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But is inequality the root issue or is poverty the root issue? If everyone in the world could afford 1 yacht, but 1% each had 1,000 yachts, that is mass inequa

But is inequality the root issue or is poverty the root issue? If everyone in the world could afford 1 yacht, but 1% each had 1,000 yachts, that is mass inequality. But would that bother you?

onion2k 12y ago
For a luxury thing like a yacht it wouldn't bother anyone. When it happens to necessities like housing, food and healthcare then it's quite rational to be bothered.
- tuna-piano 12y ago
  Right, that is exactly my point. The fact that inequality exists doesn't bother most people, it's poverty (the lack of housing, food, healthcare...) that bothers people. Inequality is irrelevant to the core issue, poverty.
  - superjambo 12y ago
    Except that in the US inequality is a large factor in the maintenance of poverty since your super rich & rich corps seem so keen on keeping your broken markets in healthcare and removing any social safety net on food whilst they drive up the price of high demand housing.
nickstefan12 12y ago
That basically is today in America. Many of the poor have flat screen tvs, cellphones etc. I think we as humans will always focus on the inequality part bcuas were social beings.
bryanlarsen 12y ago
It depends on how rivalrous the goods are. If everybody had enough money to buy a yacht, that would mean that the world had enough resources to create a yacht for everybody. However, the world could never have enough prime docking space for every yacht, nor would the world have enough people to crew every yacht. Land, human labour and political influence are three of the most rivalrous goods, goods where the price goes up as fast (or faster) than the supply of money. In a world with little poverty but vast inequality, everybody could afford TV's and video games; food would be expensive but affordable. Labour intensive services like education and health care would be unaffordable. Owning or renting a nice place would be unaffordable. (I am not an economist)
VLM 12y ago
The glorification and normalization of "lack of empathy" as a moral and ethical inherent good, is extremely disturbing to see. The problem isn't unequal yachts, its when that same mindset is applied everywhere else in society, to political power, judicial protection, civil rights. "Why are you bothered by police gunning down unarmed black teen boys, you're not an unarmed black teen boy and the cops haven't done anything bad to you so far, you're getting enough justice its just that some small fraction get much less justice and thats OK because they're not you"

But is inequality the root issue or is poverty the root issue? If everyone in the world could afford 1 yacht, but 1% each had 1,000 yachts, that is mass inequality. But would that bother you?

onion2k 12y ago

For a luxury thing like a yacht it wouldn't bother anyone. When it happens to necessities like housing, food and healthcare then it's quite rational to be bothered.

tuna-piano 12y ago
Right, that is exactly my point. The fact that inequality exists doesn't bother most people, it's poverty (the lack of housing, food, healthcare...) that bothers people. Inequality is irrelevant to the core issue, poverty.
- superjambo 12y ago
  Except that in the US inequality is a large factor in the maintenance of poverty since your super rich & rich corps seem so keen on keeping your broken markets in healthcare and removing any social safety net on food whilst they drive up the price of high demand housing.

nickstefan12 12y ago

That basically is today in America. Many of the poor have flat screen tvs, cellphones etc. I think we as humans will always focus on the inequality part bcuas were social beings.

bryanlarsen 12y ago

It depends on how rivalrous the goods are. If everybody had enough money to buy a yacht, that would mean that the world had enough resources to create a yacht for everybody. However, the world could never have enough prime docking space for every yacht, nor would the world have enough people to crew every yacht. Land, human labour and political influence are three of the most rivalrous goods, goods where the price goes up as fast (or faster) than the supply of money. In a world with little poverty but vast inequality, everybody could afford TV's and video games; food would be expensive but affordable. Labour intensive services like education and health care would be unaffordable. Owning or renting a nice place would be unaffordable. (I am not an economist)

VLM 12y ago

The glorification and normalization of "lack of empathy" as a moral and ethical inherent good, is extremely disturbing to see. The problem isn't unequal yachts, its when that same mindset is applied everywhere else in society, to political power, judicial protection, civil rights. "Why are you bothered by police gunning down unarmed black teen boys, you're not an unarmed black teen boy and the cops haven't done anything bad to you so far, you're getting enough justice its just that some small fraction get much less justice and thats OK because they're not you"