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Update: edited to reflect comments of xnull2guest below. Wealthy people have disproportionate power in society and use that power to distort society to serve t

Update: edited to reflect comments of xnull2guest below. Wealthy people have disproportionate power in society and use that power to distort society to serve their needs. One simple example is how large US companies use government lobbying to transfer money from the public to themselves. Here is a list of the top spenders on lobbying: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s (Incidentally, notice how underrepresented consumer groups are.) Consider Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrup, which each spent about $200M. These companies all produce expensive military goods. Much has been written about the military-industrial complex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_com...), and how it serves the needs of the defence companies. A fairly clear example is the program to transfer excess military equipment (worth $billions) from the military to the US police (e.g. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/ferguson-police-military-restraints-violence-weaponry-missouri http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/ferguson-police...), which supports over-spending on military equipment. Another is the cost overruns in F35 project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II#Program_cost_increases_and_delays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_...). What happens to the money that these companies acquire? Just as inequality is increasing in society, so is inequality in pay within companies (e.g. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/25/the-pay-gap-between-ceos-and-workers-is-much-worse-than-you-realize/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/25/t...). Choosing Boeing at random, it's CEO has received over $20M for several years running (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/14/compensation-for-boeing-ceo-soars/6425487/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/14/comp...) All up, this is a complex system to transfer money from the public into the pockets of the high level executives at a few firms. There are other examples of systematic changes to benefit the wealthy, such as declining tax rate for top earners in the US and other countries. See http://milescorak.com/2013/05/29/do-falling-tax-rates-explain-the-rising-incomes-of-the-top-1/ http://milescorak.com/2013/05/29/do-falling-tax-rates-explai... I don't want to give the impression that all these shenanigans involve government corruption. The wage fixing case against Apple, Google, etc. (http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/apple-google-appeal-settlement-rejection-in-wage-fixing-case/ http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/apple-google-appeal-settlement-r...) is a good example of private companies acting to screw over workers without involving government.

noelwelsh 12y ago
Awesome, the unexplained downvote. There is factual content in my post, with cites, and yet someone would rather bury comments that challenge their worldview than debate. I guess we are dealing with libertarian idiocy then.
- xnull2guest 12y ago
  I didn't downvote you. I actually think I probably agree with your point(s). And I'm exactly the liberal populist kind of guy who perfectly fits into the most sympathetic of audiences. But I have trouble trying to understand your point(s) because they seem to meander a bit, almost like you're trying to say too much with too few sentences. And the comment starts off with a paternalistic tone and with an quasi-insult. It looks like there could be really good information in there - I'd love to give it an upvote if it were unpacked a bit, and cited and argued more clearly.
  - noelwelsh 12y ago
    Thank you for taking the time to respond. You are absolutely correct that my tone was off putting and I was not clear in the argument I was making. I have updated my post accordingly.
jnbiche 12y ago
Have you ever considered that some of us have become libertarian precisely because we're concerned with increasing inequality? Let's not forget that government: * Are the other end of "spending on lobbying" * Are the buyers of "expensive military goods" * Create the concept of corporations, and gives tax breaks to them ("corporate welfare") * Give sweetheart deals to political favorites * Lock up citizens for non-violent offenses, denying them the chance to earn a living * Allow and promote regulatory capture, which forbids many smart, driven individuals from challenging current business leaders. The sooner we can get government out of business, the fairer and more equal things will be for everyone.

noelwelsh 12y ago

Awesome, the unexplained downvote. There is factual content in my post, with cites, and yet someone would rather bury comments that challenge their worldview than debate. I guess we are dealing with libertarian idiocy then.

xnull2guest 12y ago
I didn't downvote you. I actually think I probably agree with your point(s). And I'm exactly the liberal populist kind of guy who perfectly fits into the most sympathetic of audiences. But I have trouble trying to understand your point(s) because they seem to meander a bit, almost like you're trying to say too much with too few sentences. And the comment starts off with a paternalistic tone and with an quasi-insult. It looks like there could be really good information in there - I'd love to give it an upvote if it were unpacked a bit, and cited and argued more clearly.
- noelwelsh 12y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to respond. You are absolutely correct that my tone was off putting and I was not clear in the argument I was making. I have updated my post accordingly.

jnbiche 12y ago

Have you ever considered that some of us have become libertarian precisely because we're concerned with increasing inequality? Let's not forget that government: * Are the other end of "spending on lobbying" * Are the buyers of "expensive military goods" * Create the concept of corporations, and gives tax breaks to them ("corporate welfare") * Give sweetheart deals to political favorites * Lock up citizens for non-violent offenses, denying them the chance to earn a living * Allow and promote regulatory capture, which forbids many smart, driven individuals from challenging current business leaders. The sooner we can get government out of business, the fairer and more equal things will be for everyone.