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Doesn't "X is rich but people from X are poor and angry" apply to other countries, like the US for example? But more importantly the lede to this article is "G
by olliej 3y ago
Doesn't "X is rich but people from X are poor and angry" apply to other countries, like the US for example?
But more importantly the lede to this article is "Germany’s grossly unequal distribution of wealth is contributing to the country’s malaise." but Bloomberg is a journal that aggressively argues for and supports this exact situation in the US?
That's some awe inspiring hypocrisy.
- vouaobrasil 3y agoIt applies to varying degrees. For example, Brazil is one of the strongest examples of this, with one of the highest rich country to poor ratios.
- lisplist 3y agoTbf there are some (mostly rich) people that believe wealth inequality isn’t a problem as long as the standard of living keeps going up for everyone. But that falls apart once you consider monopolization generally leads to rent seeking and not better services
- hnhg 3y agoA very relevant article by the FT from 2022 - "Britain and the US are poor societies with some very rich people" https://archive.is/IHI6E https://archive.is/IHI6E
- jquery 3y agoI think you're confusing Bloomberg and WSJ. Bloomberg is a newswire service focused on business, it doesn't argue for inequality, at least anywhere that I've seen.
- Doctor_Fegg 3y agoThis article is nominally "Bloomberg Opinion".
- jquery 3y agoThen I was the one confused. Thanks.
- edgyquant 3y agoThe average net worth in Germany is a couple hundred thousand while the average in the US is over a million. Just taking median it goes to around double for the US compared to Germany. There is real social mobility in the US that isn’t there in Germany.
- jacquesm 3y agoSocial mobility is why the saying goes that the USA is full of temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Including the ones sleeping on the streets. They're all one lucky break away from the big one. Of course you can't generalize like that across a whole population but if you take out the 'white, male, well educated, from a wealthy background' out of the stats then suddenly the social mobility in the USA looks totally different, exceptions notwithstanding. Your average includes Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
- edgyquant 3y agoActually the income distribution for Americans is mostly the same across all races with the exception of native Americans and Pacific Islanders. It’s true there’s a larger wealth gap but even that is changing with time and is mostly due to the white Americans being able to build wealth the longest.
- rsynnott 3y agoSo, one thing you have to be careful of here. Germany is one of the few countries where defined benefit pensions (that is, pensions where your pension is a fraction of final salary or similar) are still common; in most developed countries, including the US, peoples' pensions are far more likely to be some sort of tax-advantaged investment, which they probably have restricted access to pre-retirement, which their employer may contribute to or may be required to contribute to, and so on. The latter is clearly wealth, and relatively easy to account for; the former is _much_ harder to account for, as it's an obligation by something to the pensionee, but not stuff actually owned by the pensionee. (Not that people don't try; Ireland, for instance, has additional taxes on pensions worth over 2m, and actually does produce a notional valuation for DC pensions where they exist for this purpose)
- Doctor_Fegg 3y agoYeah, a lot of this article is just gratuitous sniping at the German economy for not being as nutso gung-ho as the US: > Much of Germany’s wealth is held by private, family-owned small and medium-sized companies known as the Mittelstand. These are an engine of job creation, but their thrift underpins the current account surpluses Germany is often criticized for Seriously, what does that even mean. Bloomberg would presumably prefer fewer Mittelstand companies, more venture capitalists and the occasional swashbuckling Adam Neumann? > An aging population is also straining Germany’s generous social insurance system Your social insurance system can't go bust if you don't have a social insurance system tapsheadmeme.gif
- jampekka 3y agoAll the economics papers do this. There's a column here or there about inequalities and vague ideas how to address it. When it comes to actual concrete policy, the wealth will trickle down.