4 ms·

Extreme material inequality can't be explained by some people performing better, so it's pretty obvious that it is unjust. How can unjust distribution of the ma

Extreme material inequality can't be explained by some people performing better, so it's pretty obvious that it is unjust. How can unjust distribution of the material wealth be moral? How can you morally justify that some people have to work more than 40 hours per week to be able to barely scrape by, while others can just enjoy their lives luxuriously without working at all. Oh and in fact, poor people in western societies today have it worse than 20, 30 years ago.

jamesblonde 10y ago
How extreme can material inequality get before it's a problem? Well the Walton family have the same amount of money (wealth) as the bottom 160 million Americans. How much more extreme does it have to get before it doesn't become the issue? http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/dec/08/one-wisconsin-now/just-how-wealthy-wal-mart-walton-family/ http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/dec/08/o...
- posterboy 10y ago
  Today, money is immaterial. Your argument, as poignant as it may be, doesn't follow.
  - jamesblonde 10y ago
    Money is immaterial?!? As Homer Simpson once said (to his brain): "money can be exchanged for goods and services" - like healthcare, education, important stuff....
    - posterboy 10y ago
      > immaterial > 1. Having no matter or substance. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immaterial https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immaterial
      - jamesblonde 10y ago
        Pedantic and pathetic. I clarified what I meant by money, wealth.
        posterboy 10y ago
        which is not any less abstract and immaterial. There is no unit of wealth you could compare, or if there is, I'd like to know.
        jamesblonde 10y ago
        Postmodern bullcrap. Tell that to the homeless and malnourished in the US.
        posterboy 10y ago
        Is your idiocy also material? Maybe you should have it removed. EDIT: Joking aside, the knowledge how to work a job is valuable, but immaterial. Undernourishment is often a matter of lack of the knowledge how to extract resources from the environment. Of course a lot of wealth is attained by theft. But what's theft of ideas, are ideas material wealth? Sure I'm talking semantics, I try to understand you. I don't assume you are totally wrong, I just tend to assume that my language faculty is sufficient to follow involved arguments. Often erroneously, but therefor I'm skeptic of others as well. I suppose the distinction between material and immaterial is largely immaterial, and the difference between abstract and concrete best hidden from conversation.
        vladTheInhaler 10y ago
        >I just tend to assume that my language faculty is sufficient to follow involved arguments Spoiler alert - it's not. You didn't even use the right form of skeptic; you should have written 'skeptical.' Besides being a non-sequitur, your analogy is fatally flawed. It presupposes that it is possible to steal ideas, when in fact it is only possible to copy them. Furthermore, every homeless person knows how to extract resources from the environment: throw a brick in somebody's window and steal their stuff. Resources extracted. If by 'extract resources' you mean 'get a job and be a law-abiding citizen' then I question whether you have ever tried to rebuild a life from absolutely nothing while staying inside the confines of the law. It might be harder than you think.

jamesblonde 10y ago

How extreme can material inequality get before it's a problem? Well the Walton family have the same amount of money (wealth) as the bottom 160 million Americans. How much more extreme does it have to get before it doesn't become the issue? http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/dec/08/one-wisconsin-now/just-how-wealthy-wal-mart-walton-family/ http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/dec/08/o...

posterboy 10y ago
Today, money is immaterial. Your argument, as poignant as it may be, doesn't follow.
- jamesblonde 10y ago
  Money is immaterial?!? As Homer Simpson once said (to his brain): "money can be exchanged for goods and services" - like healthcare, education, important stuff....
  - posterboy 10y ago
    > immaterial > 1. Having no matter or substance. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immaterial https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immaterial
    - jamesblonde 10y ago
      Pedantic and pathetic. I clarified what I meant by money, wealth.
      - posterboy 10y ago
        which is not any less abstract and immaterial. There is no unit of wealth you could compare, or if there is, I'd like to know.
        jamesblonde 10y ago
        Postmodern bullcrap. Tell that to the homeless and malnourished in the US.
        posterboy 10y ago
        Is your idiocy also material? Maybe you should have it removed. EDIT: Joking aside, the knowledge how to work a job is valuable, but immaterial. Undernourishment is often a matter of lack of the knowledge how to extract resources from the environment. Of course a lot of wealth is attained by theft. But what's theft of ideas, are ideas material wealth? Sure I'm talking semantics, I try to understand you. I don't assume you are totally wrong, I just tend to assume that my language faculty is sufficient to follow involved arguments. Often erroneously, but therefor I'm skeptic of others as well. I suppose the distinction between material and immaterial is largely immaterial, and the difference between abstract and concrete best hidden from conversation.
        vladTheInhaler 10y ago
        >I just tend to assume that my language faculty is sufficient to follow involved arguments Spoiler alert - it's not. You didn't even use the right form of skeptic; you should have written 'skeptical.' Besides being a non-sequitur, your analogy is fatally flawed. It presupposes that it is possible to steal ideas, when in fact it is only possible to copy them. Furthermore, every homeless person knows how to extract resources from the environment: throw a brick in somebody's window and steal their stuff. Resources extracted. If by 'extract resources' you mean 'get a job and be a law-abiding citizen' then I question whether you have ever tried to rebuild a life from absolutely nothing while staying inside the confines of the law. It might be harder than you think.