population.
- Randgalt 11y ago
  Age, height, even weight (for the most part) are qualities of humans that cannot be controlled. Wealth is qualitatively different than these attributes. Edit: no one would ever talk about the distribution of "ability at basketball" for example.
  - rayiner 11y ago
    And yet you still talk about the "distribution" of those quantities. Which undermines your premise that the use of the word "distribution" implies centralized apportionment of some quantity. "Wealth distribution" is a descriptive, not a prescriptive concept, just like "height distribution." Here is a system applied to some population; let's measure how some quantity ends up distributed among that population based on the behavior of the system.
  - Randgalt 11y ago
    In the context of fairness vs equality I've never read/heard a similar comparison to ability.
  - baconner 11y ago
    Ah no actually its totally valid to talk about the distribution of ability at basketball over a population. Distribution is just a mathematical concept - it doesn't care what type of variable you are looking at.
  - HelloMcFly 11y ago
    I think your point is more pedantry than substance. Yes, wealth is qualitatively different, but referring to it as distributed across a population is still intuitively clear and does not read as an abnormal use of the word. > So, do you believe wealth is earned by hard work and diligence or that it is distributed by some kind of greater power? I don't believe either thing absolutely. I believe wealth can be earned by hard work and diligence, but that those things are neither necessary nor sufficient. I believe wealth is often distributed by a greater power in effect if not in literal practice through things like regressive taxation and systematic difference in access quality education that have a disparate (and in my opinion, inequitable) impact on those of lesser means.
secstate 11y ago
Not to go all anti-objectivist, but I've yet to see a consistent equation where (quantity of work) * (quality of work) = wealth There's a myth of the hustle that gets perpetrated whenever a feel-good story about a hard working, intelligent person's success gets bandied about. The reality is that I'm where I am at least as much because of who I was born to as to how much hard work and diligence I've put into my professional career.
- Randgalt 11y ago
  Even to win the state lottery you have to make the effort to buy a ticket. Are you saying you've done nothing more significant than having good parents?
  - unclebucknasty 11y ago
    Not that one can do nothing significant, but that one is significantly advantaged by his or her parent's wealth. And studies bear this out. One of the greatest predictors of a person's wealth is whether his or her parents are wealthy. And this, even when corrected for such factors as environment and behaviour.

rayiner 11y ago

"Distribution" is a neutral term that refers to how quantities are spread out in a population. E.g. you can talk about age, weight, or height distribution in a population.

Randgalt 11y ago
Age, height, even weight (for the most part) are qualities of humans that cannot be controlled. Wealth is qualitatively different than these attributes. Edit: no one would ever talk about the distribution of "ability at basketball" for example.
- rayiner 11y ago
  And yet you still talk about the "distribution" of those quantities. Which undermines your premise that the use of the word "distribution" implies centralized apportionment of some quantity. "Wealth distribution" is a descriptive, not a prescriptive concept, just like "height distribution." Here is a system applied to some population; let's measure how some quantity ends up distributed among that population based on the behavior of the system.
- Randgalt 11y ago
  In the context of fairness vs equality I've never read/heard a similar comparison to ability.
- baconner 11y ago
  Ah no actually its totally valid to talk about the distribution of ability at basketball over a population. Distribution is just a mathematical concept - it doesn't care what type of variable you are looking at.
- HelloMcFly 11y ago
  I think your point is more pedantry than substance. Yes, wealth is qualitatively different, but referring to it as distributed across a population is still intuitively clear and does not read as an abnormal use of the word. > So, do you believe wealth is earned by hard work and diligence or that it is distributed by some kind of greater power? I don't believe either thing absolutely. I believe wealth can be earned by hard work and diligence, but that those things are neither necessary nor sufficient. I believe wealth is often distributed by a greater power in effect if not in literal practice through things like regressive taxation and systematic difference in access quality education that have a disparate (and in my opinion, inequitable) impact on those of lesser means.

secstate 11y ago

Not to go all anti-objectivist, but I've yet to see a consistent equation where (quantity of work) * (quality of work) = wealth There's a myth of the hustle that gets perpetrated whenever a feel-good story about a hard working, intelligent person's success gets bandied about. The reality is that I'm where I am at least as much because of who I was born to as to how much hard work and diligence I've put into my professional career.

Randgalt 11y ago
Even to win the state lottery you have to make the effort to buy a ticket. Are you saying you've done nothing more significant than having good parents?
- unclebucknasty 11y ago
  Not that one can do nothing significant, but that one is significantly advantaged by his or her parent's wealth. And studies bear this out. One of the greatest predictors of a person's wealth is whether his or her parents are wealthy. And this, even when corrected for such factors as environment and behaviour.