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The professional class has contributed the most to the wealth gap. We blame the wealthy, but it's not they who are performing the task of wealth extraction. The

The professional class has contributed the most to the wealth gap. We blame the wealthy, but it's not they who are performing the task of wealth extraction. The banks owners don't sign mortgages or repossess homes. The shareholders aren't doing the actual labor that increases page views or patents doodads worth negative value to the poor who buy them and funnel the money up. Owners don't do the taxes that rob society of its own worth. No. It's the professionals who do that immoral work. They are to blame. Not the wealthy. They just pay for it. The professionals, most all of us here are the cause of the wealth gap. It is we who exacerbate the divide and decline of civilization by sacrificing our moral duty to those less fortunate to get a little more cash for ourselves. Listen to us all here now. We know this, yet we continue.

jerry1979 7y ago
> the professionals [...] are to blame. Not the wealthy. They just pay for it. This brought to my mind on old Chomsky comment about civilian casualties in war: "Evidently, a crucial case is omitted, which is far more depraved than massacring civilians intentionally. Namely, knowing that you are massacring them but not doing so intentionally because you don’t regard them as worthy of concern. That is, you don’t even care enough about them to intend to kill them. Thus when I walk down the street, if I stop to think about it I know I’ll probably kill lots of ants, but I don’t intend to kill them, because in my mind they do not even rise to the level where it matters. There are many such examples. To take one of the very minor ones, when Clinton bombed the al-Shifa pharmaceutical facility in Sudan, he and the other perpetrators surely knew that the bombing would kill civilians (tens of thousands, apparently). But Clinton and associates did not intend to kill them, because by the standards of Western liberal humanitarian racism, they are no more significant than ants. Same in the case of tens of millions of others." -- https://formicidaefantasy.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/chomsky-on-ants-collateral-damage/ https://formicidaefantasy.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/chomsky-o...
closeparen 7y ago
Work widens inequality whether or not it’s extractive. Any time you’re creating value, someone else is not, and the difference between the two of you grows.
- StacyRoberts 7y ago
  That's not true. We can both be better if I work for you and you pay me right. It's not a negative sum game and can be positive and equal value for both. The value of your cash to me and my product for you.
  - closeparen 7y ago
    Someone off to the side who did not participate in that exchange benefits from it less than you and I did.
    - StacyRoberts 7y ago
      I see your point. I still disagree and have more counterpoints. I also don't appreciate that perspective, nor do I believe I'll change your opinion on it, so I'll stop here.

jerry1979 7y ago

> the professionals [...] are to blame. Not the wealthy. They just pay for it. This brought to my mind on old Chomsky comment about civilian casualties in war: "Evidently, a crucial case is omitted, which is far more depraved than massacring civilians intentionally. Namely, knowing that you are massacring them but not doing so intentionally because you don’t regard them as worthy of concern. That is, you don’t even care enough about them to intend to kill them. Thus when I walk down the street, if I stop to think about it I know I’ll probably kill lots of ants, but I don’t intend to kill them, because in my mind they do not even rise to the level where it matters. There are many such examples. To take one of the very minor ones, when Clinton bombed the al-Shifa pharmaceutical facility in Sudan, he and the other perpetrators surely knew that the bombing would kill civilians (tens of thousands, apparently). But Clinton and associates did not intend to kill them, because by the standards of Western liberal humanitarian racism, they are no more significant than ants. Same in the case of tens of millions of others." -- https://formicidaefantasy.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/chomsky-on-ants-collateral-damage/ https://formicidaefantasy.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/chomsky-o...

closeparen 7y ago

Work widens inequality whether or not it’s extractive. Any time you’re creating value, someone else is not, and the difference between the two of you grows.

StacyRoberts 7y ago
That's not true. We can both be better if I work for you and you pay me right. It's not a negative sum game and can be positive and equal value for both. The value of your cash to me and my product for you.
- closeparen 7y ago
  Someone off to the side who did not participate in that exchange benefits from it less than you and I did.
  - StacyRoberts 7y ago
    I see your point. I still disagree and have more counterpoints. I also don't appreciate that perspective, nor do I believe I'll change your opinion on it, so I'll stop here.