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For those caught up in what I think is a cause-de-jour, income inequality, I'll pose these two questions: 1. Is anyone worse off because Mark Zuckerberg is ver

by paul_f 13y ago

For those caught up in what I think is a cause-de-jour, income inequality, I'll pose these two questions: 1. Is anyone worse off because Mark Zuckerberg is very rich? 2. If policies to reduce income inequality made the poor worse off, would you be in favor of them?

base698 13y ago
Yes, if he brings in hoards of H1Bs lowering the salaries of software engineers across the board. http://www.fwd.us/ http://www.fwd.us/
PhasmaFelis 13y ago
> 1. Is anyone worse off because Mark Zuckerberg is very rich? Mark Zuckerberg? Probably not directly; Facebook's employees are treated well, as far as I'm aware. But that's an awfully narrow example to cherry-pick. How about the Waltons, or Jeff Bezos? Employees in Wal-Mart stores and Amazon warehouses go without benefits, unemployment compensation, a living wage, and sometimes basic climate control, so that the wealthy can line their pockets. The wealth of CEOs does not descend upon them from heaven as a divine reward for good management. Every million dollars they get is a million that is not being spent on compensating employees. (Or on growing the business, etc.) Obviously CEOs deserve compensation for their work just like anyone else, and I haven't done the math on how much the Waltons and Jeff Bezos are worth vs. how much it would cost to treat all of their employees decently; but when a boss is worth billions and their employees can't afford food or medicine for their children, it's obscene. > 2. If policies to reduce income inequality made the poor worse off, would you be in favor of them? No. Obviously. I favor policies in general that aid those who need it most. Reducing income inequality is only one obvious way to help do that. You've got a "gotcha" planned here, I assume?
gopher1 13y ago
The very rich (Mark Zuckerberg included) use their wealth to influence government, therefore the answer to #1 is yes, the average person is worse off because they don't get the same opportunity to affect policy. #2 is an odd hypothetical which is unlikely to be the case and without further context (what is defined as poor? etc.) it's a useless question.

by paul_f 13y ago

base698 13y ago

Yes, if he brings in hoards of H1Bs lowering the salaries of software engineers across the board. http://www.fwd.us/ http://www.fwd.us/

PhasmaFelis 13y ago

> 1. Is anyone worse off because Mark Zuckerberg is very rich? Mark Zuckerberg? Probably not directly; Facebook's employees are treated well, as far as I'm aware. But that's an awfully narrow example to cherry-pick. How about the Waltons, or Jeff Bezos? Employees in Wal-Mart stores and Amazon warehouses go without benefits, unemployment compensation, a living wage, and sometimes basic climate control, so that the wealthy can line their pockets. The wealth of CEOs does not descend upon them from heaven as a divine reward for good management. Every million dollars they get is a million that is not being spent on compensating employees. (Or on growing the business, etc.) Obviously CEOs deserve compensation for their work just like anyone else, and I haven't done the math on how much the Waltons and Jeff Bezos are worth vs. how much it would cost to treat all of their employees decently; but when a boss is worth billions and their employees can't afford food or medicine for their children, it's obscene. > 2. If policies to reduce income inequality made the poor worse off, would you be in favor of them? No. Obviously. I favor policies in general that aid those who need it most. Reducing income inequality is only one obvious way to help do that. You've got a "gotcha" planned here, I assume?

gopher1 13y ago

The very rich (Mark Zuckerberg included) use their wealth to influence government, therefore the answer to #1 is yes, the average person is worse off because they don't get the same opportunity to affect policy. #2 is an odd hypothetical which is unlikely to be the case and without further context (what is defined as poor? etc.) it's a useless question.