4 ms·
The article seems to suggest gains going to the top only. Here's a list of improvements since the 1930s that all of society, especially in the West, has experi
by writepub 7y ago
The article seems to suggest gains going to the top only.
Here's a list of improvements since the 1930s that all of society, especially in the West, has experienced:
1. Massive increase in average lifespans
2. Lowest per capita crime rate in history
3. 70+ years without a world war, a relatively peaceful geopolitical climate
4. Meteoric literacy rates, and high school completion rates
5. Lowest incidence of per capita death by infectious diseases. Elimination of many deadly diseases, like polio & smallpox
6. Almost 100% penetration of real-time voice and information access for adults
If you only read the hit pieces, you'd be inclined to believe that we live in a time of abject poverty, while the truth is that life in general and equality of opportunity has hit meteoric highs. Which is why the interest has shifted to equality of outcome, which is not something that (in my opinion) can be controlled. completely ignoring causality and simply pointing to shock inducing numbers without full context, makes for fun click bait, but I'd if little actual use.
If true upliftment is to be achieved, we need a more objective lens than the one popular press leads with.
Here's a number for you: while you read this article not only did the Waltons get richer, but so did the millions of pension funds of school teachers invested in Walmart stock
- ninedays 7y agoAnd yet, IMHO, none of what you listed is a reason enough for creating this unseemly situation.
- jmpman 7y agoAnd how would massive estate taxes impact the above?
- gingabriska 7y agoI read somewhere rich people make trust and make themselves its beneficactors, as trust doesn't die, so they effectively bypass estate tax? Does estate tax really matters?
- downrightmike 7y agowin win because walmart got tax cuts to build in the first place.