3 ms·

None of this is really scary. These are all a product of income inequality: the rich stole all the productivity gains since 1970 (this is literally true, see 'T

None of this is really scary. These are all a product of income inequality: the rich stole all the productivity gains since 1970 (this is literally true, see 'The Graph', http://monthlyreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012-11_rom-chart2-e1352236996477.jpg http://monthlyreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012-11_...). It doesn't make sense to me to worry about the knock-on effects of this loss (like unfunded pension liabilities) when this problem is still in place.

rayiner 11y ago
Don't get me wrong: I think income inequality is a huge problem. But how is Chicago promising teachers way more benefits than it can pay for a result of income inequality?
- astazangasta 11y ago
  Lots of ways: Chicago's ability to pay (lack of political power to tax the rich), the dependence on deferred wealth (lack of real savings amongst teachers), politicians who don't have to respond to middle class people and can continually raid their pension funds.
  - tptacek 11y ago
    Chicago is not a country. It's a city. It can't simply "tax the rich". If it does so, the rich will leave the city. When rich people claim they'll leave the country over small increases in taxes, we rightly mock them for making idle threats. But rich people don't even have to threaten to leave a city with unreasonable taxes. We know they can easily leave. Someone upthread suggested that Detroit was an example of how unfunded pension liabilities were the product of looting and corruption. I submit that Detroit is a better example of how artificially provoked demographic shifts can kill a city. However corrupt Detroit is, nobody can argue that it was better off after "white flight".
bradleyjg 11y ago
>> the rich stole all the productivity gains since 1970 (this is literally true, see 'The Graph', Does real median family income include non-cash compensation, particularly healthcare?
- astazangasta 11y ago
  Not sure; but health care has been one of the main avenues of wealth transfer in the US. Health costs grow faster than inflation, outcomes barely budge or worsen. The fact that people are being given more in health benefits means little if they are also paying their doctor twice as much for the same result.
jbuzbee 11y ago
>> the rich stole all the productivity gains since 1970 (this is literally true Literally? To Steal, from Websters: "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force"

rayiner 11y ago

Don't get me wrong: I think income inequality is a huge problem. But how is Chicago promising teachers way more benefits than it can pay for a result of income inequality?

astazangasta 11y ago
Lots of ways: Chicago's ability to pay (lack of political power to tax the rich), the dependence on deferred wealth (lack of real savings amongst teachers), politicians who don't have to respond to middle class people and can continually raid their pension funds.
- tptacek 11y ago
  Chicago is not a country. It's a city. It can't simply "tax the rich". If it does so, the rich will leave the city. When rich people claim they'll leave the country over small increases in taxes, we rightly mock them for making idle threats. But rich people don't even have to threaten to leave a city with unreasonable taxes. We know they can easily leave. Someone upthread suggested that Detroit was an example of how unfunded pension liabilities were the product of looting and corruption. I submit that Detroit is a better example of how artificially provoked demographic shifts can kill a city. However corrupt Detroit is, nobody can argue that it was better off after "white flight".

bradleyjg 11y ago

>> the rich stole all the productivity gains since 1970 (this is literally true, see 'The Graph', Does real median family income include non-cash compensation, particularly healthcare?

astazangasta 11y ago
Not sure; but health care has been one of the main avenues of wealth transfer in the US. Health costs grow faster than inflation, outcomes barely budge or worsen. The fact that people are being given more in health benefits means little if they are also paying their doctor twice as much for the same result.

jbuzbee 11y ago

>> the rich stole all the productivity gains since 1970 (this is literally true Literally? To Steal, from Websters: "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force"